World Volunteer Day is an opportunity to look back on these volunteers who got involved at the time of the health crisis. The spread of Covid-19 has effectively pushed the non-profit sector to reinvent itself. At the end of the first confinement, 86% of associations were forced to cancel one or more events, 66% were forced to stop their activities and 57% had to review their mode of operation with a strong breakthrough in tele-volunteering. "
Cultural, sports and prison associations were the most impacted by health restrictions with many activities that had to be stopped
", explains Hubert Pénicaud, responsible for civic engagement within France Bénévolat.
Read also Volunteering resists the end of health restriction measures
But despite these difficulties, France has also seen the breakthrough of a strong solidarity between these citizens, wishing to make themselves useful and help.
"
Local solidarity associations, supporting the causes of isolation and precariousness have seen their needs multiply with the crisis but have also witnessed a large influx of volunteers
", highlights Hubert Pénicaud.
At the forefront of this mobilization, young people.
“
Many young people very quickly knocked on the doors of associations.
Their mobilization was extremely rapid.
This is a trend that we have observed for several years and which has been accelerated with the health crisis
”.
Indeed, between 2010 and 2019, the engagement rate among those under 35 fell from 16% to 22%, according to the latest barometer of volunteering published by France Bénévolat and IFOP.
"People my age needed food support"
Hervé, 22, is one of those young people who have made a commitment. “
The click was during the first confinement. When I went out for a walk in my neighborhood in Paris, I saw long queues of people waiting for meal distributions
, ”he recalls. This young student in history and public affairs then became a volunteer for the Order of Malta to help with food distribution in the 20th arrondissement of Paris. “
What struck me a lot was that there were a lot of people my age who needed food support. Some were even in the same university as me,
”he says. Since then, Hervé has continued to give of his time for this cause at least every Saturday afternoon.
For her part, Chloé, at the height of her 20 years, got involved in the Partage Auvergne association, which aims to promote children's rights throughout the world.
“
During the first confinement, I saw the increase in solidarity actions.
It encouraged me to get started by telling myself that I too could help on my own scale,
”explains this law student.
But the actions in schools having only been able to resume at the start of the 2021 school year, Chloe had to arm herself with patience before being able to embark on this volunteer adventure.
"
I find it enriching to contribute to the information of children, to help them to have less judgments between themselves and towards the other children of the world
", she affirms.
Relocations, a brake on the lasting engagement of young people
This young volunteer wishes to continue her commitment in Clermont-Ferrand at least until the end of the school year and plans to continue it in another branch of the association depending on her new city of study. The changes of cities and countries are precisely one of the obstacles to the long-term engagement of young people in associations. "
After the first confinement, the young people continued their voluntary work but it is true that at that age, there are many constraints depending on their places of study or internship which can change from one year. on the other
”, recognizes Hubert Pénicaud of France Bénévolat.
Another cause also had a considerable need for arms, especially during the first confinement: hospitals.
The AP-HP then made a call to find volunteers.
Charles, 33 and then unemployed, responded.
"
I wanted to feel useful, I could not sit back and do nothing when I could use both hands and my brain to help
", explains this thirty-something, who was working just before the crisis in the human resources of a large group of the CAC 40.
Read alsoContribution, volunteering: these young people in action during confinement
Charles undertakes full time as a volunteer first as a hospital secretary. He then became logistics manager for the assembly and distribution of PCR test kits throughout Ile-de-France. “
By working voluntarily, or forgetting the money, the hierarchical status. We are simply there to help and see the impact of what we bring, it's liberating,
”he emphasizes. Since this mobilization of a few months, Charles has continued to give of his time but for a cause in which he directly brings his professional expertise, namely to prepare students for job interviews.
While among young people the trend is towards mobilization, the commitment of those over 65 is declining, with a rate which fell from 38% to 31% between 2010 and 2019. A trend which has been reinforced with the coronavirus crisis.
Strongly invited to stay at home during confinement, this category of the population has found new activities.
A problematic situation for some associations for which seniors represented a large part of their volunteers and which are now looking for replacements ...
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