Exploring Volunteering for Development workshop held in Kiribati

The program collaborated with Kiribati youth organisation Y-PEER, to deliver a two-day design workshop with 14 young people who had previously undertaken sexual reproductive health and peer education training with Y-PEER. 

The workshop explored the opportunities and challenges in current peer-based volunteering models, the skills young people have that can be used in volunteering, and why young people participate in volunteering. It sought to understand:

• opportunities and challenges young people see in participating in a volunteer program
• what they’d like to get out of a volunteer program
• the key skills and networks they have that could be built upon.

A key challenge highlighted during the workshop related to local cultures and attitudes towards young people talking about sexual and reproductive health, as well as their impact on community support for these activities.

Following this workshop, the program worked with Y-PEER to develop a concept for a new peer volunteering model that could be explored with community elders, whose support is critical to the success and sustainability of potential models.