A group of innovative 16-year-olds have come up with a Facebook app to entice young people into volunteering – and Microsoft Malta has pledged to help the team produce it.
The app will be developed in collaboration with the Malta Council for the Voluntary Sector and will be functioning by the end of September.
St Martin’s College fifth formers Roberta Montebello, Michela Manduca, Matthew Barthet and Francis Maclang enthusiastically explained how, together with their classmate, Chris Miceli, they came up with a way to help the community while becoming closer as friends.
It was like clockwork – one idea just fed into the other and it all came together
The team was one of eight chosen from different secondary schools to participate in the Social Innovation Challenge organised by Junior Achievement Young Enterprise (Malta) Foundation and Microsoft Malta.
Their winning idea involved setting up a Facebook page that would incorporate software matching potential volunteers to the most suitable organisation based on their Facebook usage, likes and activities.
“We had one day to sit down together and come up with an idea,” Mr Maclang explained.
“The challenge was coming up with an idea that did not merely look good on paper but was realistic. It was like clockwork though – one idea just fed into the other and it all came together.”
Ms Manduca added that the challenge included working under a deadline and not becoming distracted.
“It was a real-life situation so we needed to focus and work. It took us ages to come up with a name – we even thought of ‘Twerk for Work’, which had us in fits of laughter!”
“No, that was a joke,” Mr Maclang protested. “As catchy as that sounds, we couldn’t imagine it as a logo. So we settled on ‘Y NOT’.”
The team explained that if, for instance, a Facebook user was fond of animals, the system would match the person to an animal welfare group.
They included the idea of having a rewards system in which the volunteer and the NGO would clock the hours spent volunteering and the person with the highest number of hours would be sponsored to fly to a country such as Kenya to carry out voluntary work there.
“It’s about presenting voluntary work as something fun,” Ms Manduca adds. “It helps you grow as well as helping make the community a better one. There are loads of organisations one can volunteer with which can match your tastes and passions. Voluntary work can be really fun.”
The teens are now looking to progress to sixth form while taking up voluntary work of their own.
“We were so thrilled to be announced winners – we did a little victory dance,” laughed Ms Manduca.“The boys were glad their presentation was done with and they would not need to speak in public – but lo and behold, we were asked to once again give a presentation to a number of NGOs on NGO Connection Day.
“We can’t wait to see the software turn into reality!”