Range of opportunities

Whenever possible, volunteering organisation need to consider how they will be able to provide a range of opportunities that will offer something to the target beneficiaries and at the same time enable different groups of potential volunteers to be offered a suitable match for their own needs and capabilities. The availability of well prepared role descriptions can be used to define the various opportunities. Also involvement of volunteers in designing their own volunteer roles can also work well in some circumstances.


Below are a few examples of how other organisations have accoplished this:


North Tyneside VODA gives young volunteers active roles in designing volunteering activities
Brighton Unemployed Centre provides a wide range of volunteering opportunities


WORLDwrite identifies a wide varieties of volunteering opportunities

North Tyneside VODA

North Tyneside Voluntary Organisation Development Agency (VODA) gives young volunteers an active role in designing activities. This involves giving support, ensuring that projects undertaken are realistic and achievable, and critically, not underestimating young people’s capacity to respond positively to responsibility.

Among other things, VODA organises a range of volunteer challenges, which have proved to be successful in both involving and providing a range of volunteering opportunities for young people. The main features of the volunteer challenges are as follows:

A flexible and open minded approach – many of the ideas for challenges come from young people themselves and may not seem promising at first sight;
Involve specific groups of young people who face additional barriers – for example, challenges for wheelchair users that takes into account accessibility issues;
Encourage ownership – VODA enables young people to plan and execute their group projects and assess the risks involved;
Organic movement in challenges – challenges do not need to be static in form. An example of this at VODA was the young person’ radio station broadcasting where during the four weeks of the project more than 200 people were involved in running a range of shows including live music, phone ins, and interview with the mayor, and topical discussions on challenging subjects;
Give control – young people were given complete control over the content and style of the radio broadcasts, as long as they avoided using offensive language;
Widen horizons – for example, the opportunity to enable young people from different countries and cultures to mix with and learn from each other has been taken at VODA with projects such as the Active Youth International Exchange and International Youth Forum;
Formal evaluation – this is a key part of the volunteers’ input, and young people themselves have been involved in the design of forums.

Brighton Unemployed Centre

The aim of the Brighton Unemployed Centre Families Project (BUCFP) is to relieve poverty, distress and hardship among unemployed, poorly housed, and low-waged people and their families

One of the ways the BUCFP seeks to achieve its aims is by promoting and facilitating volunteering participation. The ability to offer a wide range of volunteering opportunites is seen to be a key to engaging people in the Project. To make this approach work in practice the BUCFP seek to ensure that there is:

Clarity of purpose – that a wide range of activities reaches out to a broad range of service users to engage them with the project;
Explicit details of opportunities – the project produces information leaflets and other written material about opportunities;
Volunteer role descriptions – regular volunteers have detailed role descriptions setting out responsibilities and tasks;
Promotional activities – are designed to introduce existing and potential volunteering opportunities available;
Guidance and help – volunteers receive guidance toward appropriate volunteering opportunities and help, e.g. with volunteer application forms;
Targeting – working creatively to find effective ways for different people to participate, with particular effort to reach out to the most deprived and disadvantaged;
Reducing barriers to participation – examples include on-site childcare, high levels of support, training, and a welcoming and supportive community
Drawing attention to the lasting benefits of participation – these include gaining new skills, building confidence, less isolation, better social networking, and access to other sources of advice and support;
Individual outcomes – participation can lead people into external volunteering and training opportunities or paid employment.
Spreading the net – continue to develop new volunteering opportunities and projects;
Monitoring and evaluation – to ensure that the project is on track and developing.

WORLDwrite

WORLDwrite believes that volunteering opportunities need to suit the needs, interests and aspirations of the individual volunteers and assist them in developing these flexibly avoiding an “off putting” allocation of tasks that may be too hard or belittling in scope. A wide variety of volunteering opportunities available though activities, projects and events is important and in order to achieve this WORLDwrite:

draws on the ideas of the young people – WORLDwrite provides young people with an opportunity to express creatively their concerns and develop their aspirations by addressing disadvantages across the globe;
Facilitates engagement through training – for example, WORLDwrite has established a national award winning documentary film facility and accredited training programme where talented yet disadvantaged young people were provided with cutting-edge new media skills and a chance to shape the future;

Range of opportunities

North Tyneside VODA gives young volunteers active roles in designing volunteering activities

WORLDwrite identifies a wide varieties of volunteering opportunities

North Tyneside VODA

Among other things, VODA organises a range of volunteer challenges, which have proved to be successful in both involving and providing a range of volunteering opportunities for young people. The main features of the volunteer challenges are as follows:

A flexible and open minded approach – many of the ideas for challenges come from young people themselves and may not seem promising at first sight;

Involve specific groups of young people who face additional barriers – for example, challenges for wheelchair users that takes into account accessibility issues;

Encourage ownership – VODA enables young people to plan and execute their group projects and assess the risks involved;

Give control – young people were given complete control over the content and style of the radio broadcasts, as long as they avoided using offensive language;

Widen horizons – for example, the opportunity to enable young people from different countries and cultures to mix with and learn from each other has been taken at VODA with projects such as the Active Youth International Exchange and International Youth Forum;

Formal evaluation – this is a key part of the volunteers’ input, and young people themselves have been involved in the design of forums.

Brighton Unemployed Centre

The aim of the Brighton Unemployed Centre Families Project (BUCFP) is to relieve poverty, distress and hardship among unemployed, poorly housed, and low-waged people and their families

Clarity of purpose – that a wide range of activities reaches out to a broad range of service users to engage them with the project;

Explicit details of opportunities – the project produces information leaflets and other written material about opportunities;

Volunteer role descriptions – regular volunteers have detailed role descriptions setting out responsibilities and tasks;

Promotional activities – are designed to introduce existing and potential volunteering opportunities available;

Guidance and help – volunteers receive guidance toward appropriate volunteering opportunities and help, e.g. with volunteer application forms;

Targeting – working creatively to find effective ways for different people to participate, with particular effort to reach out to the most deprived and disadvantaged;

Reducing barriers to participation – examples include on-site childcare, high levels of support, training, and a welcoming and supportive community

Drawing attention to the lasting benefits of participation – these include gaining new skills, building confidence, less isolation, better social networking, and access to other sources of advice and support;

Individual outcomes – participation can lead people into external volunteering and training opportunities or paid employment.

Spreading the net – continue to develop new volunteering opportunities and projects;

Monitoring and evaluation – to ensure that the project is on track and developing.

WORLDwrite

draws on the ideas of the young people – WORLDwrite provides young people with an opportunity to express creatively their concerns and develop their aspirations by addressing disadvantages across the globe;

Facilitates engagement through training – for example, WORLDwrite has established a national award winning documentary film facility and accredited training programme where talented yet disadvantaged young people were provided with cutting-edge new media skills and a chance to shape the future;

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