u/bakapriyanshi

No one gets out of bed one day and fixes the world. However, each and every day, people choose to make their little corner of the world a little bit better. It is this choice, humble, modest, and very human, that constitutes volunteering.

Indeed, we have entered an era characterised by grand gestures, viral moments, and declarations. However, the true force behind any social transformation lies in something less sensational – people who faithfully appear in order to lend their help to those in need. And volunteers are precisely such helpers.

Volunteering goes well beyond spending some time. Indeed, what's really involved is contributing one's most valuable resource – time, attention, and the message that someone else's suffering affects you. In this sense, the act of volunteering may have an incredibly powerful effect on others.

What volunteering really does

Volunteering has effects that go far beyond anything most people realise. As reported by the UN Volunteers, volunteers add around 1.1 trillion dollars of economic value to the world through their labour every single year. They provide aid during disasters, manage literacy programmes, tutor troubled youth, serve in eldercare facilities, and cover the holes that neither the government nor any institution can fill.

However, the effects are not limited to the outside world. Studies have repeatedly found that people who are regular volunteers experience more happiness and purpose in life. Volunteering makes you empathic. Volunteering makes you feel connected. Most importantly, volunteering makes you realise in the most concrete sense that you are part of something bigger. Very few things in life can make the giver richer than giving.

"The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others." — Mahatma Gandhi

Every skill has its place.

One of the most commonly stated reasons for not participating in volunteer work is the belief that one lacks something that is worth contributing. Nothing could be further from the reality. Volunteering does not depend on any special qualification or any special skills. All that volunteering depends on is willingness. A teacher can tutor a struggling child. A graphic artist can assist an NGO in getting its message across. A retired professional can be a mentor to a newcomer in the field. A student can devote a Saturday to a community clean-up drive.

The communities that require assistance do not seek ideal volunteers. They seek dedicated volunteers who keep returning not because they have to, but because they truly care about what happens to their neighbours.

The ripple effect of one individual coming back

This is one thing that most people don’t realise about volunteering: the ripple effect. The moment one person starts volunteering, they make others follow suit. When children see adults volunteering freely to benefit their community, they learn some things that they could never be taught in class – that helping others is a privilege, not a burden, and that being generous is a sign of strength, not weakness. And this goes further.

This is something organisations such as Unessa Foundation know all too well. It isn’t just about money and programmes for them; it’s all about the power of people who will do anything for others and believe strongly in themselves. Volunteers are the key to making missions happen. They make them unstoppable.

You may not be able to change the entire world. But somewhere close to you, right now, there is someone who can have his entire world turned upside down by yours.

No one gets out of bed one day and fixes the world. However, each and every day, people choose to make their little corner of the world a little bit better. It is this choice, humble, modest, and very human, that constitutes volunteering.

Indeed, we have entered an era characterised by grand gestures, viral moments, and declarations. However, the true force behind any social transformation lies in something less sensational – people who faithfully appear in order to lend their help to those in need. And volunteers are precisely such helpers.

Volunteering goes well beyond spending some time. Indeed, what's really involved is contributing one's most valuable resource – time, attention, and the message that someone else's suffering affects you. In this sense, the act of volunteering may have an incredibly powerful effect on others.

What volunteering really does:

Volunteering has effects that go far beyond anything most people realise. As reported by the UN Volunteers, volunteers add around 1.1 trillion dollars of economic value to the world through their labour every single year. They provide aid during disasters, manage literacy programmes, tutor troubled youth, serve in eldercare facilities, and cover the holes that neither the government nor any institution can fill.

However, the effects are not limited to the outside world. Studies have repeatedly found that people who are regular volunteers experience more happiness and purpose in life. Volunteering makes you empathic. Volunteering makes you feel connected. Most importantly, volunteering makes you realise in the most concrete sense that you are part of something bigger. Very few things in life can make the giver richer than giving.

"The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others." — Mahatma Gandhi

Every skill has its place:

One of the most commonly stated reasons for not participating in volunteer work is the belief that one lacks something that is worth contributing. Nothing could be further from the reality. Volunteering does not depend on any special qualification or any special skills. All that volunteering depends on is willingness. A teacher can tutor a struggling child. A graphic artist can assist an NGO in getting its message across. A retired professional can be a mentor to a newcomer in the field. A student can devote a Saturday to a community clean-up drive.

The communities that require assistance do not seek ideal volunteers. They seek dedicated volunteers who keep returning not because they have to, but because they truly care about what happens to their neighbours.

The ripple effect of one individual coming back:

This is one thing that most people don’t realise about volunteering: the ripple effect. The moment one person starts volunteering, they make others follow suit. When children see adults volunteering freely to benefit their community, they learn some things that they could never be taught in class – that helping others is a privilege, not a burden, and that being generous is a sign of strength, not weakness. And this goes further.

This is something organisations such as Unessa Foundation know all too well. It isn’t just about money and programmes for them; it’s all about the power of people who will do anything for others and believe strongly in themselves. Volunteers are the key to making missions happen. They make them unstoppable.

You may not be able to change the entire world. But somewhere close to you, right now, there is someone who can have his entire world turned upside down by yours.

The UN adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989, and it is the most broadly adopted human rights treaty in history. Almost 190 nations have signed it. Almost four decades since, many children worldwide are still awaiting realisation of their rights under this convention.

Children's rights are not something novel. They have been recorded, accepted, and made mandatory through legislation in almost all nations of the world. But still, the disparity between what is written in books and what is experienced by the children in their everyday life continues to be one of the biggest failures of our system.

What are children’s rights?

According to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, there are four basic rights that form the foundation of all other children’s rights: non-discrimination, the best interest of the child, the right to survival and development, and the respect for the views of the child. On the basis of these rights, all other rights of children are derived. These rights include the right to education, health care, protection from abuse and exploitation, and many others.

These are not aspirational targets. These are rights that are recognised by law and that the government must protect. The problem is that there is a difference between obligation and execution.

The extent of the issue:

The numbers tell us a harsh story. According to UNICEF, an estimated 333 million children around the world are living in extreme poverty. Approximately 160 million children are involved in child labour, often in dangerous situations. About 244 million children are not attending schools across the globe. Moreover, one in two children is affected by violence each year.

The statistics are about individual children – children who have their own names and potentials and a life that was shortened or made difficult due to forces beyond their control. The magnitude of the problem should not be a cause for despair. It should be a cause for action.

"Children are not the people of tomorrow but are people of today. They have a right to be taken seriously and to be treated with tenderness and respect." — Janusz Korczak

Reasons for the persistence of violations

Violations of children’s rights do not occur in isolation. They are usually linked to wider failures within the system – poverty, conflict, discrimination, poor governance, and lack of social protection mechanisms. Children tend to suffer more in conflict regions from the impact of displacement, trauma, and the breakdown of education and health care systems. In areas where extreme poverty exists, some parents may have no choice but to make desperate decisions that affect their children.

Gender is equally important. The girls will be withdrawn from schools at an earlier age, get married while still young, and be excluded from decision-making processes which will affect them. Children who have disabilities will experience extra discrimination and will not access education and healthcare services like other children do.

Child Protection Measures that Work

Protection of children is not merely about putting laws in place; it involves ensuring effective implementation measures, raising community awareness, easy reporting processes, and true political will. It also involves providing resources to social workers, teachers, and health care practitioners who engage with children on a daily basis. It involves heeding children; after all, informed children are better able to tell when their rights are being violated.

Organisations operating on the grassroots level are very important within this ecosystem. This is because organisations operating on this level help to bridge the gap between policies and practice by engaging children and families within these communities.

The Unessa Foundation dedicates itself to championing the rights of all children and ensuring the systems and structures through which true protection can be offered. The mission of the foundation rests on an important principle, which is that a society that cares for its children invests in its future.

Children’s rights are not privileges.

Children’s rights are not contingent. Every child on this earth is entitled to children’s rights regardless of their background. We do not ask ourselves if we can afford to protect children’s rights but if we can afford not to.

This generation of young people does not intend to have the future bestowed upon them; they are creating it in schools, community centres, online, in protests, and in executive meetings. This generation is founding movements, challenging injustice, and holding institutions to account, as they have been failing too many people for too long now.

But the most astonishing thing is that they are doing it without anyone asking them to do it. Without waiting for permission. Without having been told that they are old enough or skilled or mature enough.

The distinctiveness of youth-driven change:

What makes change driven by young people so special? Young people have a unique quality when it comes to social change. They introduce urgency. They introduce creativity. They introduce a rejection of accepting that things just are that way. While older organisations might operate at a snail’s pace, encumbered by bureaucratic red tape and convention, young drivers of change act swiftly, noticing problems and implementing solutions where others simply cannot.

It has never been unknown to history. The student's movement of the sixties, the climate movement of the teens, and the social justice movement of today; youth have always played an integral role in shaping the most significant changes in society. They are not merely involved in making change happen; they spark change.

"Young people are not the leaders of tomorrow. They are the leaders of today. The question is whether we are giving them the space to lead."

The challenges they have to deal with:

It would be disingenuous to praise the achievements of youth leaders without mentioning the challenges that they face. Indeed, many youth leaders, particularly those belonging to marginalised communities, do what they do without having any access to funding or mentors or institutions or even being recognised for their efforts. They are motivated and committed, but motivation cannot buy tickets to meetings, internet access or time when you have to work two jobs just to put food on the table.

This is the void that needs to be filled. Not by giving aid, but by investing in them. By mentoring them. By providing them with platforms. By listening to them when they speak and taking action on their demands.

A portrait of investing in our youth

If you provide youth with all of the tools, opportunities, and empowerment that they need, the outcome is truly remarkable. Community gardens that nourish an entire community, mental health initiatives that break down years of taboo, and technology developed by teens that solves problems beyond the comprehension of adults.

They are not the exception. This is how things will be once we begin to respect our youth and empower them properly.

Our collective responsibility:

To ensure that young people act as agents of social change, the onus does not lie on governments or schoools alone. The onus lies on each one of us individually — whether as members of the community, employers, philanthropists, mentors, or concerned citizens who wish to build a particular world.

This concept is well understood by organisations such as The Unessa Foundation. The reason for their dedication towards empowering youth lies in the fact that social change can never be achieved sustainably unless the youth themselves lead the movement. Each and every one of the young people that they empower has the power to bring about a change that we cannot even fathom.

The generation who would not wait around doesn’t require us to save them. All that they need from us is that we believe in them, support them, and stay out of their way. For the transformation that we all had been wishing for? It’s happening – through people younger and more courageous than we could have imagined.

We live in a world where there is enough food produced for all individuals, yet almost 700 million people sleep at night hungry. This is not a problem of resources. This is a problem of distribution and social injustice. And it is one that we should no longer ignore.

Too often has poverty been considered an issue that stems from personal choices such as laziness or lack of ambition. Not only is this untrue, but this mentality is extremely harmful. It places responsibility squarely on the shoulders of those affected, allowing others to go unpunished.

It is time that poverty be referred to in its true form — a result of deliberate decisions taken from above that consistently deprive people at the bottom of their rights.

The scale of the crisis:

According to Oxfam, the five richest men in the world now own twice as much as they did before 2020, while five billion people have seen their wealth stagnate or decrease. We are seeing unprecedented inequality — not because inequality is natural, but because we have failed to control it.

In developing countries, people find themselves in a vicious cycle of poverty from one generation to another. The inability to access education, health services, clean water, and jobs makes it almost impossible to escape without outside intervention.

"Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity; it is an act of justice." — Nelson Mandela

Why is charity alone not enough?

Charity is important, but it cannot solve poverty alone. It is a plaster on a problem that needs surgery. Providing food helps a family survive today — but it does not address why they had no food in the first place. The root causes must be solved.

Advocacy is required. Policy change is required. Communities must be given not only resources but power — the power to decide for themselves what happens next.

What we must demand?

We need to demand a living wage, not just a minimum wage. We need to demand healthcare and education as rights, not privileges. We need to demand fair taxes where corporations pay equally rather than offloading the burden onto working people. And we must demand that the voices of the poor are heard at decision-making tables.

The role of community-driven organisations:

Community-based organisations are doing the necessary work of creating a bridge — educating and economically empowering the marginalised while systemic change takes time.

The Unessa Foundation firmly stands on the belief that everyone deserves respect, opportunity, and a chance at a better life. In doing so, they are not only helping those most in need but strengthening society as a whole.

Poverty is not predestined. It is a choice made by those who govern our systems. And choices can always be undone — but only when enough of us decide to act.

🌐 Learn more: https://unessafoundation.org