Voluntary Service

This section of the Award provides a young person with a greater sense of worth from having given voluntary service and help to others and their community. The opportunity to give voluntary service over an extended period of time enables young people to witness and experience the benefits that their service provides to others and encourages them to become more active, engaged citizens.  Providing service to others also develops a young person’s humanity and character, both of which will enable them to continue to develop positively.

This section seeks to give participants a sense of compassion, to help them become more active, engaged citizens, playing their part in strengthening and improving their communities. Participants should undertake an activity by volunteering their time to support others, whether that be people, the community, the environment or animals and should learn and benefit from undertaking their service.

The focus of the activity is to provide service to contribute to caring and compassionate communities as well as developing the participant’s character.

As with all sections of the Award, participants learn by doing, in keeping with the Award methodology of experiential learning. By undertaking service regularly over a period of time, rather than in a short, concentrated time period, it is hoped that the young person will develop a lifelong commitment to voluntary service and community involvement as well as make a personal connection with the environment, people or animals with which they are doing their service.