Delivering your organisational approach – the ‘what’ and ‘why’

The features of delivering your organisational approach to volunteering include:

Allocation of resources to each defined area of activity

What action you can take

• Find placements suitable for target groups.
• Employ young people as experts.
• Use young people to evaluate products and services, for example, using Mystery Shopping.
• Create appropriate materials for young people to use.
• Provide training and development opportunities.
• Develop support and mentoring processes for young people.
• Be innovative - use film, web-sites, social networking, etc.
• Offer rewards and/or expenses as well as transport and food.

Arguing the case for delivering

Schemes need to be adequately resourced in order to demonstrate…benefits to the full. Resources need to be awarded with an adequate timeframe from external funders. Internally, allocations need to be made not only for practical requirements such as travel or staffing but long-term investment is also needed to improve all forms of access generally. The investment required is significant. (Doers and Shapers, DMU, 2009)

Establishment of governance arrangements and reporting requirements.

What action you can take

• Hold regular meetings/steering groups with partners, ensuring appropriate representation.
• Formalise agreements with partners/services concerning delivery and evaluation, as well as responsibilities. This may involve a partnership agreement or terms of reference.
• Agree priorities and outcomes with resource providers and young people.
• Use the need for outcomes as a lever for participation/engagement.

Arguing the case for delivering

“…..getting them to sign up to the agreement…….That took me four months behind the scenes work making sure I got the Council to agree to totally support the project – getting the Service Level Agreement.” [Project leader, quoted in Doers and Shapers, DMU, 2009)

Formalising internal and external working arrangements

What action you can take

• Ensure you have staff commitment.
• Ensure you have a shared understanding of aims.
• Use memoranda of understanding/service level agreements where appropriate.
• Be open to how other services work
• Be aware of the bureaucracy involved in employing young people.
• Value the contributions of all parties.
• Ensure processes are in place to safeguard the safety and well-being of young people, e.g. Safeguarding Policy and consent forms.
• Use volunteer/tutor agreements and volunteer development plans
• Encourage team thinking

Arguing the case for delivering

Personal Development Plans…help to demonstrate the distance travelled. (Doers and Shapers, DMU, 2009)

Informed consent was obtained from participants and (where appropriate) their parents/carers were informed about the research by the relevant local authority. (Doers and Shapers, DMU, 2009)

Assessment of capability and provision of appropriate training/development.

What action you can take

• Provide training for young people, adults supporting young people and elected members.
• Use existing courses on offer; don’t re-invent the wheel if you don’t have to.

Arguing the case for delivering

Young people need support from skilled and committed workers in order to overcome the barriers they face and realise the potential of engagement and volunteering. ‘Support skills’ are multi-faceted and it should not be taken for granted that all workers have them: these skills need fostering, development and recognition. (Doers and Shapers, DMU, 2009)

Co-ordination of different elements of volunteering approach.

What action you can take

• Management across a range of services and departments.
• Ensure there are access points for young people to hear about the opportunities.
• Provide authority-wide briefings/training to ensure there is a corporate understanding of youth volunteering and engagement work.
• Manage expectations – be honest about what is achieving while still being aspirational.

Arguing the case for delivering

Ownership should be corporate and should not reside in one service or department alone. (Doers and Shapers, DMU, 2009)

Young people may find different routes to engagement……... An attempt to channel all volunteering and engagement through one ‘approved’ structure is likely to prevent other young people finding a niche and style for their contribution. It is the variety of routes to engagement that needs to be corporately owned and acknowledged rather than a single quasi-democratic route.’ (Doers and Shapers, DMU, 2009).

Identifying and responding to any emerging risks and needs.

What action you can take

• Be pro-active in responding to any risks and needs identified.
• Staff vacancies and recruitment processes can hold things up.
• Be aware Criminal Record Bureau (CRB) check can hold up processes.
• Local Government re-organisation can affect partners and progress.

Arguing the case for delivering

Lack of transport/cost of transport is an issue which threatened a number of projects. ‘….transport, which was the most significant practical issue, raised many times.’ (Doers and Shapers, DMU, 2009).

Regarding barriers to delivery, ‘…staff vacancies, secondments elsewhere of key players or failure to appoint quickly to posts played a major part.’ (Doers and Shapers, DMU, 2009)

Identifying and responding to any changes in the internal and external environment.

What action you can take

• Understand how youth culture changes and be aware of the pressures facing young people
• Be adaptable and responsive to the needs of young people
• Be prepared to tackle and change perceptions of target groups.

Arguing the case for delivering

Young people moved on and the group kept changing. (Doers and Shapers, DMU, 2009)

Establishing and maintaining the profile of your approach to youth volunteering internally and externally.

What action you can take

• Don’t make promises you can’t keep.
• Involve senior members of staff and elected members.
• Share the values and principles of your work with other services/departments.
• Keep those not directly involved informed about progress and achievements.
• Develop good links with the local media.
• Use social networking as a means of lobbying.

Arguing the case for delivering

Champions are needed who see the value of youth volunteering and engagement and who will work to resolve the intractable problems at a high level. (Doers and Shapers, DMU, 2009).

Learning from your experience – gathering, collating and analysing data to review and report progress against strategic objectives.

What action you can take

• Take time to reflect and review what has been done.
• Undertake quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the project.

Arguing the case for delivering

The benefits to the public sector can be substantial…. as envisaged by the Russell Report. Young people from under-represented groups can help in making services more accurately tailored to the needs of particular groups. The study showed examples of concrete change achieved as a result of young people’s involvement and influence. (Doers and Shapers, DMU, 2009)

‘We did not have any young under-18s, as volunteers here at all. Now we have two and are consulting them about some of our audience development work. The feedback from the young people helped our research and recommendations. (Doers and Shapers, DMU, 2009)

‘Homeless young people had given presentations to a Council committee about the issues they faced around accommodation. Members agreed to follow up on these needs in the work on housing strategy. (Doers and Shapers, DMU, 2009)

Find out about delivering in action – learning from the projects >>