ARGENTINA
[1998 information]
The main avenue for NYS in Argentina is currently Service-Learning. This expanded update is taken from the conference presentation on NYS and Service-Learning given by Professor Maria Nieves Tapia de Basílico, Head of Programme on Service-Learning and Community Service, National Ministry of Education, Argentina.
In 1983, following the Malvinas-Falklands War (the first time Argentinian conscripts had been called to serve in a war), there were proposals for conscientious objection and alternative forms of service, but these were not taken forward. Large-scale civilian service as an alternative to required military service did receive widespread attention and support early in this decade, but the movement collapsed with the sudden end of conscription in 1994. Though youth community service has a long tradition in Argentina, it tends to be through religious communities, environmental or local organizations, and not actual NYS programmes. The main drive for voluntary service comes from the people, rather than the Government (which has drastically reduced social policies as a result of the economic policies dictated by the World Bank), and though the number of people volunteering is on the increase, there is no movement for establishing a civilian service in relation to military service.
The emphasis now is on the development of service-learning projects for students aged 12 to 18. This initiative builds on a long tradition of service by school and university students, but always as an extra-curricular option. However, the tradition had eroded during the years of political turmoil in the 1970s and 1980s. National educational reform in 1993 opened the door for introduction into formal education of service-learning, curriculum-based projects. Through the National Ministry of Education, the Government is now piloting a `Service-Learning Project' - conducting research, building a data-base of schools doing service-learning, convening international seminars on service-learning, training local education officers in how to set up service-learning programmes, looking at curriculum reform, and networking with the National Forum of Social Sector organizations and the private and religious schools' national federations.
AUSTRALIA
[1998 information]
Although the Australian Government has a range of initiatives for its young people, Australia's actual NYS experience centres on its Green Corps programme. The following update is taken from the Conference presentation `Green Corps - Young Australians for the Environment' given by Phil Harrison, Green Corps Director, the Australian Trust for Conservation Volunteers (now known as Conservation Volunteers Australia), the organization responsible for managing the programme.
The programme, funded by the Government, began in 1997 as part of its youth employment strategy. It combines work on priority environmental conservation projects with quality accredited training. It is open to young men and women from 17 to 20 years of age. These young people are recruited on the basis of their demonstrated commitment to and enthusiasm for the Australian environment. Each Green Corps member serves for a six-month period and the aim is to have a total of 3,500 members during the first three years of Green Corps. Currently, there are three volunteer applicants for every place on Green Corps projects.
The typical Green Corps project involves 10 Green Corps members, and consists of about equal periods of training and service (14 weeks on major project, 4 weeks on minor projects, 6 weeks accredited training, and 2 weeks community service - where the community service projects are identified by the Corps members). The typical project is located outside urban areas, and is administered by a non-governmental organization or community group. Projects are developed in association with community groups and government agencies, as Green Corp's aim is to assist priority environmental projects (conservation, land and coastcare, endangered species, heritage etc) that enjoy broad-based community support. The plan is to have 350 projects completed nation-wide during the first three years of the programme. Currently, projects are located in all of the many diverse areas of Australia.
Achievements in the first year alone have been significant - over half a million native trees planted, over 100kms of walking track built to help control visitor impact in sensitive environments, over 1000 koalas captured for sterilisation to control population growth and halt over-grazing, over 100kms of fencing constructed, over 100 flora/fauna surveys conducted. Individual project teams have also made some notable achievements - sighting and documenting a rare small mammal, and helping with the first ever successful rescue of beached sperm whales. Green Corps also has a capacity to assist communities affected by natural disasters, for example, helping with flood relief, and with revegetation after bushfires. The response from both Corps members and partner agencies during the first year of Green Corps has been very positive.
2002 update: For further information on the Green Corps, contact the Youth Bureau, Deparment of Family and Community Services.
BOTSWANA
[1998 information]
Tirelo Setshaba, meaning "National Service", was launched in 1980 as a pilot project to give "O" level secondary school leavers an educating, broadening, maturing experience before entering higher education or employment, to provide educated manpower to help carry out rural development work, and to encourage greater understanding of each other among people in different parts of Botswana. The pilot project with 28 volunteer participants was successful. Tirelo Setshaba was established as a continuing programme in 1981 and became a mandatory programme in 1984. However, various practical factors have prevented Tirelo Setshaba from having 100 percent enrolment of all "O" level completers. In 1998, it enrolled 9,566 young people, or 65 percent of those eligible.
Many Tirelo Setshaba participants serve in small villages in places such as schools, day care centres, health clinics, and residential gardening plots. They maintain daily journals of experiences and problems and review these journals with visiting Tirelo Setshaba staff members several times during the year of service. Evaluations have shown that the usefulness of Tirelo Setshaba cannot be over-emphasized. Participants have contributed significantly to the places where they have served, while the participants themselves have matured in such ways as budgeting, learning how to adapt to new surroundings, taking initiatives, and becoming more self-reliant. In addition, the village ties established by participants lead many of them to continue to be in touch with the villagers and return many years after the service period for occasions such as marriages and funerals.
BRAZIL
[1998 information]
The Brazilian delegates were unable to attend the Conference, but provided information about their new Civilian Volunteer Service programme. This ambitious programme is being piloted in the State of Rio de Janeiro, involving nearly 15,000 young people and 600 community organisations. The immediate goal is to provide underprivileged young people with a new opportunity to complete their basic education and acquire technical skills in exchange for community work. The programme aims to create a volunteer corps of young people with a two-fold mission:
(i) a mission of community service in benefit of the most underprivileged areas of the State where these young people
live;
(ii) a personal mission of service through the active participation in community campaigns, thereby becoming aware and responsible citizens.
PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
[1998 information]
As the most populous country in the world (1.2 billion people) and one of the youngest countries in terms of population structure (470 million people are aged 14-35), China has a wide range of youth and community service initiatives. This update combines the information on youth service and community service provided in the conference presentations given by Wang Shihong, Deputy Director, International Department, All-China Youth Federation, Cong Feijun, Programme Official, International Co-operation Department, Ministry of Civil Affairs and Zhu Qian, Research Fellow, Chinese Juvenile & Youth Research Centre, People's Republic of China.
Among young people, the All-China Youth Federation has led the way, particularly with the formation of the Chinese Young Volunteers Association (CYVA) in 1995. This is a national, social organization of young people from all walks of life who work voluntarily in public welfare and social services. Projects include long-term, one-to-one service by a volunteer to an individual or family in need; narration service by students at museums and cultural activities; literacy, health and library services provided by students to rural communities during the summer vacation period; care of orphans; and several wide-ranging initiatives aimed at the relief of people living in poverty. A survey has shown that the equivalent of 500,000 person-years of service have been contributed by young people in these ways in the first three years of the Association.
Starting in 1987, the Ministry of Civil Affairs has initiated a vast amount of community service, with a particular emphasis on urban areas and on care of the aged and the handicapped. Achievements have been significant: growing support by people for their communities and for the practice of community-provided services; a growth in community services, in their target groups, their diversity and flexibility, and community welfare networks; increased governmental support as a result of the success of the services; and better interpersonal relations within communities. Some problems remain - for example, imbalance in services due to the different economic situations of different areas, sluggish reform and resourcing of the social welfare system, the need for more professional managers, technical and social workers to help with the services, and stagnant publicity for the services. The Government plans to implement a series of measures in the coming years to help strengthen community services, for example, improved reform of the social welfare system to keep up with the market economy reforms, and mobilisation of local organisations, employers and investors to get them involved in community service provision.
EUROPEAN VOLUNTARY SERVICE (EVS)
[1998 information]
EVS was founded in 1996 to promote and to facilitate the exchange of full-time volunteers among the member states of the European Union, Norway, and Iceland. Persons 18 to 25 years of age in the member countries are eligible to participate. Each country has sending and hosting organizations which are responsible for most of the preparation and supervision of volunteers. EVS is the co-ordinator between senders and hosts and provides up to 50 percent of total costs. It is expected that some 2,500 volunteers will have done 6 to 12 months of full-time service in host countries by 1999. (Further details on the EVS and transnational partnerships within EVS are on pages 33 to 34).
FRANCE
[1998 information]
Military conscription is being gradually phased out and is being replaced by a volunteer military service (defence, security and protection) and by two types of full-time voluntary civilian service.
The first type of voluntary civilian service would allow young men and women to accomplish actions of social utility, for example, helping disabled or elderly persons or young people in difficulty, tutoring or mentoring students, helping the homeless or the unemployed by fighting against exclusion and poverty in their community, campaigning against drug addiction, tobacco abuse or AIDS. The second type of voluntary civilian service would permit adult volunteers and young men and women to work in fields such as health, science, and culture in overseas service and in humanitarian aid.
These new forms of full-time service would be governed by law and would provide volunteers with food, accommodation, transport, and allowances, and might include post-service educational benefits. It is anticipated that they will take effect before conscription finally ends in 2002. Future laws enacted in this field will allow the transition between a compulsory service and an institutionalized volunteerism.
THE GAMBIA
[1998 information]
The Gambia National Youth Service Scheme was established in 1996 with the major objectives of training young people to appreciate the dignity of labour, instilling in them the spirit of self-reliance, and encouraging them to create jobs. The scheme is open to young men and women from 17 to 25 years of age who are single, unemployed, medically fit, and who have at least nine years of schooling and no criminal record. The 1998 enrolment is 300.
Following 6 weeks of para-military training, Corps members are assigned to 22 months of skills training combined with community development service. Among the areas of training and service are agriculture, auto-mechanics, computer work, plumbing, and accounting. The service period concludes with Corps members re-assembled for a de-briefing and passing-out programme during which certificates of national service are awarded to successful participants.
GERMANY
[1998 information]
As Germany is at the forefront of NYS in Europe, and as this Conference was held in Europe for the first time, the German Federal Government was given the opportunity to make a full presentation on its experiences and its current NYS situation. The following update is taken from the presentation given by Peter Kupferschmid of the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth.
NYS has two principal components. The first is Zivildienst, wherein young men perform 13 months of civilian service as a substitute for 10 months of required military service. In 1998, 134,000 young men were serving in Zivildienst, most of them under the aegis of voluntary welfare associations, giving care and assistance to the elderly and infirm, and carrying out ecological and additional services (eg craftwork, administrative work). Because of the linkage with military service, Zivildienst members generally receive the same pay and social security benefits as their counterparts in the military.
The second component of NYS in Germany includes the Voluntary Social Year founded in 1964, and the Voluntary Ecological Year, founded in 1993. Both are full-time, year-long programmes. They are open to both men and women aged 16 to 27, but 90 percent are women, 90 percent are in the age range of 17 to 21, and 90 percent are with the Voluntary Social Year.
Some 10,500 served with these two programmes in 1998. Volunteers serve in settings similar to those found in Zivildienst; in fact, Zivildienst members and Volunteers are often found in the same setting. The host organizations in both Volunteer programmes are required by law to provide pocket money, accommodation, meals, and work clothes. Also, the law guarantees them complete social security coverage and cost reductions on public transport.
The educational value of a service experience has been recognized in recent years to the extent that the government requires members of the two Volunteer programmes to have 25 seminar days during the year and provides financial support for the seminars.
In addition, some 600 young Germans are doing volunteer service abroad and a few foreign students are serving in Germany. Unlike the foregoing programmes, neither of these activities is regulated by law.
GHANA
[1998 information]
Ghana's National Service Scheme began in 1973 with a requirement for all university graduates and diplomats to serve for one year in areas such as public service, education, and industry. The law was then expanded to include all 18 year-olds, however, financial limitations restricted the growth of the Scheme to products of technical institutions and GCE `A' level certificate holders.
With the phasing out of the `A' level/Sixth Form programme in Ghana's schools in 1996, the programme of National Service has again been modified, and only diplomats and graduates from tertiary institutions are now called for one year of National Service. This is a return to the old programme which started in 1973 and which was then reviewed in 1980. This review is not yet supported by new legislation. Major fields of service are education, and health and community work, with an emphasis on rural development.
INDIA
[1998 information]
The following expanded update is taken largely from the main conference presentation given by Dr. S. N. Subba Rao, Director of the National Youth Project, India.
India, which is one of the most populous countries in the world (with young people comprising 40% of the population), has a large number of youth organizations, some nation-wide and some local, and with different political, religious or class affiliations.
The National Youth Project was launched by some youth workers in 1970 and it now has over 150 camps in various parts of the country. 200,000 young people have taken part in these camps (with the biggest camp involving 23,500 young people). A typical camp has from 200 to 500 young people and includes people of different religions, different languages, and different political ideologies. Most camps last for a week to ten days. Camp activities include manual work projects to help the needy, having prayers from different religions, learning the language of other campers, group discussions, and making visits to nearby villages. National Youth Project programmes also help build international understanding - many young people from other countries have participated in National Youth Project activities, including the Goodwill Train which journeyed through the whole of India. The experience of the National Youth Project to date shows that the young people of a country have a vital role to play in creating a better future.
Among many other organisations working with young people, the Indian Institute of Youth and Development (IIYD - `I do, I do, You Do' - ie what we ask others to do, we should be ready to do it twice over) is a leading light at local level. It concentrates on non-student young people in the state of Orissa (as non-student young people tend to be more likely to miss out on youth service and training as they have less opportunity, exposure and time). It has given training and support to some 400 youth groups since its establishment in 1978. It gives training and experience in areas related to the needs of villagers, including such areas as bee-keeping, low-cost housing, public health and environmental protection. Many local communities have gained from its work, and a large number of affiliated non-governmental youth organizations have learnt from it and have used its practices in their own areas.
ISRAEL
[1998 information]
For nearly 50 years, some 70 percent of Jewish young men and women had been drafted into military service. Significant changes in recent years may lead to the establishment of a civilian National Youth Service including men and women, Jews and Arabs. First, the proportion of young people in the military has fallen to about 50 percent. Second, whereas civilian service as an alternative to military service had been performed almost exclusively by female religious Jews, increasingly men, Arabs and non-religious women are performing alternative service.
These developments are taking place in a country where service to the nation is highly regarded. The Carmel Institute for Social Studies is playing a leading role in exploring possibilities for the development of a nation-wide civic service for young men and women, for Jews and Arabs.
ITALY
[1998 information]
A reform to Italy's NYS law was approved this month (June 1998), and brings in several major developments: transfer of responsibility for the NYS from the military to the civil authorities, and decentralization (co-ordination by the Prime Minister's office with regional governments in charge of operational aspects); recognition of NYS as a subjective right, a choice made by the young person without need for approval by any authority; recognition of training, as introduction to the NYS, as an integral element of the community service activities carried out; recognition of the trans-national dimension - that long-term volunteering in another country in socially useful projects will be an accepted alternative to the military draft; and an expansion of the areas in which NYS participants may be involved, to cover the whole social sector, environmental protection, free time and culture, artistic heritage, international co-operation and civil protection.
A Bill on the establishment of a National Civil Service for young people is also currently under discussion by Parliament. In light of these discussions, the Ministry for Social Solidarity and the Ministry for Equal Opportunities have launched, in co-operation with some of the biggest Italian municipalities, a pilot project involving, on a long-term basis, groups of girls who will be engaged in socially useful activities.
The `Third Sector' has been an emerging force in Italy. It has many elements which overlap with the NYS: a strong emphasis on voluntarism, socially useful and service activities, and a major engagement by young people. The Forum del Terzo Settore (Third Sector Forum) is the umbrella organisation bringing together 72 Italian NGOs, with a total of around 9 and a half million members, the largest majority of whom are volunteers giving from a few hours a week to full time voluntary engagement in areas which identify with those covered by the NYS. The organisations of the Forum manage activities which provide jobs to around 400,000 people and a few months ago the national government signed an agreement with this umbrella NGO, formalizing permanent consultations and lobbying by the Forum on all pieces of legislation related to the areas in which it is active.
NEW ZEALAND
[1998 information]
The core of New Zealand's youth service is its Conservation Corps (NZCC). It enrols young, unemployed men and women who serve on 20-week projects in groups of ten per project. There is also a smaller Youth Service Corps patterned along similar lines. Annual enrolment in the two programmes is approximately 2,000 per year.
There are also three new developments in 1998:
- A prison project is being launched that is to involve 24 inmates prior to release. This is being tested to see if it helps them to become employed after release from prison.
- An all-female corps project is being tested to see why females have low participation rates in the NZCC.
- Sarndra Hamilton, NZCC's director, is going to Bouganville in July 1998 to prepare for organizing a conservation corps based on the New Zealand model.
NIGERIA
[1998 information]
The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) grew out of the need to provide manpower in certain areas and out of the lessons of the Civil War from 1967-1970. It was felt that ethnic prejudices could be reduced and manpower shortages could be alleviated by assigning university graduates to serve in parts of the country different from where they grew up. Consequently, NYSC was established by law on 22 May 1973.
NYSC has grown steadily from some 2,000 members at the beginning to 75,000 in 1998. In addition to university graduates, it includes holders of a Higher National Diploma. The length of service is 12 months. Following an orientation period, Corps members are deployed to work in federal and state establishments including schools, medical institutions, and the private sector. In addition, members work on community development projects in areas such as adult education, health clinics, rural infrastructure, and agricultural activities. As a rule, Corps members work in the fields they specialized in while in higher education.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
[1998 information]
In conjunction with the 3rd Global Conference on National Youth Service hosted by Papua New Guinea in 1996, the government's National Youth Service sponsored a nation-wide Mini-Conference on NYS that enacted 19 resolutions in areas such as health, education, the environment, and the role of young people in decision-making. Some of these resolutions have been put into effect and most of the others are planned to be in effect by 2002. The overall strategy is to have 50 percent of young men and women participating in constructive development activities at the local level by 2002.
To date 1,000 young people have been enlisted as Reserve Police Officers to assist communities with minor community and family problems. Also, Youth Access Centres are being developed to give young people assistance with such matters as employment opportunities and personal counselling. Governmental financial support for these initiatives is limited and the PNG NYS is seeking corporate support as well.
RUSSIA
[1998 information]
Under Soviet rule, the Young Communist League, called Komsomol, created one of the largest and most comprehensive youth structures in the world. It compelled young people to surrender free time for a variety of activities ranging from collecting old newspapers to harvesting agricultural produce. These institutions were discredited and dismantled in the post-perestroika period and many of the associated activities, including service, were discontinued. Relative to international norms, such service activities were less than ideal because they were authoritarian and compulsory; they were ideologically oriented; and they were primarily motivated by shortcomings of the planned economy, rather than by the needs of the local community.
The latest attempts to introduce youth service seek to integrate the best from a long Russian tradition with the needs and realities of today. One such effort is being led by the Association of Young Leaders, a private sector organization. It is committed to developing and institutionalizing volunteer youth service programmes in Russia. It has convened more than 60 conferences on youth service and is setting up youth service organizations in 10 regions of the country.
Another private organization, Social Partnership, is working to strengthen alternative service for Conscientious Objectors (COs) to required military service. The right to conscientious objection is guaranteed by the Constitution but as yet the mechanism is not in place for people to perform alternative civilian service. Social Partnership is consulting with members of the Duma in regard to alternative service legislation that would establish the necessary mechanism, and is stimulating local experiments employing COs in the social sphere. (More detailed information on the Association of Young Leaders is on page 43, and Social Partnership on pages 38 to 39).
SOUTH AFRICA
[1998 information]
South Africa's population is predominantly young: 72% of the population is aged under 35, and 39% of the population is aged between 14 and 35 (the national definition of youth). Proposals for NYS have originated from several sources in recent years and some initiatives are now underway.
In 1994 the new government established the National Youth Commission (NYC), every member of which is under 35 years of age. The Commission has stated that: political and economic clout are required to bolster and ensure the effectiveness of NYS initiatives; certification should be made compatible with educational qualifications; and there must be a strong commitment that NYS would not be used for military or destructive purposes.
At the time of this Conference Report going to press (early 1999) - the NYC has recently published a Green Paper outlining plans for a National Youth Service in South Africa: The NYC will seek to facilitate initial NYS projects through limited pilot activities in 1999, with the view to gaining experience of programme design and implementation according to agreed criteria and principles. The projects will be located in a range of institutions including local governmental and non-governmental organizations to try to help ensure that by the end of 1999 up to 15,000 young people are involved in NYS. Following piloting, the NYS Programme and an NYS Agency will be launched in the year 2000, and a two-year development programme will then be pursued and evaluated at the end of 2001, leading to mid-term consolidation. The Green Paper can also be viewed on the web at: http://yis.co.za/nyc/nyc_green_paper.htm
Also, effective from 1999, every health, dental and medical student will have to participate in some form of community service. The Minister of Justice is planning to institute a similar programme in which law students serve a year of community service to meet the needs of people who are under-served in terms of legal assistance. In addition, the military has initiated a National Service Scheme to train soldiers being released in civilian job skills.
Significantly, President Nelson Mandela has joined the call for NYS, stating that it should be a special presidential project.
SPAIN
[1998 information]
Recent years have seen substantial activity in the teaching of values through the classroom, community service, and other activities. This initiative comes under the heading of prosociality, which is briefly defined as "those actions that tend to benefit other people without the prospect of an external personal benefit." It includes actions such as physical help, verbal help, deep listening, and empathy. Models of prosociality have been tested with positive results and have been put into place in a number of schools in Spain, Italy, and the Czech Republic. Investigations are now being conducted into combining prosociality with service-learning. Pilot programmes of service-learning may start in Catalonia.
Although there is no national youth service as such in Spain, the teaching of prosociality and the development of service-learning, together with the growth in the number of young people interested in participating in the many private and civic associations devoted to voluntary service, are positive steps forward.
USA
[1998 information]
Early programmes of NYS were centralized and almost totally supported by the federal government. Major ones were the Civilian Conservation Corps (1933-1942), the Peace Corps (1961 onward), and Volunteers in Service to America (1964 onward). NYS today is largely decentralized with numerous centres of initiative, both public and private.
Federal support for NYS comes from the Corporation for National Service. Its annual budget of about $500 million supports some 25,000 young people in full-time service for a year, some one million students in part-time service-learning activities, and some 500,000 senior citizens in service activities, mostly part-time. The web-site for the Corporation for National Service provides a good source of information about national youth service developments; its address is: www.nationalservice.org
From the private sector, major financial support for NYS has come from foundations such as Ford and Kellogg. Organizations such as Campus Compact and the National Youth Leadership Council have been created to advance NYS. A few long-established bodies, such as the National Association of Secondary School Principals, have been in the forefront of NYS initiatives.
Universities such as Brandeis and Minnesota have been involved in NYS research activities. Their research results have helped to guide the course of NYS and, since the findings are almost always in strong support of NYS, they have been used to gain additional funding for NYS.
ZAMBIA
[1998 information]
The Zambia National Service (ZNS) has evolved through several stages since its inception as a military force in 1963. As the need for military actions declined, ZNS remained a military establishment but moved increasingly into the area of training young people in agriculture and various artisan skills. ZNS is now being transformed into a service for development where it will work in such areas as land clearing projects, road building, and emergency relief (through the introduction of three programmes: rural development, voluntary youth skills training, and national task force activities). The plan is to restructure ZNS so that most of its personnel are non-military, while involving unemployed young people in skills training and service for development.
4th
Global conference on national youth service (1998) 
