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Civic service: young volunteers contribute to the appropriation of digital technology by associations

Published on 02 September 2019
Update on 26 September 2022
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Summary

The National Institute for Youth and Popular Education (INJEP) and the Civic Service Agency commissioned a study to "understand how associations use the civic service commitment and to measure the effects of civic service on associative structures.

This study did not focus specifically on the digital dimension of the missions entrusted by the associations to young volunteers.

We know, however, thata growing number of young volunteers are being assigned digital-related missions We know, however, that these missions are not always the same: whether it is to accompany or train people who are far from the digital world or to develop digital projects within the associations that employ them.

At the beginning of July, nearly 6% of the 2,600 missions and 90,000 positions offered on the Agence du service civique website used the term "digital" ("Young digital citizens", "Digital ambassadors", "Promoting digital access for seniors", "Promoting active citizenship through digital technology", "Promoting responsible digital use", "Supporting the public in the use of new digital tools", "Facilitating digital inclusion", "Digital facilitator and social link"). Or terms such as "internet", "cybercitizenship", "software", "digital" or "computer".

While the majority of these missions are public-facing, a number of them cover more directly operational activities such as the creation and development of a website, participation in the deployment of software or support for the animation of social networks.

Although the INJEP study did not focus specifically on the digital dimension of the missions entrusted by the associations to young volunteers, this digital component of the missions is nevertheless recurrent in the comments made by the association leaders and the young volunteers interviewed by the authors of the study. Indeed, the study gives a large place to the "verbatims" of the people met during the survey.

These verbatims paint a picture of how young volunteers contribute to the development of the associations' activities and digital projects.

Motivation but also digital skills as a selection criterion for candidates

https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/gDqBy/8/

Source: Tableau de bord de la vie associative 2019

The way volunteers are selected is often inspired by the world of salaried work, the authors of the survey observe, "distancing itself in some respects from the institutional principles governing the use of the system.

  • "Afterwards, yes, we essentially base ourselves on the motivations. It is sure that a digital mission, the one who made a license around the digital, it is immediately a little more interesting ". (Dylan, tutor, socio-cultural center)
  • "I chose to do a civic service because it was the first offer that came to me, quite simply. [...] In fact, I was looking for a job in the IT sector. I looked everywhere. They were asking for a bachelor's degree or an advanced degree, or for internships. What interested me was not to do internships, but to work, to discover the professional world." (Clément, volunteer, social center)

Civic service, a lever for digital appropriation and experimentation in associations

It appears, therefore, from these verbatims, that the recruitment of young volunteers with a digital culture allows associations to concretize a digital project or the deployment of new activities among its users.
  • "We mustn't deny it, the fact of welcoming young volunteers also allows the association to have leverage [...] Here, we have young adults who are somewhat at ease with everything digital. Quite quickly, they became facilitators on tablet actions with seniors and that kind of thing." (Pierre, director of a socio-cultural center.)
  • "on the computer environment (the main mission of the volunteer consists of leading digital workshops to help senior citizens use touch tablets), we did not necessarily have precise needs at the beginning, and the idea was to move forward by adapting to the needs". (Paul, director of a social center)
  • "Well, I help the trainees in vocational training when they don't understand something... I make them photocopies so they can do exercises and when there is no answer key, I correct them myself. [...] I intervene... well, when they [the trainers] have a group and they need someone... for example, there is a person in computer science who does not know how to use it, they will call me so that I come to see the person and help them. [...] It goes well. They ask me for things, I do them, I go there..." (Pauline, volunteer, training organization)
In a number of cases, the managers of certain host organizations use the civic service system as a lever to innovate and test new activities.
  • "And then there was also the idea of a virtual museum, which we haven't really worked on yet, and the idea of introducing these seniors to the use of tablets, with adapted tablets. This is computer-related, and we thought that a young person with technical skills would be very appropriate. Clément has the technical skills and he is interested in the seniors' audience. So we set up the first workshops on digital tablets. [...] I consider that it is a field of experimentation for us, certainly, but also and above all for them, as much as possible, so that it is rewarding for them, they must have fun, they must do things." (Paul, director of a social center)
  • "We are going to create a digital space with a fab lab. Those who will be working on these missions are motivated and very interested. It also provides added value. (Pierre, director of a socio-cultural center)
  • "Today, we are thinking about creating an apprenticeship training program to help very small businesses and tradesmen who are having difficulty improving their digital communication. We want to rely on young people's appetite for digital technology to feed Facebook pages or websites of very small businesses that need to communicate to get more customers. As a result, we will surely start with civic services for this session." (Pierre, coordinator of an economic development association)

Often recurring digital assignments

The study shows the complexity of the question of substitution for employment and volunteering in the use of civic service by associations.

According to the survey, there are few situations in which the missions of a young person in civic service fully replace the missions usually assigned to employees or volunteers.

  • "The civic services we have here, there are no employees in these positions at the base, it is to bring additional help. [...] The civic service will do research on the Internet, things like that, to unblock, to help the trainer who doesn't have time to do the research. The civic service is going to bring that and as a result, I think it's an additional contribution." (Audrey, director of a training center)
However, the survey highlights the recurrent nature of the use of "civic services" for missions that are, in fact, long-term. Digital mediation missions are thus entrusted, in some associations, sometimes for several years, to young people in civic service, to meet permanent human resources needs.
  • "So for Quentin, it was the continuation of a former civic service. So the mission hasn't changed much, except for the part about fighting against school dropouts, because it was also a request from a school. So there, it is done in pairs with me, but otherwise, yes, the mission has remained the same. Contrary to the former civic service, which really remained in the digital field, Quentin is diversifying. (Kévin, tutor, socio-cultural center)
These civic service missions have a structuring character: "their cessation would put the association's organization in great difficulty and would necessarily and rapidly require a replacement for the young volunteer",note the authors of the study.

A large autonomy granted to young volunteers

As one of the eight fundamental principles of civic service, accompaniment must be at the heart of the structures' reception project and in the reflection and maturation of the volunteers' future project: what they will do when their commitment within the association ends. To this end, the managers appoint a tutor to accompany young volunteers in the exercise of their missions.
  • "On the tablet workshops, I am often alone. It is rare that we have animations where I am alone, what I can do alone are missions that I can do here, to look for providers, for example, he is not necessarily behind me [...] Even if he leaves me quite a lot of autonomy, I really feel well supervised all the time because I know that he is behind me. If I have a problem, I can call him, even if it's not in the context of the mission, he will always be there to help me, to give me advice. [...] Autonomy was what I was looking for". (Theo, volunteer, socio-cultural center)
  • "So, when we fixed the mission, there was of course a general objective, that is to say that he is on a mission, for example, of digital mediation, and that evolved well, because according to his competences, we made things evolve, but also according to his desires. Now, he would like to become a socio-cultural animator. So I put him in charge of some prevention activities with young people, so that he could discover all that. Afterwards, if he tells me "I don't feel like doing digital work anymore", it's going to be complicated...". (Dylan, tutor, socio-cultural center)
The follow-up of the young volunteers meets limits when the tutor himself recognizes that he is a bit "out of date" in digital matters.
  • "He's the one who runs his initiation program. He built it on paper, based on the material we had and the people. So, in relation to the people, I mediated the first few sessions, now I go, I stay in my corner and I listen. That's it... I'm out of touch with... I use tablets and computers, but afterwards... [...] It's on the pedagogy that he is autonomous. He knows how to progress according to the tools he has [...] So on that point, he's the one who leads the way. Well, I always keep an eye on him. (Robert, tutor, social center)
  • "So, his future plan is ambiguous because he's going to volunteer as a firefighter, so it may take a while. So, afterwards, I told him that there was a niche to take on this topic [digital for seniors] in the region. So, I told him, "Keep an eye on everything that's going on with this digital literacy thing." That's it, but it's beyond me, so I can't follow it very closely." (Robert, tutor, social center)

Digital missions that can make sense

  • "The fact that you're bringing something to people, that you see that what you're doing has a purpose and that it's going to be useful to them [...]. At the very beginning there was a person who didn't know how to use it [touch tablets] at all, she came back recently and she was happy because now she knows how to do things on it, she knows how to pay her taxes online, for example. These are everyday things, before she arrived she didn't know how to do it, we showed her and now she can do it. It's rewarding, that's when we say to ourselves that we have to keep doing it." (Theo, volunteer, socio-cultural center).
They can also lead to recruitment.
  • "Olivier has found his way into the digital world, although he never thought he would make a career out of it. He's only on a fixed-term contract at the moment. It's rewarding for him because as soon as the computer breaks down, we call him! Now he is indispensable. He has made himself indispensable and that's great." (Sophie, tutor, popular education association.)

Référence :

Sources

Civic service: young volunteers contribute to the appropriation of digital technology by associations

The National Institute for Youth and Popular Education (INJEP) and the Civic Service Agency commissioned a study to "understand how associations use the civic service commitment and to measure the effects of civic service on associative structures.

This study did not focus specifically on the digital dimension of the missions entrusted by the associations to young volunteers.

We know, however, thata growing number of young volunteers are being assigned digital-related missions We know, however, that these missions are not always the same: whether it is to accompany or train people who are far from the digital world or to develop digital projects within the associations that employ them.

At the beginning of July, nearly 6% of the 2,600 missions and 90,000 positions offered on the Agence du service civique website used the term "digital" ("Young digital citizens", "Digital ambassadors", "Promoting digital access for seniors", "Promoting active citizenship through digital technology", "Promoting responsible digital use", "Supporting the public in the use of new digital tools", "Facilitating digital inclusion", "Digital facilitator and social link"). Or terms such as "internet", "cybercitizenship", "software", "digital" or "computer".

While the majority of these missions are public-facing, a number of them cover more directly operational activities such as the creation and development of a website, participation in the deployment of software or support for the animation of social networks.

Although the INJEP study did not focus specifically on the digital dimension of the missions entrusted by the associations to young volunteers, this digital component of the missions is nevertheless recurrent in the comments made by the association leaders and the young volunteers interviewed by the authors of the study. Indeed, the study gives a large place to the "verbatims" of the people met during the survey.

These verbatims paint a picture of how young volunteers contribute to the development of the associations' activities and digital projects.

Motivation but also digital skills as a selection criterion for candidates

https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/gDqBy/8/

Source: Tableau de bord de la vie associative 2019

The way volunteers are selected is often inspired by the world of salaried work, the authors of the survey observe, "distancing itself in some respects from the institutional principles governing the use of the system.

  • "Afterwards, yes, we essentially base ourselves on the motivations. It is sure that a digital mission, the one who made a license around the digital, it is immediately a little more interesting ". (Dylan, tutor, socio-cultural center)
  • "I chose to do a civic service because it was the first offer that came to me, quite simply. [...] In fact, I was looking for a job in the IT sector. I looked everywhere. They were asking for a bachelor's degree or an advanced degree, or for internships. What interested me was not to do internships, but to work, to discover the professional world." (Clément, volunteer, social center)

Civic service, a lever for digital appropriation and experimentation in associations

It appears, therefore, from these verbatims, that the recruitment of young volunteers with a digital culture allows associations to concretize a digital project or the deployment of new activities among its users.
  • "We mustn't deny it, the fact of welcoming young volunteers also allows the association to have leverage [...] Here, we have young adults who are somewhat at ease with everything digital. Quite quickly, they became facilitators on tablet actions with seniors and that kind of thing." (Pierre, director of a socio-cultural center.)
  • "on the computer environment (the main mission of the volunteer consists of leading digital workshops to help senior citizens use touch tablets), we did not necessarily have precise needs at the beginning, and the idea was to move forward by adapting to the needs". (Paul, director of a social center)
  • "Well, I help the trainees in vocational training when they don't understand something... I make them photocopies so they can do exercises and when there is no answer key, I correct them myself. [...] I intervene... well, when they [the trainers] have a group and they need someone... for example, there is a person in computer science who does not know how to use it, they will call me so that I come to see the person and help them. [...] It goes well. They ask me for things, I do them, I go there..." (Pauline, volunteer, training organization)
In a number of cases, the managers of certain host organizations use the civic service system as a lever to innovate and test new activities.
  • "And then there was also the idea of a virtual museum, which we haven't really worked on yet, and the idea of introducing these seniors to the use of tablets, with adapted tablets. This is computer-related, and we thought that a young person with technical skills would be very appropriate. Clément has the technical skills and he is interested in the seniors' audience. So we set up the first workshops on digital tablets. [...] I consider that it is a field of experimentation for us, certainly, but also and above all for them, as much as possible, so that it is rewarding for them, they must have fun, they must do things." (Paul, director of a social center)
  • "We are going to create a digital space with a fab lab. Those who will be working on these missions are motivated and very interested. It also provides added value. (Pierre, director of a socio-cultural center)
  • "Today, we are thinking about creating an apprenticeship training program to help very small businesses and tradesmen who are having difficulty improving their digital communication. We want to rely on young people's appetite for digital technology to feed Facebook pages or websites of very small businesses that need to communicate to get more customers. As a result, we will surely start with civic services for this session." (Pierre, coordinator of an economic development association)

Often recurring digital assignments

The study shows the complexity of the question of substitution for employment and volunteering in the use of civic service by associations.

According to the survey, there are few situations in which the missions of a young person in civic service fully replace the missions usually assigned to employees or volunteers.

  • "The civic services we have here, there are no employees in these positions at the base, it is to bring additional help. [...] The civic service will do research on the Internet, things like that, to unblock, to help the trainer who doesn't have time to do the research. The civic service is going to bring that and as a result, I think it's an additional contribution." (Audrey, director of a training center)
However, the survey highlights the recurrent nature of the use of "civic services" for missions that are, in fact, long-term. Digital mediation missions are thus entrusted, in some associations, sometimes for several years, to young people in civic service, to meet permanent human resources needs.
  • "So for Quentin, it was the continuation of a former civic service. So the mission hasn't changed much, except for the part about fighting against school dropouts, because it was also a request from a school. So there, it is done in pairs with me, but otherwise, yes, the mission has remained the same. Contrary to the former civic service, which really remained in the digital field, Quentin is diversifying. (Kévin, tutor, socio-cultural center)
These civic service missions have a structuring character: "their cessation would put the association's organization in great difficulty and would necessarily and rapidly require a replacement for the young volunteer",note the authors of the study.

A large autonomy granted to young volunteers

As one of the eight fundamental principles of civic service, accompaniment must be at the heart of the structures' reception project and in the reflection and maturation of the volunteers' future project: what they will do when their commitment within the association ends. To this end, the managers appoint a tutor to accompany young volunteers in the exercise of their missions.
  • "On the tablet workshops, I am often alone. It is rare that we have animations where I am alone, what I can do alone are missions that I can do here, to look for providers, for example, he is not necessarily behind me [...] Even if he leaves me quite a lot of autonomy, I really feel well supervised all the time because I know that he is behind me. If I have a problem, I can call him, even if it's not in the context of the mission, he will always be there to help me, to give me advice. [...] Autonomy was what I was looking for". (Theo, volunteer, socio-cultural center)
  • "So, when we fixed the mission, there was of course a general objective, that is to say that he is on a mission, for example, of digital mediation, and that evolved well, because according to his competences, we made things evolve, but also according to his desires. Now, he would like to become a socio-cultural animator. So I put him in charge of some prevention activities with young people, so that he could discover all that. Afterwards, if he tells me "I don't feel like doing digital work anymore", it's going to be complicated...". (Dylan, tutor, socio-cultural center)
The follow-up of the young volunteers meets limits when the tutor himself recognizes that he is a bit "out of date" in digital matters.
  • "He's the one who runs his initiation program. He built it on paper, based on the material we had and the people. So, in relation to the people, I mediated the first few sessions, now I go, I stay in my corner and I listen. That's it... I'm out of touch with... I use tablets and computers, but afterwards... [...] It's on the pedagogy that he is autonomous. He knows how to progress according to the tools he has [...] So on that point, he's the one who leads the way. Well, I always keep an eye on him. (Robert, tutor, social center)
  • "So, his future plan is ambiguous because he's going to volunteer as a firefighter, so it may take a while. So, afterwards, I told him that there was a niche to take on this topic [digital for seniors] in the region. So, I told him, "Keep an eye on everything that's going on with this digital literacy thing." That's it, but it's beyond me, so I can't follow it very closely." (Robert, tutor, social center)

Digital missions that can make sense

  • "The fact that you're bringing something to people, that you see that what you're doing has a purpose and that it's going to be useful to them [...]. At the very beginning there was a person who didn't know how to use it [touch tablets] at all, she came back recently and she was happy because now she knows how to do things on it, she knows how to pay her taxes online, for example. These are everyday things, before she arrived she didn't know how to do it, we showed her and now she can do it. It's rewarding, that's when we say to ourselves that we have to keep doing it." (Theo, volunteer, socio-cultural center).
They can also lead to recruitment.
  • "Olivier has found his way into the digital world, although he never thought he would make a career out of it. He's only on a fixed-term contract at the moment. It's rewarding for him because as soon as the computer breaks down, we call him! Now he is indispensable. He has made himself indispensable and that's great." (Sophie, tutor, popular education association.)

Référence :

Sources

Labo Société Numérique

Labo République Française Agence nationale de cohésion des territoires
Civic service: young volunteers contribute to the appropriation of digital technology by associations