New community group seeks young Tongan volunteers [1]
Thursday, June 1, 2000 - 10:00. Updated on Tuesday, January 19, 2016 - 18:21.
From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 15, no. 2, June 2000.
Tongans who want to make a contribution to the development of Tonga may now do so simply by joining the Tonga National Volunteer Service.
The TNVS was launched in Nuku’alofa on May 15 by its patron, the Prime Minister, Prince ‘Ulukalala Lavaka Ata. The Service operates under the Tonga National Youth Congress, but it has an advisory board, which is chaired by Hon. Fielakepa, the Governor of Ha’apai.
TNVS is looking to recruit ten pioneer volunteers from Tongans who are living in Tonga or overseas. This includes anyone whose parents or grandparents were Tongan, with the minimum age of 18. Successful applicants will be contracted for 12 months and will be provided with a stipend and accommodation.
Volunteers are expected to work and live in local communities with youth or community organisations, an NGO, or Ministry Extension Offices, and “interact at the grassroots level” according to their first press release.
The National Volunteer Service is sponsored by the Government of Tonga, UNDP, AusAID, SPC, NZODA and the US Peace Corps.