A fledgling registry system for volunteers that aims to make them better aid the community is to be improved to make services more accessible to the public.
Officials claim a mature system which includes efficient recruitment and training will better serve the community.
Lu Yongzheng, director of China's Young Volunteers Action Guiding Centre, pledged to mastermind the improvements of the year-old system at a seminar on volunteer and citizen morals in Beijing on October 26.
The centre plans to establish more young volunteer stations to cover at least half of the communities in major cities over the next 12 months, offering more help to vulnerable elderly people.
Analysts predict that 50 million people will be involved by the end of next year.
Volunteer projects offer citizens more opportunities to show their caring sides, a virtue advocated since ancient times, said Huang Danhua, secretary of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China.
At the seminar, experts suggested that volunteer teams should not be limited to young people.
Li Zhongjie, director of scientific research centre at the Central Party School, said middle and old age groups contain vast experience that should be tapped through voluntary service.
It was also agreed that laws and regulations should be passed to protect the rights of volunteers.
This year is the International Year of the Volunteer. Since 1993 when 20,000 youngsters first volunteered to serve railway passengers, more than 80 million young people have volunteered 4 billion hours for the community, according to the centre statistics.
They assist poverty alleviation and rural development and provide services for the community as well as important international activities.
(China Daily October 27, 2001)
