2023-09-26 17:14:28
On the eve of the budgetary conclave, the Platform for Citizen Service is demanding that its program benefit from a real legal framework as well as appropriate funding.
Some 3,000 young people have already committed to a solidarity project as part of the “Citizen Service” program, which has existed for 14 years. This program, aimed at young people aged 18 to 25, allows them to volunteer for a period of six months, full time, in a project touching on areas as varied as culture, education, helping people, the environment and sport.
On Tuesday, the platform which organizes this program went to the Federal Parliament to testify to elected officials of its usefulness, and of the need to provide it with a legal framework. A draft bill to this effect is currently on the table of the federal government. It will be an integral part of the discussions at the budget conclave which starts this weekend. The Minister of Employment, Pierre-Yves Dermagne, sponsor of the bill, hopes to complete the text and release an envelope of 8.5 million euros in order to strengthen the support offered to these young people, and also grant them compensation. “The idea is to move up a gear, and make citizen service a lasting experience over time,” says spokesperson Pierre-Yves Dermagne.
“It is not a question of transforming volunteering into paid work, and therefore giving a salary to young peoples, explains François Ronveaux, director of the Platform, but financial assistance to enable them to survive during the six months during which they are employed, to offer them insurance and social rights.” This Tuesday, in parliament, he was notably accompanied by seven mayors representing each of the colors of Vivaldi, a gesture symbolizing the ‘unanimity that this project has in the political world.
More than 300 municipal administrations have signed a charter recognizing the social value of citizen service, and requesting that it be institutionalized at the federal level. Municipalities are also involved at other levels: by informing young people in their territory, by mobilizing associations that might call on them, or even by welcoming into their midst (in CPAS, rest homes, etc.) young people on a mission.
Finding a place in society
Generally affecting young people labeled “Neet” (who are neither in education, nor in training, nor in employment), citizen service allows them to discover or find a place in society, open their minds, develop skills, and acquire “soft skills” which can be appreciated later in their professional career. Gino Debroux, mayor of Landen, speaks in this regard of work of “reconstruction of youth”.
“It is clearly better to engage in civic service than to remain inactive and end up with a blank in your CV.”
Spending six months or a year investing in a voluntary activity is also an asset to be used by young people on the job market. “We can only support these initiatives and encourage them,” says Sébastien Cosentino, senior manager at Randstad. “It is clearly better to engage in citizen service than to remain inactive and end up with a blank in your CV,” says -he. “And when it appears on a CV, we can highlight what the candidate was able to gain from it. This can be the act of finding a rhythm, schedules, getting closer to the world of work and its structuring aspect, getting involved in society and making oneself useful there.. Because facing future employers, our role is also to assert thatIt’s not just technical skills to take into account. It can also be interesting to look for a personality and train it, look for an attitude rather than skills.”
1695751380
#Citizen #service #table #budgetary #conclave
