Hot
Topic Archive
June
2007
Reclaiming
the true value of volunteers
By OzVPM Director Andy
Fryar
This
month, as we celebrate the 5th birthday of OzVPM,
I've been reflecting a little on the changes we have
seen in the sector over the past 5 years here in Australia
.
Without
doubt, some of the biggest differences have been the
growth of corporate volunteer programs, a steady increase
in the number of government volunteer Ministers being
appointed and government volunteering offices being
created around the country. There has been a steady
redefining of Volunteer Centre roles and the availability
of free training for volunteers has trebled at the
very least.
When
I first set up OzVPM, it was largely due to the fact
that at the time there was a distinct absence of any
good quality Australian volunteerism websites. Thankfully
this has also been remedied to a degree over the past
half a decade. Government 'compacts' have become commonplace,
research into volunteering habits and motivations
have continued to be produced at a rate of knots,
while around the globe, there has been a steady growth
in the development of even more professional Associations.
Most
significantly in all of this, there is evidence that
in Australia at least (I am not too sure of NZ statistics
at this time), volunteer involvement rates have continued
to buck the international trend by increasing!
While
focusing on these positive changes is all well and
good, there are some aspects of the volunteerism movement
that have hardly moved an inch in the last 5 years.
One of these is that I still fail to see any real
effort by government or others, being put into extra
resources for the training of volunteer program managers.
This, in spite of the fact that we can just about
train volunteers to death these days! And while it
is true that there is training available at some levels,
all too often that level is not much more than the
basics.
A
bigger bug bear of mine, and perhaps a catalyst for
the lack of VPM training mentioned above is the fact
that our society still tends to look at the work of
volunteers through rose coloured glasses.
With
the work I do, I am lucky enough to be a part of many
conferences, seminars and other functions that are
periodically rolled out for volunteers. As a general
rule, the Minister whose Department is funding the
event is duly marched out and paraded on stage as
he or she makes the obligatory speech about just how
wonderful volunteers are. Inevitably, other 'experts'
from outside of volunteering are also asked to address
these forums about their areas of specialty.
While
I understand there is a place for these things in
conferences, what drives me crazy is the mindset these
people often bring with them to the lectern, the starting
point from which they make the assumptions on which
their speeches are invariably based.
Here's
what that is.
~
Volunteers are nice.
~
They are benevolent and selfless.
~
All giving, altruistic and we are quite certain that
butter wouldn't melt in their mouth!
They
may as well use terms like soft and fluffy and show
images of white rabbits to sum up the work that volunteers
do in our communities, because I am sure that is what
they sometimes think!
Now
I don't know about you, but I rather think that the
work of volunteers is all a little more important
than that. Volunteers forge change. In our emergency
services, they often deal with people on the worst
day of their life. They teach new immigrants to read,
they feed the homeless and befriend elderly residents
who have no other support. They raise the funds that
government fails to deliver for causes governments
fail to support. They make it possible for children
to play sport and for our environment to have some
hope of coming through the global warming crisis.
Volunteers
ARE the backbone of our country, yet why is it that
very little has changed in the way our communities
understand the impact of this work?
What's
even more alarming to me, are the amount of volunteer
program managers I meet and provide training to who
also come to the coordination of their volunteer programs
with this same mindset. Don't get me wrong, I don't
believe this is deliberate. Rather it is inherited
from the way society more generally interprets the
work of volunteering.
Until
we truly put a value on the work of volunteers, we
will never truly gain the resources we need for the
sector to forge ahead. Funding will continue to come
'with conditions' and we will, as a whole, continue
to take this vast resource for granted.
I
am sure that prior to the industrial revolution, the
discovery of oil was probably seen as nothing more
than black goo that was more a hindrance than anything
else. However once we realised the true worth of oil,
it became a valuable commodity and a complete (and
well resourced) industry was built around it.
I
think we still have a way to go before the work of
volunteers is truly valued in the way it should be,
and that this is something all of us in this sector
should continually be fighting for and educating about,
because one thing that will certainly follow is a
much more well resourced volunteer management movement.
So
what do you think?
~
Am I being too harsh?
~
Do you agree or disagree?
~
Are there observations or experiences you can add
to this debate?
~
Do you have ideas about how we can collectively address
this issue?
It's
not too late to...
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