By the Power of VolunteeringYouth!

Julide Erdogan, 10 January 2018 According to the Turkish Statistical Institute’s data, total population of Turkey has reached up to 79 million 814 thousand and 871 by the end of 2016. The young population (between 15-24 years old) is 12 million 989 thousand and 42, which makes 16.3 % of the total population. 16.3 % […]

Julide Erdogan, 10 January 2018

According to the Turkish Statistical Institute’s data, total population of Turkey has reached up to 79 million 814 thousand and 871 by the end of 2016. The young population (between 15-24 years old) is 12 million 989 thousand and 42, which makes 16.3 % of the total population.

16.3 % of total population consists of youngsters. Over 7 million of them are university students. 24% of them neither work or study, which means some of these young people are not visible at all. These numbers are very dramatic and thought-provoking.

Community Volunteers Foundation (TOG), has been working with the widest youth network in Turkey for 15 years. We see that young people volunteer to be a part of the change around them, to be the subject of their own lives, to feel important and not lose their time in limbo.

We can group young people’s motivation to volunteer in social responsibility projects into four different topics:

To Make Their Voices Heard: In Turkey, where the young population is high, youngsters prefer to be heard instead of just to have numeral visibility. Civil society becomes an area for them to realise their thoughts and dreams.

To Be Aware: Young people who are aware and practice their rights can empathize with the ones who cannot and that is why; they can act in order to change this.

To Be Good: Young people who develop and conduct a project for a problematic issue, not only contribute to society, they can support their personal developments as active individuals of society.

To Know What They Want: When young people approach life with a social awareness and volunteer in an environment where they can express themselves freely, they are noticed and given equal reach to the facilities; they act a key role in the society as active citizens.