Welcome to YUVA. Let’s get you ready to volunteer.
If you have already been selected as a YUVA volunteer, complete the steps on this page before beginning your volunteer role.
You are joining a community built around service and participation.
Congratulations on being selected to volunteer with YUVA.
Our work is centred on the sustained well-being of children and young people, particularly those who are vulnerable. We work alongside families, communities and partners across education, health, empowerment and employment.
As a YUVAN, your contribution should reflect responsible service, respect for human dignity, youth participation and a willingness to work constructively with people from different backgrounds and perspectives.
Complete five onboarding stages.
These steps help ensure that your volunteer record, role expectations, policy awareness and induction are in place before you begin.
Understand your volunteer status
Your YUVAN role is voluntary. Volunteers perform their agreed duties without salary or payment for the services they provide.
Volunteering does not in itself create an employment, independent-contractor or consultancy relationship with YUVA.
If YUVA later offers you paid work, vocational training or another formal arrangement, that relationship will be discussed and documented separately.
Only undertake tasks that form part of your authorised volunteer role or that have been specifically assigned by an appropriate YUVA supervisor.
Prepare your onboarding documents
Please prepare the following documents for your volunteer record.
Send your documents to the Secretariat
Email your onboarding documents to secretariat@yuva.info. Please include your full name and “Volunteer Onboarding” in the subject line.
Get to know YUVA
Before beginning your role, take time to understand the organisation you are representing.
Familiarise yourself with YUVA’s purpose, history, focus areas, programmes and approach to youth-led community action.
Read the volunteer framework
Your role is governed by YUVA’s volunteer policies, agreement and organisational procedures. Read the following resources before beginning your volunteer activities.
Understand your role
Volunteers receive responsibilities according to the position and service area in which they have been selected to contribute.
Before starting, make sure you know:
Do not guess. Speak to your supervisor or the YUVA Secretariat before undertaking work that falls outside your understood role.
Complete your induction and training
Volunteers are expected to complete relevant induction and training before beginning their assigned role.
Your induction may cover:
- YUVA’s mission and organisational structure;
- your volunteer role and reporting line;
- health and safety;
- safeguarding and responsible conduct;
- privacy and confidentiality;
- discrimination and respectful behaviour;
- activity-specific procedures;
- communication and reporting expectations.
Follow YUVA’s standards of conduct and safety
Volunteers are expected to support YUVA’s aims, follow reasonable instructions and behave appropriately towards staff, volunteers, programme participants and members of the public.
- carry out only authorised duties;
- follow reasonable instructions from your supervisor;
- comply with relevant policies and procedures;
- treat people respectfully;
- use YUVA property and equipment responsibly;
- report hazards, accidents or incidents promptly;
- take reasonable care of your own health and safety;
- consider the safety of others affected by your actions;
- do not undertake volunteer duties while impaired by alcohol or illegal drugs;
- tell YUVA if your availability or role needs to change.
Understand expenses and volunteer benefits
YUVA’s Volunteer Agreement provides that volunteers are not reimbursed for reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred while performing authorised volunteer tasks.
YUVA may sometimes provide benefits associated with a volunteer activity, including training, meals, accommodation, event entry, clothing or equipment.
Where such benefits are provided, they are connected with the volunteer role and do not constitute salary or payment for services.
Understand intellectual property
Materials, ideas or other creations developed as part of your authorised volunteer services may create intellectual-property rights.
The YUVA Volunteer Agreement sets out the arrangements applying to intellectual property created in connection with volunteer services. Review that agreement carefully before beginning work that involves content, designs, publications, photographs, video, research, software or other original material.
Confirm that your onboarding is complete
Once you have submitted the required documents, reviewed the volunteer framework and completed the required induction, your onboarding can be finalised by YUVA.
If you are unsure whether every requirement has been completed, contact the Secretariat before attending your first assignment.
Ready for confirmation?
Email the Secretariat to confirm completion of your self-onboarding or to ask about any outstanding requirement.
If something feels unclear or unsafe, ask before acting.
Good volunteering depends on judgement, communication and knowing the boundaries of your role.
Your supervisor and the YUVA Secretariat are there to provide guidance when you need it.
You are ready to begin your YUVAN journey.
Once onboarding is finalised, YUVA may add you to its volunteer database and relevant volunteer communication channels so that you can receive information about upcoming opportunities and activities.
YUVA may maintain records of the activities in which you participate. Depending on your contribution and applicable organisational arrangements, attestations or other forms of recognition may also be provided.
Need help completing a step?
Contact the YUVA Secretariat if you have a question about your documents, assigned role, induction, policies, health and safety or onboarding status.