The Impact of Volunteering on a Young Person’s Life
Student Volunteer Army commissioned independent research to understand how the SVA Service Award benefits and impacts young people through volunteering and service. The research showcases a range of positive, experienced impacts including; increased leadership skills, empathy, community connections, work readiness, and overall improved sense of self-worth and pride through volunteering and service.
Building community resilience through youth volunteering: towards a new model (2022)
Melissa Nursey-Bray, Md. Masud-All-Kamal, Mirco Di Giacomo & Simon Millcock, Regional Studies, Regional Science, 9:1, 242-263
This paper presents the results of a project that sought to understand the barriers to, and incentives for, youth volunteering at three regional local government areas in South Australia. Culture, sports and youth clubs emerged as important hubs for youth activity and potential volunteer recruitment. We suggest a new model for regional youth volunteering that prioritizes events, partnerships and social media, as well as using existing institutions as bridging organizations.
‘The ability to change stuff up’: volunteering as a young person within established organisations.
Drawing on 25 in-depth interviews with young volunteers in Canterbury, New Zealand, this paper finds volunteering in established organisations can be a conflicted participatory space for young people. The analysis suggests organisations should be responsive to the aspirations young people strive to enact through their participation.
Research report: Youth volunteering in Auckland, 2019
Volunteering Auckland
This research has been conducted in the Unitec Institute of Technology and sponsored by Volunteering Auckland. Through interviewing volunteer managers and coordinators responsible for young volunteers’ engagement, the contribution of young volunteers to communities as well as the personal benefits to young people derived from their volunteering are identified and analysed. The research provides an overview of volunteer activities, motivations, attraction and engagement, and challenges and barriers of volunteering for youth aged between 13 and 18.
