The Volunteers Lab

The Volunteers Lab, is a co-volunteering space for youth to put their Ideas into Action. The youth leadership program enables youth to engage in the community, empowers them to enhance their capacity, and encourages them to create and lead social initiatives that address social issues in their community through compassionate, courageous, and collaborative leadership.

Through the lab, we aim to create an inclusive-sustainable-innovative ecosystem for youth in educational institution to create active global citizens; through engaging, enhancing, empowering, enabling and encouraging them to get involved & connected with social initiatives, organisations and communities.

The Volunteers Lab by Captains Social Foundation is the first of its kind by a youth-led social enterprise to promote volunteerism by equipping youth to engage at least 8 hours a month and support them with capacity development training, personalized mentorship, funding-assistance, resources, networking and value-based collaboration. We are introducing a unique volunteer tracking platform to appreciate, reward and accredit volunteers for their commitment towards creating a just and peaceful world.

Through #EveryIndianVolunteering Campaign, we aim to Encourage, Empower, Enable, Engage and Enhance 2.5 Lakh Youth to Volunteer for Community Development initiatives by 2025.

VISION: To create and empower young changemakers

MISSION: To enable youth to engage in the community, empower youth to enhance their capacity, and encourage youth to create & lead social initiatives.

We believe that young people have the power to change the world.

At The Volunteers Lab, we empower youth with the training & resources they need to make a difference. Whether it’s starting a community or encouraging friends to do good, our programs help youth develop the skills and confidence to become innovative and powerful influencers of change and the next wave of leaders in social entrepreneurship. The Volunteers Lab provided an intensive program for youth, who are looking to take action and deepen their understanding of a social issue they’re passionate about. Apart from promoting volunteerism and empowering youth, this program will focus on the ideation stage of creating a youth-led social initiative, encouraging youth to brainstorm an idea for a social project, enterprise, service or product, and develop their leadership skills. Budding volunteers will become experts on their chosen issue while building the necessary skills to take their world-changing ideas further. This program empowers young volunteers to develop and launch their social enterprise, giving them access to helpful resources and mentorship. They will also have the unique opportunity to expand their networks with like-minded people and take the next step in making their world-changing idea a reality.

We promote youth-led social initiatives by guiding them right from the stage when social problems are articulated and the possible solutions are proposed, to ensure that these initiatives create impactful and sustainable solutions at the appropriate scale. The process also provides social opportunities for experimentation and exploration of newer solutions and methods. The major activities undertaken by The Volunteers Lab are volunteer capacity development training, creation of projects, mentoring, seed funding, networking, resources and story-telling. The initiatives remain underactive incubation support for one year, They are encouraged and supported to become independent and self-supporting.

Know Our Goals:

• To promote volunteerism and empower youth

• To enable youth to be an active global citizen

• To enhance the skills, values, and knowledge of youth

• To empower the capacity, potential, and creativity of youth

• To engage the youth in the community and promote volunteerism

• To encourage youth social initiatives to solve problems in their community

• To develop compassionate, courageous & collaborative leadership

• To build a creative space for youth to meet, learn and work together

• To create and support impactful youth-led social initiatives to bring sustainable social changes in the community.

• To incubate ideas, evaluate solutions & act as a support system to enhance the growth and impact of initiatives by youth.

• To invest in youth by providing skills, resources, funding, and opportunities.

• To promote and share the stories & impact of youth initiatives on the world.

• To bridge the gap between youth, community, and opportunities

• To create an inclusive sustainable ecosystem for social volunteers and organizations, through practising and promoting initiatives addressing United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

• To identify injustices in the communities, understand systems of power and root causes of injustice, develop compassionate solutions to address injustice, and turn the ideas and thoughts into actions through a specific and measurable action plan.

• To recognise and appreciate youth for their commit towards the society

• To track the volunteering hours of youth and accredit volunteers for their efforts towards creating just and peaceful world.

Joining Youth Leadership Lab gives youth access to:

• Access to a funding assistance like mini-grant of $250 to put your ideas into action through The Social Hackathon

• Access to 25+ skill-value-knowledge based training sessions

• Access to one-year training, personalized mentorship, tools, resources, networks and collaboration to develop a social initiative.

• Access to grab exposure for self-development & exhibit leadership skills

• Access to community-building & leadership development opportunities

• Access to gain opportunities of United Nations, International, National and Social organizations.

• Access to the guided, self-paced learning journey that supports young people to create and launch a social change project, built on 20+ years of successful school-based work and developed in partnership with the Harvard Graduate School of Education by Peace First.

• Access to tools and resources developed over Peace First’s 30 years of supporting young people, to build a just and peaceful world, to deepen your learning, and support your project planning

• Access to opportunities to gain exposure for your work, including being featured publicly through our website and social media platforms.

• Access to get connected with the community of social activists, youth leaders and youth-led initiatives. Become part of changemakers in your region and around the world.

• Access to further funding opportunities and network with our partner organizations.

• Access to organize sessions, workshops. hackathons, summits, conferences and Model United Nations

• Access to our unique volunteer tracking platform to record and document your volunteering activities

• Access to experience certificates based on the hours of volunteering.

• Access to National Volunteer Accreditation Certificate

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Volunteer Engagement Model

STEP 1: Attend the Introduction Session

STEP 2: Register as an Onboarding Volunteer

STEP 3: Engage in volunteering activity for 8 hours

STEP 4: Get certified as The Official Volunteer

STEP 5: Attend Volunteer Capacity Development Workshop

STEP 6: Engage in volunteering activity for 24 hours

STEP 7: Get certified as The Social Volunteer

STEP 8: Attend The Social Hackathon

STEP 9: Engage in volunteering activity for 100 hours

STEP 10: Get certified as The Social Captain

• The volunteering hours of each of the volunteers will be tracked and will be provided with certificates and resources

• If a volunteer engage in volunteering activity for a year, they will receive National Volunteer Accreditation Certificate

• Through The Social Hackathon, the volunteers will receive a mini-grant of $250 from our partner organisations.

• The youth will be connected with opportunities of United Nations and other national, international and social organisations

• The institute can collaborate to host National and International Model United Nations, Summits, Conference etc

• If the institute need to organise any Thematic Sessions based on International Days, we will connect with young resource persons.

Milestones

Youth will be appreciated and certified based on the milestones they achieve in terms of the volunteers hours.

• The Onboarding Volunteer: If a youth has registered for Youth Leadership Lab, they will be recognised as The Onboarding Volunteer. They will have the access to attend The Onboarding Meeting or the Introductory Session

• The Official Volunteer: If a youth has engaged in 8 hours of volunteering, they will be recognised and certified as The Official Volunteer. They will have the access to attend Volunteer Capacity Development Workshop.

• The Social Volunteer: If a youth has engaged in 24 hours of volunteering, they will be recognised and certified as The Social Volunteer. They will have the access to attend The Social Hackathon and get access to funding-assistance, mentorship, resources, network and collaboration.

• The Social Captain: If a youth has engaged in 100 hours of volunteering, they will be recognised and certified as The Social Captain. They will have the access to attend The Volunteers Camp and get connected with like-minded volunteers and changemakers.

OPTIONAL:

• The Youth Champion: If a youth has engaged in 250 hours of volunteering, they will be recognised and certified as The Youth Champion.

• The Youth Ambassador: If a youth has engaged in 500 hours of volunteering, they will be recognised and certified as The Youth Ambassador.

• The Executive Member: If a youth has engaged in 1000 hours of volunteering, they will be recognised and certified as The Executive Member

• The Co-creator: If a youth has engaged in 2500 hours of volunteering, they will be recognised and certified as The Co-creator

The volunteers will National Volunteer Accreditation Certificate, based on their total hours of volunteering every year.

For more info connect to info@thesocialcaptains.org or +917025721225