Volunteer movement in modern Ukraine as a strategy for the development of youth leadership

Abstract

This article represents the stages of the emergence and problems of the formation of volunteering, youth leadership through the participation of young people in the volunteer movement of modern Ukraine.  The concept of volunteering as a strategy for leadership development proceeds from the fact that volun- teering and leadership are in a close interaction. This may mean that the realization of the tasks of the development of volunteering solves the problem of leadership development in the youth environment. The article reviews and analyzes the results of a nationwide research on the state of volunteering in Ukraine (July 20-26, 2014), which was carried out by GfK Ukraine on request of the UN Organizations in Ukraine. There is a representative sample of the Ukrainian population (with the exception of the Crimea) by region, the size of the settlement, sex and age, according to the data of the State Statistics Service as of January 01, 2013. The sample was 1,000 respondents aged 16 and over.  According to the results of the research, we can conclude that Ukrainians recognize the great role of the volunteer movement in the social processes. The most relevant areas of activity before the events of the Maidan were the assistance to socially vulnerable groups of the population and the improvement of public space. This survey showed that volunteer activity in Ukraine is the most important mechanism that exists within civil society and is capable of taking an initiative at any moment in any crisis situation. The largest volunteer group in Ukraine, which is currently volunteering, is mostly student youth, though, due to the political situation and antiterrorist operation that takes place in eastern Ukraine, during the 2014-2018 period, the participation in volunteering activities of people aged 36 and under 60 increased significantly (although at the beginning of 2016 there is a decline in volunteer activity in this direction). As a conclusion, it can be noted that the youth leadership, which arises at this time on the background of military confrontation, is extremely rapidly growing. Young activists, who saw their further activities only in the field of politics, begin to reorient themselves to somewhat different conditions for entry into this sphere. At the same time, the overwhelming majority views participation in the leadership of the volunteer movement primarily as one of the possible channels of mobility for political growth and political formation in the future. Active volunteer activity develops life skills and professional experience among young people, ability to interest and organize other volunteers, learn how to interact with other people and organizations, find support from partners and sponsors, government and commercial structures, etc. In the process of volunteer activity, young people are expanding their vision, develop their intellectual level, realize the opportunity to implement their creative plans and leadership potential. A special role in shaping leadership qualities belongs to the social design, namely, through developing skills for their volunteer project, joining efforts with associates for the collective development and implementation of the project, which contributes to enhancing social competences and the development of skills and abilities of the volunteer. Again, the rethinking of the essence and fundamental role of volunteering over the course of several decades has led to an understanding and recognition at the global level that volunteering is the basis for improvement of civil society, an instrument that promotes social capital, economic growth and social well-being of societies. The state policy of Ukraine should focus more on maintaining the youth movement, support various youth initiatives. This will depend on the direction of the youth movement, the expansion and emergence of new youth radical movements, the formation of subcultures that will bring in the traditional culture as new trends, and new, perhaps even negative forms of struggle for their place in the public space of the state.