At one time, volunteer work was like a life elixir for youth, filled with joy and pleasure, and volunteer teams would often be overwhelmed by the number of applicants from both genders.

However, today's youth do not engage in volunteer work as they once did; finding volunteers for any cause or forming a volunteer team has become exceedingly difficult.

According to UNICEF, in the UK, the number of volunteers reached more than 18.8 million in 2001, contributing to social activities. Two years later, the number exceeded 20 million, and today the number of volunteers annually in the UK is over 20 million, according to the NCVO, with 22% of them volunteering on a regular monthly basis.

Researchers believe that the disengagement of youth in the Arab world from volunteering has three main reasons, which are:

1- Exploitation.

2- Manipulation.

3- Economic situation.

First: Exploitation:

Some profit-oriented organizations hide behind the label of non-profit and engage in profit-making activities through a volunteer team or by advertising their need for volunteers. Here, youth are enthusiastic about the word 'volunteering' only to discover later that they are facing material exploitation, and that the event organizers have made substantial financial and moral gains for themselves under the guise of volunteering!

Here, there must be a law preventing profit-oriented organizations from advertising volunteer opportunities or directly recruiting volunteers, which should only be done through licensed non-profit or governmental organizations responsible for developmental work.

Second: Manipulation:

This reason is not much different from the first, as official employees exploit volunteers to perform their own tasks, causing the volunteer to find themselves ultimately doing all the work, while the responsible official employee does nothing! This is prevalent among volunteers from the category of graduates or final-year university students.

Here, we can certainly say that having oversight bodies on the work of volunteers and informing volunteers of their rights, tasks, and the responsibilities of those in charge can improve the situation and increase the rates of volunteering in society, aligning with the aspirations of Vision 2030.

Third: Economic situation:

Today's youth have many material life obligations, so a large number of university students work during the evenings to provide themselves with a decent living, whereas in the past, university students had plenty of free time!

This can be addressed by enacting laws requiring university students to spend hours volunteering in official and accredited organizations, which would count towards their academic averages and be included as a core subject.