Conference Report
Belfast, 17th May 2007
Background to the Event
The Volunteer Development Agency brought together policy makers and practitioners of youth volunteering from across the UK and the Republic of Ireland to give an overview across the nations.
The purpose of the conference was to share experience and practice at what is a time of change in policy for youth volunteering as well as fast moving social trends among young people.
In the morning the conference followed the format of briefing lectures and questions. This was followed by a market place event where participants looked at the issue of increasing the number and diversity of young people in volunteering.
Working as an issue group, participants discussed and agreed 10 ideas for action to address the issue and meet the challenge of increasing the number and diversity of young volunteers.
Overview & Key Trends for Youth Volunteering in England
Presented by Mike Locke – Assistant Director (acting) Institute for Volunteering Research
1. Pressures put on young people’s volunteering by government policies
Volunteering is proposed as a solution to several problems focused on young people including work skills and employability, social cohesion and ‘normalising’ young people, reducing crime and anti-social behaviour
A range of demands and expectations are loaded onto young people’s volunteering.
2. Extent and patterns of young people’s volunteering in England.
The picture of young people’s volunteering presented from national statistics is not so different from volunteering by other age groups in its patterns, reasons, activities and fields.
In terms of formal volunteering (i.e. through an organisation) - 32% of 16-19 year olds are volunteering once a month compared with 29% of the total population, this figure increases to 53% annually compared with 44% of the rest of the population.
50% of 16-19 year olds volunteer informally once a month and 78% once a year compared with 37% & 68% of the rest of the population.
More young people would volunteer if they could access free training, gain a qualification or benefit their career.
At the other end of the spectrum, some young people are disaffected and disconnected from volunteering and political participation.
A minority of young people see volunteering as ‘sad’ and ‘not cool’ and15% of young people thought volunteering was ‘being a mug doing something for nothing.’
3. Tackling Problems
Psychological and practical barriers can be tackled through measures such as improving information, working through social connections and directly asking for help, giving young people some leadership or ownership of their volunteering.
There is a need to look at the rebranding of volunteering for young people.
The public policy agenda for volunteering does not (mostly) coincide with the reasons why young people volunteer.
The Government and volunteer involving agencies may need to take risks in terms of accountability to serve the variety of needs of young people.
The Cares, Interests, Passions and Beliefs of Young People in England
Dr Terry Ryall, Chief Executive V
V has a remit to deliver a public policy agenda and a programme that is attractive to young people.
The Youth Advisory Board carried out research on what would make young people act locally and globally.
Global Concerns include terrorism, war, poverty, famine and climate change.
Local issues include a lack of inspiring activities to get involved in locally, the negative perceptions of young people, crime, a poor environment and drugs.
The majority of young people do not act on these local or global concerns.
This research also showed barriers to volunteering include:
Time (50%), Unsure how to help (25%), Self esteem / nothing to offer (25%)
Not sure how to action ideas (20%).
Young Peoples Passions are sport, friends & family, music, reading & writing, computers and TV & film.
V has undertaken pilot projects to address these issues for example:
‘Thrifty Squid’ is a project addressing financial exclusion. Young people were given the challenge of designing a project which would provide a product for other young people who may find themselves in a hard up situation.
Examples include: healthy eating website, goody bags with vouchers for food/transport and leisure.
The winners got £10,000 to develop their product – the winning project provided peer support and awareness for those being bullied.
V has launched a youth fund worth £1 million. Young people can apply for up to £2,500 to start their own project. V looked at why earlier youth funds have failed - quite often young people have been unsure what to do. V have created a support tool Outside the Box to assist with this.
Organisations and policy makers need to look at engagement and how to involve young people in respect of their cares, passions and beliefs.
Overview and Key Trends for Youth Volunteering in the Republic of Ireland
Dr Yvonne McKenna, National Development Officer, Volunteer Centre’s Ireland
There is no overview of youth volunteering in Ireland but sources show a 15% decline in youth volunteering. Statistics from Volunteer Centre Ireland show that 31% of people registered in 2006 were under 25; so far in 2007 this figure has increased to 34%.
More than 50% of these young people have not volunteered before.
The 2006 census carried out in the Republic of Ireland specifically asked a question about volunteering – therefore when the results are published this will provide a further insight into volunteering in Ireland.
There are a number of dedicated volunteer programmes to support youth involvement in Ireland including: Big Brother Big Sister Ireland, Comhairle na nÓg / Dail na nÓg, National Youth Council Ireland, Young Social Innovators andYouth Work Ireland.
Research on youth volunteering in Ireland
The National Children’s Advisory Research team carried out research in 2006. They examined: Perceptions of volunteering, motivation of volunteers, incentives, barriers, routes into volunteering, mobilising young people
Findings from this research included: It is difficult for young people to locate opportunities, there is a lack of understanding in how to get involved, there are negative perceptions of volunteering – it is not cool, there is no unanimous understanding of what volunteering is, volunteering is a good opportunity to socialise and meet new friends.
Barriers to volunteering include peer opinion and structural barriers – there are a lack of opportunities and awareness.
To develop clear and accessible routes for young people to participate it was recommended that more opportunities have to be developed and more schools have to be involved; volunteering needs to be promoted as fun; young people need to be consulted and have input into the development of volunteering / opportunities.
Recommendations from the research include:
· The need to develop a youth volunteering education and awareness programme.
· The need to provide enhanced and more accessible information on youth volunteering opportunities.
· The need for further detailed case study research on international youth volunteering initiatives and the need for detailed case study research on youth volunteer involving organisations in Ireland.
· Policy relevant issues that have emerged from the research should be considered in the development of youth volunteering policy.
Challenges presented include:
Policy makers / youth volunteering involvement organisations need to respond to the voices of young people on how barriers can be removed.
Key Trends for Youth Volunteering:
Youth volunteering is on the agenda – this needs to be reviewed and informed on an ongoing basis to ensure it remains
Overview and Key Trends for Youth Volunteering in Scotland
Alison Harrower, Local Partnership Programme Leader Volunteer Development Scotland.
There is a network of 32 volunteer centres (one in each local authority) each employs a youth development worker to deliver the Millennium Volunteers programme. In 2005/06 3,757 Millennium Volunteer Awards were distributed.
The guiding document for youth volunteering in Scotland is the Scottish Executive’s Volunteering Strategy 2004, recommendations from it include:
· Focus Project Scotland and young people
o More young people are aware of volunteering, its benefits and how to access it.
o Underrepresented young people are engaged.
o There is a national recognition system (Millennium Volunteers).
· Dismantling the barriers to volunteering and closing the opportunity gap.
· Improving the volunteering experience.
· Monitoring, evaluating and ongoing development.
It has been identified that young people want to work with people, to see positive impact from their actions, to work on projects, to work in teams, to socialise with other young volunteers, respect from peers / parents / community, recognition from employers and a chance to contribute and learn.
Therefore when working on a project it is important that everyone is working towards the same shared goals and aims.
Young people have identified the following as activities of interest: helping children and young people, raising money for good causes and sporting / outdoor activities.
This is a challenge for organisations because it makes them demanding consumers – when organisations are developing new roles it is useful to hold focus groups with young people to input into role descriptions.
To attract young people volunteer involving organisations should recognise the value of young volunteers and create and tailor placements that are meaningful, flexible, team based and project based which meet the needs of young people and give young people ownership.
KEY TRENDS
Volunteering is increasingly about increasing the skills of young people, taking action as an active citizen, a panacea for policy makers, engaging hard to reach young people and organisations working in partnership.
Traditionally young people have volunteered to develop skills for job hunting and many universities include volunteering as a credit within their courses.
VDS has started to work with Youth Achievement to pilot the development of youth achievement awards in volunteering which is accredited by ASDAN.
Recent policy and strategy publications in Scotland have all included volunteering, as have all the political parties’ manifestos for the recent Scottish elections. While the impact of volunteering has been recognised increasingly it could be seen as an answer to all problems (i.e. making unemployed people volunteer etc). VDS wish to show policy makers that young people have ideas that they can achieve through volunteering.
Volunteering is lower amongst lower socio-economic groups making this group the most difficult to engage for organisations. Organisations need to not only identify these barriers but put in place a number of support mechanisms (expenses, training etc) to retain these young people because this group gain the most from volunteering.
Caitríona Ruane, MLA – Minister of Education for Northern Ireland
The Minister highlighted the important role of volunteering in the development of young people.
‘Volunteering can provide young people with a valuable learning experience. Not only can they make a difference to others they can also make a tangible difference to their own social and personal development.’
The Minister emphasised her hope that the government working in partnership with the voluntary and statutory sectors to promote and support youth volunteering, would result in more young people would become involved.
The Minister commended the work being undertaken across the sector to ‘identify best practice and remove the barriers that many young people face.’
‘The Minister shared her commitment to enhancing youth volunteering and working with the sector to develop opportunities that fit young peoples lifestyles.’
She indicated that ‘Volunteers need to be right at the centre of the organisation’.
Overview and Key Trends for Youth Volunteering in Northern Ireland
Denise Hayward Volunteer Development Agency & Terry McGuinness Youth Empowerment Scheme
Three recent pieces of research in Northern Ireland:
· Scoping Study on Young People Volunteering in the Youth Sector.
· Why Not Ask Me - Examining volunteering and community relations in Belfast.
· Volunteering in Northern Ireland - A population based survey to be published in June 2007.
For engaged young people there is an understanding of what volunteerism is.
A substantial number of young people (particularly those who are not engaged) however do not have a clear understanding of volunteering.
23% young people are formally involved as volunteers; 33% young people are informally involved as volunteers; 91% of all young people would volunteer if asked.
All three pieces of research have consistently demonstrated that young men and young people with disabilities are underrepresented as volunteers.
Young people from minority ethnic communities were not underrepresented in relation to the 2001 census figures, however this may not represent the current picture.
Who are volunteers and what do they do?
The most popular types of volunteering activities are youth club leader / helper, fundraising, music/ arts & drama and organising events.
Only 35% of organisations in the youth sector involved young people in governance – there is a challenge for organisations in the voluntary sector to engage young people and increase involvement in this key role.
Young people prefer to volunteer in the evening with afternoon and then weekends being most popular.
In Northern Ireland 66% of young people are interested in undertaking accreditation of skills learned through volunteering.
78% of young people are interested in taking part in training relating to their volunteering.
This reflects the fact that gaining skills and experience was the most important motivating factor for young volunteers responding to the survey.
Other findings concluded:
· Organisations should make the benefits of volunteering clear – lack of information is the main reason cited for not participating.
· Organisations should seek to improve flexibility – it allows volunteers to take charge of their own experiences, volunteers may contribute fewer hours in 2007 but the commitment is longer term.
· Volunteering encourages Active Citizenship – volunteers are more likely to vote and they have a greater sense of ownership of their community.
· Government needs to increase their support for volunteering – recognises the value of volunteering and supports a positive image.
· Organisations wishing to involve volunteers should seek to be efficient and informal – volunteering should always be a positive experience.
Key Trends for Youth Volunteering in Wales
Leah Doherty, Millennium Volunteer Coordinator, Wales council for Voluntary Action
Research carried out in Wales includes:
· 2001 Home Office Citizenship Study.
· 2003 Welsh Assembly Research.
· 2007 Millennium Volunteers evaluation.
· 2008 Russell Impact (this will assess the impact of the £3 million funding from Russell).
Based on the findings of this research100% of young volunteers would recommend volunteering to a friend.
A number of programmes exist in Wales to promote youth volunteering including:
· 14-19 Learning Pathways.
· Welsh B.accalaureate.
· CWVYS .
· Millennium Volunteers – 9000 young people have registered as Millennium Volunteers. 84 organisations are funded to deliver the programme including 22 Volunteer Centres (1 in each county).