Hot
Topic Archive
September
2006
Volunteer management and activism - a new
partnership?
 By
OzVPM Director Andy
Fryar
"Let
him that would move the world, first move himself."
(Socrates)
Most
of what I write in this column each month relates
directly to the field of volunteer program management.
More specifically I frequently tend to focus on offering
challenges about ways we can think differently about
what it is that we do, espouse ruminations to help
us better appreciate the role we have in our agencies
and try and stress the influence that I believe we
hold, both individually and collectively, in our broader
communities.
All
these ideas are great in their own right and certainly
have lots of merit; they encourage us to continue
to grow our thinking in ways that can help our profession
to develop and evolve. They also form the basis for
ongoing debate, discussion and dialogue throughout
the sector.
As
many of you would be aware, I've just finished co-leading
the 2nd Australasian Retreat for Advanced Volunteer
Management in Brisbane * , which unlike most conventional
conferences seeks, from the outset, to have clear
actions associated with the outcome of the event.
It is not simply a 'talkfest' and it is more than
just an opportunity to escape from the piles of paperwork
and pressures of running a successful volunteer program
for a few days. It is instead an opportunity for delegates
to make consolidated change, both individually and
collectively, to the field of volunteer management
in Australia, New Zealand - and maybe even further
abroad.
The
true relevance of this hit me when I was recently
sent a copy of Joy Noble and Fiona Verity's new book
called "Imagine if." - a handbook for volunteer activists**.
As a general rule, activists don't appear to consider
themselves to be volunteers - or often even a part
of the voluntary sector - rather they see themselves
as simply being 'activists' - people with a passion
who aim to get things done.
Dictionary.com
defines activism as " the doctrine or practice of
vigorous action or involvement as a means of achieving
political or other goals". I really love the use of
the word 'vigorous' in this definition, as I believe
(and I have gone on record as saying this before***)
, that we all too often miss out on making real change,
due to the fact that we often become victims of our
own need to be perennially 'nice'.
This
thought caused me to think about the fact that while
there are plenty of good reasons for organisations
like OzVPM to continue to stimulate debate about the
development of volunteerism, there is an even bigger
incentive for us to all be 'doing' something to make
that happen.
As
it eventuated, this actually became a theme throughout
the retreat - firstly in the fact that as a profession
we need to be re-evaluating the place in the landscape
where our profession has evolved to, 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.
In
fact there was a great example just recently in the
UK of the volunteerism sector banding together to
fight an injustice within its ranks. As I understand
it, the Department of Work & Pensions (DWP) had
made a new ruling, departing from a long standing
tradition that stated that volunteers on government
benefits would need to foot the cost of their own
lunch expenses - whereas volunteers who were salaried
would be able to claim a refund for theirs. The result
was volunteer involving organisations and VPM practitioners
across the UK pulled together and mounted an 'in-your-face'
campaign protesting the injustice - with the pleasing
result that the DWP did an 'about face' on its position.
So
here's the deal - I think it is high time we learnt
a lesson from our activist cousins and became more
like them! If volunteer program management is to gain
in its recognition as a profession, then we need to
be the ones who are vigorously promoting that cause
- both as individuals and as a collective.
To
help you think through what this might involve, let
me suggest the following:
- Let's place a standing
item on the agenda of every volunteer managers network
meeting which discusses the actions the group members,
and the network as a whole, have made to promote
our cause
- Like all good activists,
let's actively plan ways that we can demonstrate
our cause and raise public awareness to those we
need to be targeting
- Let's encourage
volunteer centres the world over to go beyond seeing
volunteer managers as simply a source of training
revenue, but rather to join the cause and better
help us to promote the role of volunteer program
managers within the volunteering landscape
- Stop making excuses
for not joining professional VPM Association's such
as AAVA in Australasia, MOVE in Singapore , CAVR
in Canada , SAVM in Scotland or AVM in the UK .
There is strength in numbers.
- Remember that activism
works on an individual basis too - real change starts
with your agency
- Promote International
Volunteer Managers Appreciation Day on November
1, and look for ways to educate others as a part
of celebrating our great profession
- More advanced VPM's
must understand that a basic tenet of being considered
'advanced' should be to become more active in fighting
the injustices associated with the fact that VPMs
are not as well recognised as some of our aligned
HR cousins
- Dare to speak up
.even if it means you might get your head lopped
off from time to time!
- Support and encourage
one another
As
you can see this is a call to action, and there are
many ways that we can all become more actively involved
in forging change for volunteer program management
- to ensure that we receive due acknowledgement for
the work it is that we do.
Let
me leave this month's hot topic with a quote from
Auschwitz survivor Elie Weisel who said, "There
may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice,
but there must never be a time when we fail to protest."
Maybe
now is our time to protest!
Why
not share your thoughts on this topic - or
your ideas about how we can all become more active
and mobilised
*
See www.vpmretreat.com.au
**
We hope to have Joy and Fiona's new publication available
through the OzVPM Bookstore soon.
***
See http://www.ozvpm.com/pasthottopics/march04.php
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