Responses
to September 2006 Hot Topic
Volunteer
management & activism - a new partnership?
Response
posted on 12th September 2006 by Nettie Hulme, Manager,
Barwon Health Volunteer Services Department, Geelong
Victoria , Australia
Yes!
I sign up for the Asutralian National Network of Health
Sector VPM
I
think being sector focussed will be helpful in galvanising
some action 'united be stand divided we fall'................
Looking
forward to our first (virtual?) meeting
in
peace
Response
posted on 9th September 2006 by Barbara Zeller, Manager
Volunteer Resources, Doncaster, Victoria, Australia
I
have goose bumps on my arms from reading your 'ACTIVISM'
topic this month. I too was at the conference in Brisbane
and excited by the prospect of moving to action.
It
reminds me of the days of my youth where I was involved
in protests about all sorts of injustices in the world.
I must admit the last rally I attended was for Aboriginal
Rights and that was a while ago. My activism is quieter
these days and more workplace focused. So maybe it
is time to reignite those fires I felt as a younger
person
I
was bouncing around in my car today to a song on the
radio with these words ........ "I wish I was a punk
rocker with flowers in my hair, in '77 and '69 their
was revolution in the air"
Ahhhhhhhh those
were the days
The
word activist has bite and inspiration and leads me
towards the belief that I would be involved with people
who want to keep moving forward. This I like . Thanks
for the opportunity to be involved with people from
a broad range of professions and also for the information
from OzVpm about world issues and networks.
Response
posted on 8th September 2006 by Anne M. Franzi-Ford,
JP, Co-ordinator of Volunteer Services St. Vincent's
Hospital, Melbourne, Australia
Great
idea re National Network for VPM's in Health - we
currently have in Melbourne a network group for VPM's
in health, try and meet bi-monthly and also some who
are unable to attend because of distance I keep in
touch with by email. So, yes I put my hand up with
yours and again great idea
Response
posted on 8th September 2006 by Susan Chaffey, Coordinator
of Volunteers, Trinder Park Community of Care, Logan,
Queensland, Australia
Agree
entirely with the Hot Topic. For to long we have been
talking about the issues rather than taking action. Think
outside the square, tell everyone whether they are
involved in the community sector or not. I am with
you Ben. Building strong networks can only strenghten
our profession and give us a voice. I am keen to re-establish
the Aged Care Network in Logan, anyone interest can
contact me on chaffey.susan@qld.lca.org.au
Response
posted on 8th September 2006 by Adaire Palmer, SA
Fire and Emergency Services Commission, Volunteer
Management Branch & Vice President, AAVA, Adelaide,
South Australia
I've
just nominated our 'Working In Harmony Program' for
the Commissioner's Awards in HR Achievement, the first
time ever that a volunteer program has been nominated
for an HR award in the public service in SA. As Andy
says, "...and secondly in considering better ways
to develop methods to promote the place that volunteering
- and as a consequence volunteer program management
- actually hold in our society."
The
program would not exist without good program and resource
management. I'd like to have our programs having as
much 'punch' as mainstream HR ones, which does mean
that we do have to blow our bags and get in their
faces, whether it is for funding, recognition or equality.
I can be contacted on 08 8463 4101 if you'd like to
learn more about our nomination.
Response
posted on 6th September 2006 by Nettie Hulme, Manager,
Barwon Health Volunteer Services Department, Geelong
Victoria , Australia
Are
we a sector really?
Personally I didn't come away from the Retreat with
any sense of a being part of a sector with a cohesive
raison d'etre or modus operandi
Some definitions from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/sector
sector - a body of people who form part of society
or economy; "the public sector"
body - a group of persons associated by some common
tie or occupation and regarded as an entity; "the
whole body filed out of the auditorium"
society - an extended social group having a distinctive
cultural and economic organization
business sector, business - business concerns collectively;
"Government and business could not agree"
For me one of the reasons it is difficult to enagage
on any discussion above the pure 'mechanical' level
of volunteer management processes is:
Firstly, that the concept of 'volunteering' encompasses
such a broad gamut and this is even broadening wider
still with the inclusion of Centrelink directed options
so that sometimes I feel that we are not all speaking
about the same concept
Secondly, that the volunteering spirit in Australia
appears to be in danger of being co-opted for corporate
gain (i.e. making the corporate 'sector' appear to
be compassionate and caring on one hand while they
rape and pillage the land in third world countries,
or exploit paid labour with the other hand e.g. Rio
Tinto who were invited to speak at the VA conference)
and to my mind this is a further diminishment of the
concept of volunteering
Thirdly, the broad and disparate motivation, professional
background and experience of people working in volunteer
program management and co-ordination means that we
are dealing with sectors within sectors and having
one discussion
This all leads to a lack of clarity of what and for
whom is the clarion call to action being touted by
Andy in his latest hot topics?
I think there are a lot of assumptions made that VPMs
have congruent agendas, ideologies, motivations and
ambitions when clearly we don't
Response
posted on 6th September 2006 by Jess Reed, Coordinator
Volunteer Support (Mentoring) Program, Inala, Queensland,
Australia
I'm
really glad that activism is this month's Hot Topic
as it coincides beautifully with what is going on
with my program (the VSMP) right now. We've been doing
excellent work for years now (funded for a full time
Coordinator for 2 years now; previously it was unfunded),
and our volunteer mentors have achieved some wonderful
outcomes with their mentees.
Basically.
we have a group of 30 or so adult volunteers who mentor
young people in care. They're matched one-on-one,
usually do outings and recreational activities, and
work on building trusting, positive relationships,
being good role models, advocating for the young person,
working on self esteem and life skills, etc, etc.
Our
Manager wrote a research paper based on our evaluations
(by kids, carers and vols) and presented this at an
international conference in 2004. This was based on
our small pilot program. The program has since blossomed
and developed, and our regular evaluations show very
real improvements in the young people's self esteem,
life skills and social skills. They draw pictures,
write and talk about how they feel about their mentors
and the difference it has made.and yet. all of our
requests for more funding have been denied!
At
the moment we have 26 active volunteers (several of
our long standing volunteers have moved overseas in
the past few months) and 8 new volunteers who are
about to commence placements. That brings us back
to our capacity of 35 volunteers per Coordinator.
We have 21 active requests for volunteers (and yes,
8 volunteers to fill them) and each and every young
person on that list deserves a mentor and the one-on-one
attention they provide. Our requests for funding for
another Coordinator have been denied, our requests
for funding for new sites (in other areas) have been
denied. our suggestion of fee-for-service was ignored.
this is ridiculous! We have a number of organisations
who have worked with us to put in funding requests
to establish a VSMP in their area, and these too have
been denied. I've been here as Coordinator for 3 or
4 years now, so am quite used to it, but the confusion
on our new volunteers faced called me to action! Many
have said: "It's just ridiculous that this is limited
to Inala - why is there not branches across Queensland
?", "Don't all kids in care have a right to this?".
Hear, hear!
So.
long story short, it's time for me to become an "activist"
for my program. It's no longer good enough to do fundraising
to "top up" costs or to put on activities - we need
solid funding to expand.
I've
spoken with our Manager and will be forming a committee
of volunteers. We are already getting recognition
- we won the Child Protection Week Award for a Volunteer
Program in 2005, we held a fantastic Seminar and has
guest speakers supporting the program (the Min. for
Child Safety, speakers from CREATE, Vol QLD, Griffith
Uni, child protection agencies).
We've
already got our success stories in the media - I have
a semi-regular column in the local paper, we do profiles
of our
vols
in all the local papers, our Xmas appeal has been
on EXTRA, we use the local radio stations.
But.
so far we've focused on our success, on drumming up
support. We've now realised that our funders (Dept
of Child Safety) are happy to applaud us and give
us awards. That's not enough! So, we're going to use
the media to try and gain funding - have a deliberate
voice saying "why is this program not being adequately
funded?", "why is the overwhelming need not being
met?" We're asking all of our volunteers, foster carers,
Dept ChS Child Safety Officers, Comm. for Children
Community Visitors, VPMs, members of the public and
partner orgs to write letters of support. We're going
to get a petition going, and we're going to present
it to the Premier.
If
anyone has any ideas PLEASE let me know - we're conscious
that we can't bite the hand that feeds, but it's not
tenable to continue doing such fantastic work with
such a small group, and to continue turning away the
majority of requests.
Response
posted on 6th September 2006 by Andy Fryar, Director
and Founder, OzVPM, Adelaide, Australia
Ben
- I am in and OzVPM will do whatever we can to help
you make this a reality!
Response
posted on 6th September 2006 by Ben Temby-Nicols,
Manager of Volunteer Services, Mater Hospital, Brisbane,
Australia
Loved
your topic Andy!
I think if we want more professional recognition for
our work as Volunteer Managers/Coordinators (or whatever
term you want to use) then action is required. There
does need to be a group with the passion to drive
this forward. There are issues that need to be placed
on the table so that there is a more unified, professional,
supported approach to volunteer management (through
all sectors).
Imagine
if other professions did not have a body that guided
their practices? I think there needs to be more activity
in gaining recognition and support (from the government
level to the workplace) for volunteer programs and
those employed to deliver them.
The
question is, who will lead?
I think the reality for most Volunteer Managers/Coordinators
is that they have no 'real' power in their workplace.
Their role is seen as 'soft' - it's nice to have,
it looks good but really it's not essential. In this
day and age with the recent workplace reforms, most
people will not speak out to any great degree for
fear of losing their job. Whether this is a real or
perceived danger I'm not sure but the threat is enough
for some to back away from sticking their necks out.
It's a sense of not wanting to rock the boat.
So,
who has the courage, support base, passion, time,
knowledge, network of contacts etc to drive this forward?
I volunteer!
My first action will be a call-out to all those who
attended the 2nd Australasian Retreat for Advanced
Volunteer Management in Brisbane. I would like to
know how many of you from the Health sector would
like to join me in establishing a National Network
for VPM's working in health. Everyone says there
is strength in numbers so let's put that to the test.
My
contact details are below:
Ben Temby-Nichols
Manager, Volunteer Services
Mater Health Services - Brisbane
(07) 3840 8108
Ben.Temby-Nichols@mater.org.au
Let's
hear what you think!
Its
not too late...
Let's
hear what you think!
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