Youth participation in NGOs in post-soviet country Lithuania

Abstract: This paper focuses on youth volunteering in the post – communist societies, more specifically, in the post- soviet country Lithuania. Volunteering as a formal action performed by organizations is well known in Western Europe for ages, but in Eastern European countries, especially in Baltics it has been a new phenomenon after the collapse of the former Soviet Union.During the communist regime, volunteering was compulsory for young and for old generations. In this period of time not only the volunteering was under Soviet Union control but also the civil society, which was the keystone of voluntary activities. After the fall of the communist regime volunteering levels in Eastern Europe have decreased. However, in Lithuania volunteering in NGOs has recently become one of the most popular culture movements of youth. This research paper aims to raise an awareness on the positive and negative impacts of it. Chapter first addresses to the significance of the topic; chapter second critically reviews the existing theoretical underpinnings related to the theme; chapter three represents the story of Lithuania; chapter four is focused on the research carried out. Addressing the issues of youth engagement in NGOs this paper concludes that research made together with literature review can be sufficient enough to justify the negative reasons of the youth engagement in NGOs in post- soviet state.