By John L. Silva
Philippine Daily Inquirer

WHAT TO DO with the idealistic voters aged under 30 who overwhelmingly chose Benigno Aquino III to be the President of the Philippines?

They belong to a formidable group numbering about 20 million and comprising almost half of the eligible voting population. (The Commission on Elections figured that for the May 2010 elections alone, there were almost two million voters who turned 18 and voted for the first time.)

Taking a leaf from the 2008 American elections with Barack Obama drawing the youth vote and clinching the presidency, let’s examine and learn how he has channeled that postelection victory.

He put the young people back to work—volunteer work.

Obama entered the presidential race with a distinctive resumé. He had a stint in community organizing in the poorer sections of Chicago with a salary that qualified him as a volunteer worker.

During the election campaign, with a financial meltdown and an economic crisis looming, his speeches to his audience had a very clear message: If I win, I’m not going to do this alone. I’m going to get you all doing service and exercising your citizenship.

Even before his inauguration, the American President declared Martin Luther King’s birthday, an official holiday, a day of service, and, with his wife, drove to a nearby youth center to help paint and refurbish it.

Centerpiece

As President, Obama has made volunteerism the centerpiece of his administration.

One of his first bills that passed Congress was the Kennedy Service Act, which created new volunteer and service opportunities with a hefty $6-billion budget. Various local, state, private and government organizations and agencies with volunteerism as their thrust were encouraged to engage in a national effort to increase the number of volunteers, and widen their outreach work.

A year and a half after Obama’s inauguration, with his foreign policy in Afghanistan increasingly unpopular, an economy still in the doldrums with even more layoffs in sight, a catastrophic oil spill, and other unmet expectations, his administration continues to shine in the area of volunteer service.

The Obama administration has a goal of 250,000 active volunteers by the year 2017. The character of volunteer service was upgraded, encompassing youth programs, job training and adding substitute teachers to the US’ flagging educational system.

Large grants were given to innovative nonprofit organizations that showed results in the above areas. And the administration encouraged and tied up citizen participation to local and state issues to ensure that the programs were working.

As a result, the number of Americans volunteering in their communities in just one year jumped by 1.6 million—the largest increase in six years.

More than 63.4 million Americans volunteered, giving 8.1 billion hours of volunteer service worth an estimated $169 billion—a sum that the Obama administration would have been unable to secure from Congress.

Similarities

Many of the challenges that the United States faces and has now addressed through volunteerism are very similar to the Philippine reality.

A national volunteer service campaign under the Aquino administration could include revitalizing a moribund Philippine National Volunteer Service Coordinating Agency (PNVSCA, which falls under the National Economic and Development Authority), installing dynamic leadership, and providing a decent starting budget.

In turn, the PNVSCA can marshal the 20 private volunteer organizations and begin drawing up plans to develop a national volunteer strategy to coordinate and document as one force all volunteer efforts nationwide, similar to that being done by American Corporation for National and Community Services.

Target goals, including numbers of volunteers and hours of service, can be tracked and the peso equivalent can be counted and credited as an economic output.

Most importantly, the young voting population of our country who, through their ballots, opted for change can continue to exercise their aspirations through meaningful volunteer service.

‘Millennials’

The Philippines recently experienced very serious typhoon calamities, and record numbers performed uncompensated work to help the victims. Imagine if these same energies under a hopeful administration can be channeled to do work every day and in every opportunity to help others.

The under 30 population has been tagged as the “Millennials.” In interviews and psychographic profiles, this group has swung from the previous “Me” generation to a force that seeks a purposeful life.

Using his own volunteer experience, Obama has adroitly transformed his young voting constituents to become active citizens and help his country’s recovery. It may also ensure his reelection in 2012.

With its near-empty coffers and the daunting challenges facing it, President Aquino’s administration has a potential base of volunteers and goodwill that will, for free, hasten the country’s economic recovery and leave a legacy of volunteerism among its citizenry when his term ends.

 

See also INQUIRER.net