Understanding youth participation to volunteer for child rights

Today, Pakistan has the highest percentage of young people in its history, who can become champions of child rights through channelizing their energy. Voices for Children's Aspirations and Needs (VCAN) student society at the University of Lahore is one such student body, working to promote child rights and eliminate violence against children.

The study identifies factors contributing to young people's motivation to join VCAN student society working for children's rights and influence their participation in activities, along with attitudinal shift. The current study also attempts to find out effective mediums to engage youth in volunteering activities for the prevention of violence against children.

Sample (N = 40) was selected through purposive sampling from the VCAN Student Society at the University of Lahore.

The data were collected through a questionnaire developed by the researchers (α = 0.86). Collected data were analyzed by finding descriptive statistics (mean, percentage and frequency) and paired samplet-test using statistics software, SPSS, version 21.0.

Motivation for joining student society included wanting to work for the betterment of children (57.5 %) and to volunteer for the prevention of violence against children (47.5 %). There was a statistically significant difference (t=-4.16, p < .001) in the perception of participants about child rights before and after joining the society. Factors such as lack of required knowledge, unclear roles, and contrast between expected role and skillset (45.0 %, 42.5 %, and 40.0 % respectively) discouraged youth participation. 37.5 % of the participants considered WhatsApp as an extremely effective way to engage youth whereas 32.5 % reported Facebook as an extremely effective medium for the same purpose.

Student societies provide a great platform for students to be active for a social cause. Educational institutions should encourage and facilitate youth participation for such causes.