Youth Volunteer Get-together ! The "Youth Volunteer, Youth Pumping" Activity Series Start-up Enthusiastically!

　　In 1985, the United Nations (UN) officially declared December 5^th to be International Volunteers Day. This year (2019), echoing Goal 10 in the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, the "Volunteer for an inclusive future" was adopted as the theme. In response to the International Volunteer Day, the Youth Development Administration, Ministry of Education, (YDA) will hold the "Youth Volunteer, Youth Pumping" activity series from November 30 to December 3, 2019. The first round of activities - the Youth Volunteer Forum was held today (30^th) at the National Taipei University of Technology. In addition to inviting international youth volunteer representatives that had deep involvements in the field of volunteer service to represent Taiwan and engaged in exchanges, arrangements were also made for outstanding youth groups to share their experiences on social innovation and practices.

　　Two international youth representatives were invited to the event to engage in exchanges with local students. Mr. Tamás Mahner, CEO of "Egyesek Youth Association", who was committed to youth empowerment, not only provided guidance to 1,000 international volunteer service workshops, but also applied volunteer management, interpersonal communication skills, and other professional knowledge to lead the youth through the service activities. Ms. Thazin Aung, "Charity-Oriented Myanmar-LNGO" Director, also shared her precious experience in volunteer service empowerment, planning, and execution. Ms. Wang-Yu-qun, YDA Deputy Director General, also used the statements: "Doing volunteer service is a kind of learning process, a kind of world sport, the way of life." to encourage young people to make each moment count, turn the world into a better place, and be the answer for changing the world in their own way through creativity, professionalism, and passion for social issues of concern. It is expected that through the group experience exchanges and discussions, more creativity and service plans can be created in the future to gather the strength of volunteer services and create a more inclusive future!

　　In addition, the YDA in conjunction with the International Volunteer Day Theme "Volunteer for an inclusive future" has also invited domestic social innovation service groups,committed to social care, education in rural areas, of skills and expertise, and a diversity of other fields for a get-together. In particular, Kuan An-Ni from the 1905 History Field Research Workshop has long been concerned with issues on Southeast Asian migrant workers and new residents and used diverse education courses as the medium and adhered by the attitude of equality to build a platform for migrant workers to communicate in Taiwanese society. On the other hand, Guo Kong-Ning from the "Ibu Tribal Co-learning Group" also shared insights on the group stationed at Wuling Village in Yanping Township, Taitung County, adhering by the concept of long-term companionship and co-learning, endeavoring to improve the lives and learning ecology of local children and juveniles, thereby assisting tribal children in finding their self-identity and life values under their own cultural environment. The young people responded enthusiastically, asked many questions and gave their feedbacks.

　　The "Youth Volunteer, Youth Pumping" activity series will be successively held in the northern, central, southern and eastern regions. With the "1-day volunteer day activities" on December 1^st, youth volunteer groups, schools, and NPOs will be gathered in support of the event. Four sessions of "tour sharing seminars" will also be staged at Taipei Medical University, Feng Chia University, National Ilan University, and Tainan University of Technology on December 3^rd and 4^th. Mr. Tamás Mahner and Ms. Thazin Aung will visit different parts of Taiwan to have face-to-face exchanges with local youth volunteer service groups. Please take the opportunity to sign up for the event. Please check out the YDA Facebook Fan Page for the latest information and visit Accupass for more sign-up information (http://reurl.cc/zyDxZ7).