Volume 3. Issue 1. 2023.
Editorial Preface
The first issue of the third edition of the Volunteering Review focuses on youth volunteering - almost one hundred and sixty pages. Youth volunteering, which is one of the cornerstones of the development of the Hungarian voluntary sector. The first two studies, based on the Hungarian Youth Survey 2020 database, analyse the characteristics of young volunteers and the relationship between leisure time use and volunteering. Their results may be of interest not only to researchers, but also to practitioners and youth policy actors. The third of the theoretical studies explores the motivation for festival volunteering, which is popular among young people. The Volunteer Review also considers it its mission to provide regular space for practical examples of volunteer management in the country. In this issue, you can read three such case studies - one on the results of the three-year "If You" programme of the Hungarian Maltese Charity Organisation, one on the ten-year experience of a media and cultural association in youth volunteering and as a host organisation in the field of School Community Service, and one on municipal youth work and volunteering in a small rural town. The methodological case study provides a literature review based on a number of examples of the characteristics of episodic volunteering, which is becoming increasingly widespread, especially among young people, and of the tools for volunteer management. Finally, the review articles present studies from abroad on the impact of youth volunteering on work engagement and on new trends in youth volunteering from an international perspective after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Characteristics of young volunteers age 15-29 and comments on the data collection methodologies
Miklós Gyorgyovich
Exploring the correlation of the use of leisure time and volunteering among young people in Hungary
Veronika Bocsi - Hajnalka Fényes - Valéria Fényes
"According to the latest Hungarian Youth Research 2020 survey, there has been a spectacular drop in the volunteering rate of young people, with only 8% of young people aged 15-29 having volunteered in the year prior to the survey. The low rate was probably largely due to the pandemic, but there may also be methodological reasons behind the results."
The Island of Volunteers – the research results of festival volunteers' motivation
Eliza Bodor-Eranus – Eszter Vit – Ákos Bocskor
"An important finding of our research was that there was some variation in the order and strength of motivations depending on whether you were a first-time or a recurring episodic volunteer. Festival volunteers over the age of 25 who volunteered regularly with other organizations placed significantly more emphasis on the role of volunteering in their self-esteem than less frequent volunteers."
"Our results show that volunteering and leisure are not clearly complementary phenomena. The reason why the recreational factor increases the chances of volunteering may be that both voluntary activities and leisure activities of today's young people are motivated and characterised by the community and social nature of their leisure activities."
A network of youth volunteer communities: Connection – assistance – development
Krisztina Hajú - Renáta Rozsos
"The uniqueness and value of the programme, which is also its difficulty, lies in its ability to achieve several objectives at once, to open up new perspectives for young people, to show the joys and opportunities of helping others, and to strengthen community cohesion."
Participation of young people from Pécsvárad in municipal youth activism and voluntary work
Miklós László
"As youth actiwism can be interpreted in many different ways, the aim of this case study is to present a segment of local/municipal youth activism in Pécsvárad – in an unique context – organised by the Youth for Participation Association, established in 2011."
A paradigm shift in youth volunteering – the 10-year experience of a media and culture association
Ádam Simon
"Our volunteer and community service programme is consciously built around three principles: skills development for the individual, community building for the organisation, and value transmission for society."
Challenge and/or oppurtunity? – recommending literature for episodic volunteer recruitment, employment, and retention
Anna Mária Bartal
"Statistical data shows that in the Hungarian volunteer sector, there is a higher proportion of people who volunteer on an ad hoc basis – once or twice a year or for shorter periods of time – or for projects than those who volunteer on a regular and continuous basis."
