Patrick Mphale, the general manager of the National Youth Service (NYS), says the launch of the pilot is the culmination of the consultations and engagement with volunteer organisations in the country who have been instrumental in developing the strategy for the implementation of the NYDA and Flemish government's partnership programme that is aimed at upscaling and promoting youth volunteerism in the country.
"This online platform is part of the five priorities of the programme to upscale and promote youth volunteering of which the other priorities are capacity building of civil society organisations, knowledge generation through research, funding for sustainability and marketing and advocacy," says Mphale.
Duncan Luke, founder of SPONSORME and the partner in the initiation of the platform, says the idea of the online platform was concretised at the Knowledge Network Seminar on promoting youth volunteering in the country that was held in January this year. "There are many organisations and entrepreneurs that have identified the need for this platform to share and connect organisations. This project aims to better understand the environment and how it could best serve organisations and potential volunteers for these organisations.
"By running a pilot and in having identified a several potential partners, in which we are able to minimise costs and gain insight, coming out with a detailed understanding of what the online system should be able to do and how it can best assist organisations in campaigning for needs and assistance in volunteers," adds Luke.
Tine Cornillie, the programme manager responsible for the management of the cooperation with the Flemish government on promoting and upscaling youth volunteering in civil society organisations, says many people and organisations have been thinking about how this platform should look and work. The purpose of the NYDA's partnership with SPONSORME is therefore to learn more about the needs of organisations, see how current platforms work and how the NYDA can make a valuable contribution to such platform developments for South African youth.
The NYDA and SPONSORME are calling on all organisations that have opportunities for young volunteers to become involved, share their needs, sign up and give input in this project. We will be hosting an online forum for feedback on the online platform as well as focus groups in Cape Town and JHB with organisations in October and November.
For more info, click here: http://sponsorme.co.za/page/volunteer-organizations. Many organisations rely on helping hands from individuals, see how your skills, talents or time can help organisations, by clicking here: http://sponsorme.co.za/page/volunteers. Any persons wanting to be involved in establishing the platform, please contact Duncan Luke at az.oc.emrosnops@nacnuD.
