Promoting volunteerism and humanitarian action among the Scouts

United Nations Volunteers (UNV) Programme Manager Jacques Mouaya met a few days ago some Youth Scouts of the African sub-region at the 8th Youth Forum of the West African Scout Movement at the Ivory Coast Scout headquarters, Treichville.

It was on the occasion of a communication on Volunteerism and humanitarian actions, held in the presence of 40 young participants from Benin, Niger, Togo, Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire. The objective of the communication was to motivate young scouts to get involved in volunteer actions for humanitarian purposes in an Africa plagued by incessant conflicts.

Arguing that Scout life is already a kind of volunteerism, Jacques Mouaya urged young people to organize themselves through their supervising team, to provide assistance to national and international organizations working in the humanitarian field, especially with the influx of refugees and displaced people throughout the continent. They would contribute, for example, through the building of shelters or the distribution of humanitarian aid.

The UNV Programme Manager especially stressed the importance of their involvement in advocacy for peace, national reconciliation and social cohesion, as it will help to prevent intra-community conflicts in the sub-region.

An information stand on volunteerism was held by Dramane Coulibaly, from the UNV Field Unit, to answer the many questions on volunteer work from scouts of the five participant countries.