Material of the press conference of the State Council Information Office (1):

A Profile of Chinese Youth Volunteer Activities  for 20 Years

(December 2, 2013)

The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Youth League

Chinese Youth Volunteer Activities are one pioneering endeavor of the Chinese Communist Youth League (CCYL) in making innovative fields and meeting social needs in new historical conditions. In 1993, nationwide Chinese Youth Volunteer Activities were initiated by the Central Committee of the CCYL to cater to the reform and opening up and the establishment of socialist market economy system. For the past twenty years, under the care of the Central Committee of the CPC and the State Council, complying with the overall situation of the Party and the government as their focus and with a marching era, the organizations of the CCYL, leading their youth members, have advanced the youth volunteer undertaking by encouraging the youth to participate in volunteer services, improving organization networks, expanding service fields, innovating brand projects and perfecting working mechanisms. Therefore, after the development of 20 years, the youth volunteer activities have been a significant brand of the CCYL in the new period; the ideology of “Devotion, Friendliness, Mutual Help and Progress” in the youth volunteers has been favored and accepted as vogue by the contemporary youth and their activities have become a significant carrier for motivating the youth in economic and social development.

The Sixth Plenary Session of 16th Central Committee and 17th National Congress of the CPC put forward definite requirements on perfecting social volunteer service systems and 18th National Congress and the Third Plenary Session of 18th Central Committee of the CPC clearly stated that “volunteer services should be conducted in a large scale”,“volunteer service organizations supported and advanced”. Outlines for the Program of 11th Five-year Plan for Economic and Social Development of the People’s Republic of China made it clear that “we should support volunteer service activities and make them systematic”. The Central Guidance Committee of Cultural Civilization Construction issued the suggestions on furthering volunteer service activities and had definite arrangement of nationwide volunteer work in 2008, which showed a clear orientation and set up a broad stage for the general public, including the youth to contribute themselves to the construction of socialist modernization with their volunteer services. Chinese Youth Volunteer Activities, under the leadership of the Central Guidance Committee of Cultural Civilization Construction, have made progress and constituted a major force for the Chinese volunteer services.

By the end of November, a relatively complete organization system came into being since the youth volunteer associations were set up in all the provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities and prefectural cities, regions, autonomous prefectures and leagues, in 2763 counties, county-level cities, city districts and banners as well as in over 2000 colleges and universities and 130,000 volunteer service stations were set up, too. In addition, 40.43 million youth volunteers were registered. It is roughly calculated that the registered volunteers offered the services of about 690 million hours to the society last year.

I. Development of the Chinese Volunteer Activities for Twenty Years

The Chinese Youth Volunteer Activities were officially initiated in December 1993 when underthe summon of the CCYL, more than 20,000 young people, with the flags of “Youth Volunteers”, volunteered their services to the passengers on Beijing-Guangzhou Railway. Their Activities experienced four periods in their development.

—Initiation and implementation (1993-1998). This period is characterized by conducting activities, establishing organizations and disseminating ideologies. The youth were mobilized to carry forward Lei Feng spirit and participate in volunteer services. The Chinese Youth Volunteer Association was established. The logo of youth volunteers was collected and publicized. The ideology of “Devotion, Friendliness, Mutual Help and Progress” was raised. The appraisal and commendation of Chinese youth volunteers was launched.

—Development and construction (1998—2003). It is featured by implementing projects, enlarging teams and setting norms. The concept of volunteer services highlighting development and construction was put forward. The construction of volunteer service projects, organizations, teams and mechanisms achieved initial success. A lot of new projects of Chinese Youth Volunteers, e.g. Help-the-poor Relay Program, Postgraduate Education Supporting Team, Overseas Service Program, “One Helping One” Community Service Program, the old and disabled aid, environment protection, volunteers in large-scale competitions and events, disaster relief programs were conducted. More than 10 million youth volunteers were registered. The youth volunteer agencies were set up in the Central Committee of the CCYL and Youth League Committees in provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities). In addition, 5th March was designated as the “Day of Chinese Youth Volunteer Services”. A series of activities in “2001 International Volunteer Year in China” were conducted.

—Deepening and promotion (2003-2008). It is characterized by carrying out big projects, perfecting systems and attracting more participants. The Chinese Youth Volunteer Activities underwent leaping development signified by the “Western Development Project of College Students’ Volunteer Service”. The youth volunteers were mobilized in combating SARS and in disaster relief in Wenchuan earthquake. They also volunteered in 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. The youth volunteer associations were consolidated to offer services in six major fields with the implementation of key projects as an opportunity. In addition, local legislation of volunteer service was pushed and The Management Method of Registered Chinese Volunteers was revised and promulgated, thus a relatively complete youth volunteer service system took shape. The ideology was popularized to attract the people from all walks of life to volunteer services.

—Optimization and improvement (2008—the present). This period is mainly about optimizing structures, cultivating connotations and making volunteer services regular and normal. After the issuance of Suggestions on Furthering the Activities of Volunteer Services by the Central Guidance Committee of Cultural Civilization Construction, the Central Committee of the CCYL required “volunteers’ ideology, passion, specialization and service time be integrated, and a long-term service mechanism be formed with the systematic arrangement of the CCYL organizations”; the social function of volunteer services satisfying social need was formed. They participated in several large-scale activities, e.g. “the CCYL’s Volunteer Services in Caring the Children of Rural Migrant Workers”, Western Development Project, Overseas Service Program, 60th Anniversary of the Founding of the PRC, Shanghai World Expo and Guangzhou Asian Games as well disaster relief in Yushuearthquake and Lushan earthquake. Moreover, the youth volunteer work was promoted with the help of new media. The cultural products of youth volunteers were popularized and a group of exemplary youth volunteers were selected. Volunteer service funds and pivotal volunteer associations were established in some places.

II. Achievements of the Chinese Youth Volunteer Activities for Twenty Years

1. An ever-growing volunteer contingent.It is estimated that 40.43 million youth volunteers were registered. Meanwhile, a volunteer contingent with a sound structure consisting of leader volunteers, backbone volunteers, professional volunteers and common volunteers came into being.

2. Expanding service fields. The youth volunteer activities, by working constantly in the fields “concerned by the Party and government institutions, needed by the society and providing practice to the youth”, have innovated their work in community service, poverty relief, the old and disabled aid, major events, environment protection, disaster relief, western development and overseas service, contributing to social progress, economic development and people’s wellbeing improvement.

2.1 Since the implementation of “Postgraduate Education Supporting Team of Chinese Youth Volunteers” in 1999 and “Western Development Project of College Students’ Volunteer Service” in 2003, approximately 160,000 graduates offered their services in grassroots units in central and western areas for 1 to 3 years. At present, over 10,000 volunteers are working in Xinjiang, Tibet and other areas of ethnic groups and about 16,066 volunteers worked in the western grassroots units after their service term was due.

2.2 Since “The CCYL’s Volunteer Services in Caring the Children of Rural Migrant Workers” was launched in 2010, and about 5.5 million volunteers were mobilized in 2,805 counties (county-level cities, city districts and banners) to get paired with 14.82 million children of rural migrant workers and over 200 million yuan were raised to help build about 50,000 venues, e.g. “Colorful Houses”, for the activities of the children of rural migrant workers.

2.3 Since the “Overseas Service Program of Chinese Youth Volunteers” was conducted in 2002, 590 Chinese volunteers offered their one-year services in 22 developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Besides, the glorious mission of “dispatching 300 youth volunteers to Africa” declared by the chairman of the PRC was realized.

2.4 Mobilized by the organizations of the CCYL, more than 4.914 million volunteers went to disaster relief in Wenchuan earthquake and a lot went to relief and post-disaster reconstruction in Yushu earthquake, to relief in Zhouqu mud rock flow and to relief and post-disaster reconstruction in Lushan earthquake.

2.5 About 10 million youth volunteers offered their arduous and meticulous services to national and international competitions and events, including 1.7 million to Beijing Olympic Games, 2.18 million to Shanghai World Expo and 0.6 million to Guangzhou Asian Games, showing the mental outlook of contemporary Chinese youth.

Meanwhile, a large number of volunteers offered their services to the basic production and living needs of the masses in urban communities and remote rural communities.

3. Popularizing the morality of youth volunteers. The CCYL motivated the youth to practice their socialist core values in volunteer services. The ideology of “Devotion, Friendliness, Mutual Help and Progress” in youth volunteers has become a mainstream value and fashion popular with adolescents and general public. The youth exerted themselves at spreading and popularizing the ideology of volunteers and social morality in volunteer services. The participation in volunteer services has been a favorable social custom.

4. Ever-improving organization system and service platform.The youth volunteer associations tried their best to build up a social organization system with the CCYL organizations as cores by connecting, absorbing, guiding and cultivating social volunteer organizations and youth public welfare organizations. In addition, internet volunteer service platforms were established in a network society.

5. Ever-improving working mechanism. A working mechanism “supported by the government, sponsored by the CCYL, managed as projects and operated by social operators” was formed. The youth were motivated to volunteer services due to an evaluation and incentive mechanism based on service time. A project operation mechanism based on “pairing and relay” was set up to ensure the long-term effectiveness of volunteer service programs. Besides, a resource allocation mechanism following the market principle was explored to construct a market platform with social support to integrate volunteers, projects and resources. In addition, local laws and regulations on volunteer services were issued in 18 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) and 16 cities.

III. OnThe Plans of Chinese Youth Volunteer Activities (2014-2018)

The Central Committee of the CCYL and the Chinese Youth Volunteer Association laid down The Plans of Chinese Youth Volunteer Activities (2014-2018) with the following target. The youth volunteer activities will have made progress in the scientific construction of organizations, teams, projects and platforms by 2018, keeping a “leader” position in Chinese volunteer services. Besides, it is expected they will contribute more to helping the youth grow, satisfying social needs, guiding social conduct as well as to innovating social governance mechanism and promoting social construction.

First, the construction of organizations and teams will be strengthened. It is aimed that “every county has a volunteer association” and the volunteer associations will play a pivotal organizational role. Sixty million youth volunteers will be registered and a group of backbone volunteers will be cultivated.

Second, the project system will be perfected. Key projects will be furthered and local projects will be supported to ensure their sound development and volunteer service project database of different levels and varieties is to be constructed, thus an extensive system with variety and professional standards will be formed.

Third, the construction of volunteer service platforms will be effective. Some standardized physical, network and composite platforms meeting social needs and integrating social resources will be established. It is expected that as many as 500,000 standard physical platforms will be constructed, network platforms will be interconnected and a national platform integrating national resources will be built.

Fourth, volunteer culture and theoretic research will be innovated. It is anticipated that volunteer service culture will be disseminated by promoting the brand of “Chinese Youth Volunteers”, providing more cultural products of volunteer services and sharpening cooperations with media. Besides, theoretic research and the transformation of findings will be deepened to better guide volunteer practices.

Fifth, working mechanisms will be improved. The improvement of management systems, perfection of policies and measures and the legislation of volunteer services will safeguard the effectiveness of work.

IV. Revisions of The Management of Registered Chinese Volunteers

To cater to the development of youth volunteer activities in new conditions and based on the essence of 17th National Congress of the CCYL and The Plans of Chinese Youth Volunteer Activities (2014-2018), certain revisions were made to The Management Method of Registered Chinese Volunteers. The key revisions are as follows. First, the concepts of registered volunteers and volunteer services and the scopes of volunteer services are defined based on actual conditions. Second, the spirit and the service day of volunteers are added; the logo and the oath of volunteers are elucidated. Third, certain regulations on the protection of volunteer rights and interests are highlighted. Fourth, the incentives to volunteers are perfected.