Restless Development conducted its Annual Young Leaders survey with current volunteers and alumni who have volunteered with us and led our work within 2024.
The young people who lead our work are our greatest asset. There are a wide range of ways in which young people volunteer their time and lead our work; from community-based peer-educators and mobilisers; to advocates, campaigners and researchers; to online communicators sharing blogs and social media content.
We are committed to listening to their feedback on their experience with Restless Development and improving the support we provide. In 2024, 411 young leaders shared their motivation of working with us and provided recommendations and suggestions to improve their experience.
Key Findings:
- The most popular motivation for young leaders to volunteer with Restless Development is to increase their knowledge and understanding of development work (77%) and the strong desire to lead change and have an impact (75%)
- 35% of young people as compared to 30% last year were motivated to volunteer because they thought that volunteering would enable them to secure a job.
- The training provided by Restless Development has been consistently rated as excellent or good since 2020 to date, but there is still room to improve communication to young people for proper guidance and preparation and a focus on creating a supportive environment where young leaders feel safe and are equipped with the necessary resources to effectively fulfill their roles.
- 99% of young leaders feel that Restless Development has supported them to develop as a leader, similar to last year.
- 99% of young leaders feel proud to volunteer with Restless Development and feel that their contributions are recognised, respected and valued.
99
percent feel supported
99
percent feel proud to volunteer
Recommendations and suggestions:
- Need to strengthen the Alumni engagement for continued collaboration and knowledge sharing within the Alumni network.
- Continue to prioritise safety and wellbeing of young leaders during their engagement by creating a secure environment that fosters growth, learning, and meaningful engagement of young people.
- Restless Development may consider increasing the stipend for young leaders to not only motivate them but also to enhance their safety and wellbeing.
- Restless Development may consider implementation of international exchange programs to enhance collaboration and cross learning among the young leaders.
- Need to improve our communication with young people for proper guidance and preparation.
- Restless Development needs to continue to prioritize safeguarding training for young leaders and ensure reporting channels are well known in the communities.
Interested to learn more about the experiences of young people working with us?
