By, Shaheerah Dzaki
GOMBAK, 27 May 2025: Representatives of volunteering causes, Mohd Zakwan bin Zainal, a manager of the National Autism Society of Malaysia (NASOM) and Muhammad Al-Mubarak bin Ahmad Rufai, Deputy Chairman at NGO MULHAQ shared their insights in a forum titled, ‘Volunteerism: New Opportunities Through Digital Media’ today (27 May 2025) in HS Seminar Room, IIUM.
The panelists enlightened the audiences with valuable knowledge and experiences on volunteering programmes such as setting the right intention and tips for aspiring volunteers. Not to mention, the panelists also shared the importance of skills in managing digital media for volunteerism.
“Make sure technicalities are in line with your direction. Technicalities involves many aspects on how you contact people, promote your programmes, how you post (on social media) and how you make it go worldwide,” said Al-Mubarak. He highlighted that these two characteristics are essential to develop as a key to achieve the target for the volunteering cause.
Although Al-Mubarak mentioned that sometimes people do not have both characteristics at the same time, which is why he focused on significance of having collaborations.
“So, that’s why I like to emphasise that we cannot do impact or change the world or community if we are just trying to do it alone, even as an organisation, we cannot just do it alone,” Al-Mubarak brilliantly remarked.
Moreover, Al-Mubarak shared that having a direction in charitable cause is extremely important as it will prepare volunteers for the next step in achieving their goal to help the marginalised community. Sometimes people can get lost in creating contents for the sake of social media engagement but it is important to remember that the actual goal of the content is to guide audiences to help the community.
On the other hand, Mohd Zakwan explained the importance of consent in content creation with the marginalised community. As he is working for an autism cause organisation, he focused on asking consents from parents or guardians.
Mohd Zakwan also noted that skills by communication students such as writing, copywriting and journalism are still needed despite the advancement of technology.
“Nowadays, there are a lot of AI platforms that can suggest all the points and everything. It’s just that you have to put an emotional touch to the stories you share,” explained Mohd Zakwan.
The forum proceeded with a Q&A session where students asked for tips on volunteering for causes.
‘Volunteerism: New Opportunities Through Digital Media,’ forum was one of the programmes organised by the Communication Internship students for Communication Festival 2025.***
