CHINA
The Youth and NGOs in China
The youth is an important force to promote social and economic progress, and the
social development needs the youth’s active participation. The Chinese government
has always attached great importance to the positive roles played by the youth in
socio-economic life and decision-making process, and has thus provided them with
strong policy and financial support. In the past 10 years in particular, Chinese
government, including the Ministries of Education, Personnel, Civil Affairs and
construction as well as local governments, made lots of efforts to foster sound
environment for promoting youth’s participation in social life and decision-making.
In March 1994, China’s “Agenda for the 21st Century” approved by the Central
Government of China opened up a chapter for the youth, and laid down detailed goals
and program of actions in the fields of youth education, protection of rights and
interests, political participation, economic and social development, etc.
With the rapid development of political, economic, educational, scientific and
cultural activities in the Chinese society, the Chinese youth has been playing
increasingly important roles in all walks of life. A large number of NGOs composed of
the youth have been established throughout China in the past ten years. According to
statistics, by the end of 2003, there were altogether 142,000 NGOs in the whole
country, of which 13 were NGOs of youth. Another statistics shows that 31% of the
youth in Beijing have joined in NGOs of various sorts. The All-China Youth
Federation, the Chinese Young Volunteers Association and the Chinese Young
Entrepreneurs Association are just a few examples of the NGOs. Those with highest
youth participations are sodalities, hobby associations and different kinds of public
interest organizations. These different NGOs have conducted various activities to
push forward the progress of the Chinese society in the fields of political life,
economic construction, the management of society, community services, and social
affairs of public concern.
The Youth is very well represented in the people’s congress and people’s political
consultative conferences of all levels. They actively participate in the decision making
of public policy and youth policy. Among the members of the Tenth National People’s
Congress of China, youth representatives under the age of 30 totaled 46, accounting
for 1.54% compared with the Ninth Congress totaling 45, accounting for 1.51%. In the
9th Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), All-China Youth
Federation held 34 seats. In the 10th CPPCC, the seats increased to 38. In local
people’s congresses and people’s political consultative conferences, there are a certain
proportion of youth members as well. These youth representatives represent the will
of the youth, reflect the youth’s voice and fully take part in the political life of the
country.
Meanwhile the Chinese youth also plays an important role in economic development,
especially in Hi-tech and innovation field. For example, by the end of 2003, the
permanent staff of Chinese Academy of Sciences totaled 45,000 people, among which
45,000 young scientific and technical personnel are under the age of 45 which
account for more than 70 % of the total staff.
The following is a brief description of 2 NGOs of youth and some of their programs :
the All-china Youth Federation, and the Chinese Young Volunteers Association.
I.
The All-China Youth Association
The All-China Youth Federation is the largest NGO of youth with high reputation.
The number of its members reached 68,540,000 in 1997 accounting for 21.3% of
youth of China. However, by the end of 2004, the number had increased to
71,880,000. With the joint efforts of governmental departments and other NGOs, the
All-China Youth Federation has launched a series of programs.
One of the programs is the Model Youth Units which aims to encourage young people
to base themselves upon their job positions, and actively participate in social life and
decision-making in their work. The program organizes on –post learning, promotes
contests among youth and youth teams, advocates the spirit of professionalism,
creates the outstanding achievement, thus encouraging youth participation and youth
achievement. In the past decade, over 5 million youth teams from more than 30
different industries joined the program. There are so far 5160 national Model Youth
Units and 250.000 local Model Youth Units at all levels. At the same time, the “Model
Youth Units” create a new approach for youth participation and youth development.
According to the incomplete statistics, almost 200.000 outstanding talented young
people have been commended by the Model Youth Units at all levels.
The International Exchange Program for the Chinese youth to involve in the world
youth affairs is another one worthy to be mentioned. More than 100 important youth
exchange projects between young people of China and those of foreign countries were
conducted in the year 2004. Over 3000 foreign young people visited China while over
1000 Chinese young people paid reciprocal visits to their counterparts. In addition,
the All-China Youth Federation has also participated actively in the consultation,
formation and evaluation process of the UN World Program of Action for Youth
(WPAY).
Starting from 2002, the All-China Youth Federation has also collaborated with the
Chinese Young Volunteers Association in implementing a program of Chinese Young
Volunteers’ Overseas Service. Under the program, young volunteers have been
organized to provide rescue services to the Puji island in Thailand, and to provide
services to the least developed countries in Africa and Asia.
II.
The Chinese Young Volunteers Associations
Since its launch in 1993, the Chinese Young Volunteers Associations have been
developing swiftly at all levels of the country. This is to say, every province, every city,
or every county has its different sorts of young volunteers associations. More than
89.000 community serviced centers and more than 100.000 volunteer teams have
been set up. Around 150 million young people have provided over 4.5 billion hours of
voluntary services to the society.
To help reduce the poverty of some poorest areas, various Chinese young volunteers
associations launched a social practice program of Sending Culture, Science and
Technology and Medical Care to rural areas as volunteers during summer vacations,
particularly to the poverty-stricken and less develop areas, to provide voluntary
services. Up to now nearly 10 million college students have ever participated in the
program.
Another similar program named the Chinese Young Volunteers Poverty-Alleviation
Relay initiated in 1996 has been widely carried out. It mobilizes and organizes youth
in urban areas to provide half-year to two-year voluntary service in poverty-stricken
areas of the mid-west part of China. Up to now, there are over 300.000 applications
from the urban young people, of whom 14.240 have been recruited and sent to 19
provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the central
government) in mid-west China, including Tibet and Xinjiang.
Furthermore, there are still other projects added to the program such as Sending
Culture, Science and Technology and Medical Care to Rural Areas by PhD students,
Going West by College Students Volunteers, etc.
These programs sponsored by the Chinese young volunteers associations have made
great achievements in helping the people in the rural areas of the west to reduce
poverty and live a better life.
The Chinese young volunteers also actively participate in the services and
construction of civil communities. In 1994, a program of One-Help-One was initiated
for the purpose of providing assistance to those old or disabled people in the
communities. This program requires that a young volunteer find an old or disabled
person in the community for form a one-to-one pair and provide services to him or
her for a long term. By the end of 2001, the number of the pairs has increased from
0.15 million to over 2.5 millions and more than 40 million young people have been
involved in these community voluntary services. Accordingly, the concept of the
Model Youth Communities emerged. Up to now, there have been 1000 Model Youth
Communities set up at national level and nearly 3000 at the provincial level.