Volunteers as your main asset | Motivations for young people to become trainers for Institute for Reponsible Business (RBI)

Before discussing the motivations of the young volunteer trainers we interviewed in the last three days, a bit more information on the Institute for Responsible Business (RBI for its acronym in Polish) is needed. The RBI was created in 2003 as a social organization to promote entrepreneurship and social development. The Institute has different programs, among them: a portal for responsible consumption, CSR training, e-skills basic training etc.

The mission and entrepreneurial values that guides the RBI are clearly reflected in the people they attract to the e-skills training programs. From volunteers, program coordinators, to the trainees themselves, all of them share a common value: "Help others, help yourself". This value may seem way too optimistic in a world ridden by individualist perspectives of life, but it is actually quite present in the activities that RBI promotes and quite important to understand the motivation of young people to become trainers in basic e-skills program for seniors and pensioners.

During our visit, we interviewed 9 volunteers, 3 program coordinators, and two groups of beneficiaries with 15 people each. The trainers, and also the program coordinators, consistently expressed that among the main motivations was the opportunity that this volunteer program offered to be able to share their know-ledge, do something useful with their free time, and gain valuable skills and experience that they could use to find employment. As I discussed in my previous post, one of the biggest challenges for young people graduating from University to find jobs is lack of any experience in their CVs.

In Andrew's, a program coordinator, own words... "we [trainers and trainees] mutually help each other to grow, to find our inner self and the kind of human we want to be"