Barriers and how to overcome them

There will undoubtedly be a range of barriers, both perceptual and practical that any organisation establishing volunteering will encounter.

The beacon authority’s experiences included:

A lack of skilled support to ensure that young people can sustain the effort and surmount the difficulties;
The cost of transport, its availability locally and the distances in rural areas;
The frustrations from the length of time needed to achieve change;
A failure to embed youth volunteering and engagement fully in local authority systems;
The prejudice and discrimination sometimes faced by minority target groups and their consequent fears about a lack of acceptance;
Failure to deploy resources to meet specific needs or to adapt service responses for particular groups;
The time and commitment required, set against the natural mobility of young people as they progress through education and career development and the demands on their time;
The time required on the part of adults to set up volunteering and engagement and support it properly.

A lack of skills on the part of some adults in informal approaches to meetings, publicity and relationships with the young people who volunteer.

Whilst not all barriers are unavoidable, there are ways to address them and allow a pathway forward, some of which are shared here:

Barriers	Potential solutions
Personal barriers for young people
Lack of confidence.	Positive attitudes from adults; training and rehearsal in roles.
Lack of personal and practical skills.	Training, accreditation, access level courses, coaching, encouragement. Enabling young people to recognise their own successes.
Too much demand on their time.	Realistic expectations. Recruiting a wide pool of young people to share in engagement and volunteering.
Frustration at slow pace of change.	Starting with realistic expectations and explaining process. Constant feedback to young people. Enabling them to see their part in a succession of effort to change things.
Fear of prejudice or oppressive practices.	Commitment to anti-discriminatory practice. Awareness-raising.
Disabilities, learning difficulties or poor educational achievement.	Adapting training and accreditation methods to enable achievement and progression. Rewarding small steps. Support from other young people.
Chaotic lives of some young people	Excellence of worker support.

Barriers caused by a lack of practical resources
Cost of transport and its availability.	Transport costs or support with travel integrated in budget for youth engagement from the start and paid up front.
Need for appropriate clothes, uniform or equipment.	Can be supported financially, given evidence of need.
Young people with poor diet and often hungry.	Quality, balanced food provided at meetings and activities.
Poor disability access.	Long term investment in accessibility. Awareness-raising. Young people as ‘inspectors’ of provision, including those with disabilities.
Need for help with childcare or caring responsibilities.	Budgeting to assist with childcare, crèche provision or respite from caring duties.

Barriers caused by adult responses
Senior managers not buying in.	Persuasion about contribution to service targets. Role of a Chief Executive or senior officer to champion engagement. Long term sustained strategy to embed in culture.
Elected Member resistance.	Member training. Direct meeting with young people. Reports on the benefits to the local services.
Competition for ownership of the participation structure.	Recognition that multiple routes to youth engagement are required and that ownership must be corporate.
Over-formal meetings.	Informal approaches and use of group work skills. Alternative formats such as arts performance, film, cartoon or visual presentation. ‘Fun’ elements alongside formal decision-making. Time for adults and young people to socialise, discuss issues together and pay attention to individual needs.
Lack of skills in involving young people.	Training and modelling of informal approaches. Use of Hear by Right.
Resistance on the part of adults who are not engaging young people genuinely in decision-making or service improvement.	Role models in senior managers. Demonstration of the benefits. Training that acknowledges experience but moves understanding further.
Inappropriate referrals to volunteering scheme.	Briefings to partners, relationship building, follow up.

Institutional barriers
Length of time to get procedures, permissions or new policies signed off.	Adequate lead in time; Member and senior officer support; keeping expectations of young people realistic.
Delays in getting CRB clearances.	No solution found except adequate lead in time.
Lack of lead in time, caused by short-term funding arrangements or failure to plan for essential steps such as training or establishing accreditation.	Planning for adequate lead in time. Funders allowing for implementation time.
A historical lack of a culture of engagement with minority communities: involvement in public services not seen as possible or ‘for us’.	Outreach through BME organisations and voluntary groups for particular sectors can be successful. Contact needs to be sustained and reliable with those communities once contact is established. Having workers or role models from that community may assist.
Poor disability access.	Long term investment in access improvement.
Reorganisation	No easy solutions. Senior manager leadership through change is crucial to maintaining morale and momentum.

Evidence is drawn from Doers and Shapers, DMU 2009). For more information on barriers to implementation go to the learning and evidence section >>

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