Vision for Volunteering takes shape
Over the past months, the communities team at Voluntary Norfolk have drawn up Norfolk’s first Vision for Volunteering. It covers the changes in volunteering trends and deals with the challenges the VCSE sector faces in terms of recruiting, training and developing volunteers. The Vision for Volunteering also presents a series of recommendations about how to engage people in voluntary activities.
“Everyone’s volunteering journey is unique and their motivations different. But the impact they have is universal: improving lives and building stronger communities.” Alan Hopley – CEO Voluntary Norfolk
Norfolk has a rich heritage of people helping each other and engaging in community life. Over the last few years this has been tested due to global and national circumstances. The people of Norfolk have stepped up in extraordinary numbers and a myriad of ways. They have been supported to do so by the enormous range of voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations of all sizes that, increasingly, work together for the common good.
But volunteering is changing, and organisations will need to adapt. Looking forward, there is a unique opportunity to build on our strengths, share recent lessons learned. We will also look to find new ways of working together to build more resilient, connected and inclusive communities.
To establish a picture of the true situation in the county, Voluntary Norfolk led a research programme which drew on the experiences of almost 500 people.
We found that volunteering is at a crossroads. There is an urgent need to look at things differently. We must work together as partners and stakeholders to build more inclusive and capable communities.
You can read the full report here:
