2024-07-11 13:23:47
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The Minister of Youth and Sports took part this Friday, July 5, 2024 in the launch of the validation workshop of the report on the situation of volunteers at the United Nations system house. The aim was to present to Guinean partners the situation of volunteers in the context of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This program, which is part of the creation of employment opportunities, will contribute to the deployment of 350 volunteers in the administrative regions of Kankan and N’zérékoré, to lead a health project for the access of populations to basic social services.
“Volunteering has been an important element of national policy since our independence. Like the history of our army, it has always been a long-term fight, where self-sacrifice has been the main characteristic. So if we are a nation that is holding the road, it is because young Guineans have always been volunteers and who have given this self-sacrifice with very insufficient remuneration compared to their commitment. This is to tell you that it is very difficult to aspire to development if you do not have this in a country. This policy has been extended for a very long time to the civilian level, in particular with the creation of the National Agency for Youth Volunteering (ANVJ). With 80% of our population being young, we must instill the spirit of volunteerism in order to serve our communities that are in need,” mentioned the Minister of Youth and Sports, announcing that: “our dispensaries that do not have nurses, that do not have teachers, our agriculture that does not have the workforce, but also at the level of our schools that train and that do not have opportunities, volunteering can now serve as a springboard to allow young people to do internships in order to add a grain of salt to their training (…).”
These 350 volunteers, the Minister specifies, 250 will come from the United Nations system, thanks to the support of the UNDP. Other ambitions displayed by the Government, confides Kéamou Bogola Haba, is to recruit 25,000 young volunteers from 2025, and to reach a level of 45,000 in 2035 on the national territory.
“I think that this will be able to solve enough problems in terms of employment. The other thing that we are going to tackle is international volunteering where Guinea is less represented. We must therefore prepare our young people so that they are potential and worthy Guinean representatives, capable of participating in the resolution of problems related to humanitarian disasters, in the maintenance of peace that our defense and security forces are already doing,” he said.
For the deputy representative of the UNDP, this institutional support is only the materialization of a commitment which is to see volunteers at the service of development, since they give of themselves by contributing to assisting populations in accessing basic services.
“I think we must support Guinea to promote national volunteering. That is why we helped set up the national volunteer corps. And this year, we will make a contribution to the Government for the recruitment and deployment of 250 young volunteers among the 350 planned in the different localities of the country. It was important to take note of the report on the contribution of volunteers in the context of development and the achievement of the SDGs,” said Mr. Alhassane Bah.
This validation report on sustainable development goals, according to the National Director of the National Youth Volunteer Agency (ANVJ), will be presented to the United Nations on July 12.
“This is a work that was done by a consultant recruited for this purpose and who worked with us, our traditional partners, including France volontaires, the United Nations Volunteers program, the Peace Corps and other associations involved in volunteering. This document will demonstrate the contribution of national and international volunteers working in Guinea in the context of achieving the SDGs,” said Alpha Macka Baldé.
Sâa Robert Koundouno
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