Action plan
1. Actions that will increase collaboration around volunteering
Description of action / Targets / End Date / Lead and partnership / RAG report (as of 26 November)1. Volunteer Centre Southwark to include modules in disability issues in their training programme for volunteer managers. / 4 training modules per year / March 2018 / Volunteer Centre Southwark.
2. Show different ways that groups can collaborate, as examples of best practice. Using case studies and statistical evidence. / 2 well publicised stories a year. / March 2018 / Community Action Southwark, Volunteer Centre Southwark, Southwark Council / Collecting case studies has begun - volunteer has to meet with partner organisations
3. Bring groups together in networking events to explore and foster collaborative action / One Volunteer Management Forum pa; focused on the issue
Collaboration incorporated into training programs / March 2018 / Volunteer Centre (Volunteer Management Forum)
CAS: collaboration training program
4. Supporting external partners to recruit volunteers from communities of interest to encourage good volunteering practice that taps into local expertise. External Partners have included British Heart Foundation and Diabetes UK – both of whom train volunteer champions to support the local public health agenda by enabling local people to deliver relevant messages and support in their own communities / - work with them to help recruit and tap into known communities of interest
- commit to support the training of 20 volunteer champions / March 2015 / Southwark Council
Rewards and recognition
Description of action / Targets / End Date / Lead and partnership / RAG report (as of 26 November)5. Hold a Southwark Stars awards event, to be held on the 7th October 2014. / 100 volunteers and their supporters attend event. / October 2014 / Volunteer Centre Southwark, Southwark Council. / Southwark Stars Awards was held on 7th October
6. Celebrate the voluntary contributions of volunteers with Tenant and Resident Associations at the Housing Heroes award in 2014. / Report needed on this.on how to achieve this aim. Southwark Stars to help celebrate this / March 2015 / Southwark Council, Volunteer Centre Southwark. / HH Awards held in 2014, and 2015 – 20 January 2015
7. Celebrate the voluntary contributions of volunteers with local sports groups. / Report on how to achieve this aim. / March 2015 / Southwark Council, Volunteer Centre Southwark, Pro-Active Southwark Sports partnership.
Increasing the quality of volunteering
Description of action / Targets / End Date / Lead and partnership / RAG report (as of 26 November)8. Promote London volunteer management charter, encourage groups to sign up. / 50 groups sign up. / March 2018 / Volunteer Centre Southwark.
9. Health check: independent and free look at how an organisation’s volunteering is going. / 140 groups. / March 2018 / Volunteer Centre Southwark.
10. Locally available training for organisations that involve volunteers. / 16 sessions attended by 120 groups. / March 2018 / Volunteer Centre Southwark.
11. Structured peer support exchanges to be tried. Agreed to try this via a peer support project between the Volunteer Centre who would supply expert peers, with both the Pensioners Centre and the Refugee Communities Forum benefiting from the peer support. / Scope out how to do this. Produce report. / December 2014 / Southwark Council, Volunteer Centre, Community Action Southwark& further partners to be identified through project process.
12. Increase one off volunteering opportunities. Build on the volunteer passport pilot and 2012 Olympics volunteering, such as torch relay stewarding. Develop both methodologies and increase numbers of people benefitting. / Develop baseline for how much one off volunteering happens at the moment, develop smart targets for the future. Report on successes, such as the council’s events volunteers. / March 2015, and ongoing thereafter. / Southwark Council, Southwark Arts Forum, South Bank and Bankside Cultural Quarter, Volunteer Centre Southwark, and local groups as appropriate.
13. Create inspiring case studies of where volunteers have improved their own lives and benefited the people they help whilst volunteering. / 10 high quality case studies a year, promoted widely on-line. / March 2018 / Communications team and Community Engagement team, Southwark Council. / Collecting stories has begun – publishing will take place after Housing Heroes
Improving governance
Description of action / Targets / End Date / Lead and partnership / RAG report (as of 26 November)14. Support around finding new people/database of opportunities. / 30 new opportunities created / March 2015 / Volunteer Centre Southwark
15. Improving the governance of voluntary sector organisations that involve volunteers. / Community Action Southwark’s support is available to trustees dealing with governance issues in the whole of the local voluntary sector / March 2018 / Community Action Southwark. / Over 425 participants at 35 training sessions; 215 cases of intensive support
Making it easy to volunteer
Description of action / Targets / End Date / Lead and partnership / RAG report (as of 26 November)16. Peer support via a Volunteer Champions Network / 100 members signed up, then review next level of target. / March 2015 / Volunteer Centre Southwark and the Volunteer Management Forum.
17. Provision of a drop in service and outreach to engage new people / 1,200 residents annually / March 2018 / Volunteer Centre Southwark.
18. Creating volunteering opportunities in the arts sector for local people from all backgrounds. / 50 volunteer placements per year / March 2018 / Southwark Arts Forum
19. Employer supported volunteering via the Involve programme at Volunteer Centre Southwark. / 2,500 people from corporate companies volunteer in Southwark / March 2015 / Volunteer Centre Southwark.
20. Maintain central database of local volunteering opportunities. / Database to include a minimum of 300 ‘live’ opportunities at any one time / March 2015 / Volunteer Centre Southwark. / Ongoing -
21. Liaise with Public Health on programmes/training opportunities that could support volunteers’ learning and development.
Including
–internal opportunities to volunteer on public health projects
–When training opportunities arise, training of volunteers to deliver health messages in line with Public Health Priorities / 30 volunteers for development of local walks programme
20 volunteers to run Lets Get Cooking courses in community venues
20 volunteers for Skyride / Breeze cycle rides
Assess potential for lay health workers to support Health check Programme. / March 2015 / Southwark Council / Employee walking scheme launched in autumn 2014
Reducing barriers to volunteering
Description of action / Targets / End Date / Lead and partnership / RAG report (as of 26 November)22. Highlight/showcase different types of volunteering by having an annual theme; to be volunteering by young people (2013) and by older people and intergenerational volunteering in (2014) / To promote a theme each year. / March 2018 / Southwark Council and the Volunteering Strategy steering group. / Theme for 2015 – Volunteering in Sport and Exercise
23. Reducing the barriers to disabled volunteers. / Find funding to implement a training programme for disabled volunteers and volunteer host organisations. / March 2015. / Southwark Council, Volunteer Centre Southwark, Southwark Disability Forum, Southwark Disablement Association, Scope, Leonard Cheshire Disability.
24. Helping young people to volunteer, by doing targeted work. / Continue to support the council’s youth service to do this work. / March 2015 / Y Volunteer, Southwark Council
Volunteering and regeneration
Description of action / Targets / End Date / Lead and partnership / RAG report (as of 26 November)25. Explore how many local people gain better employment due to their volunteering experience. / Create robust numerical outputs; how many people, what kind of jobs, cross referenced with demographic information. / March 2015 / Southwark Council, Volunteer Strategy steering group.
26. Provision of focused support for people who are unemployed to use volunteering to gains skills and enter paid employment / 60 unemployed residents engaged / March 2015 / Volunteer Centre Southwark, Southwark Council, Southwark Works
27. Encourage for Profit organisations to support local communities through employers supported volunteering and corporate social responsibility programmes. This will include employability training/support and provision of work experience placements / 5 employability sessions held through engagement of corporate volunteers / March 2015 / Involve (Volunteer Centre Southwark)
Southwark Council, Southwark Works, Volunteer Strategy steering group.
28. Support examples of volunteering on housing estates that are resident led and sustainable without longer term outside funding. / Report produced explaining the advantages of self help - volunteering on housing estates in need of regeneration. / March 2015 / Southwark Council; and other partners as the work progresses.
Increasing volunteering within the council
Description of action / Targets / End Date / Lead and partnership / RAG report (as of 26 November)29. Explore how the council can create more good quality volunteering opportunities, for local people with all levels of educational attainment. / Robust project scoping report to be produced. / March 2015 / Southwark Council, Volunteer Strategy steering group.
30. Promote awareness of existing volunteering by local people with Southwark Council. / 4 case studies of successful volunteering with the council. / October 2015. / Southwark Council.
31. Community Engagement to act as a central point of good practice support for volunteering within the council / Contact all other departments to discuss their support needs. / March 2018 / Southwark Council – community engagement.
32. Training on how to engage volunteers and effective volunteer management to be offered through My Learning Source / Renewal of the training that started in early 2014 / March 2015 / Southwark Council, Volunteer Centre Southwark
33. Improve the quality of the volunteering experience by offering well structured activities that are well promoted and ensure good communication in order to meet the needs of volunteers; as well as creating meaningful activities. / Volunteer forums held every 6 weeks. Training and development being investigated to up skill volunteers. / Southwark Council - Parks / Southwark Ecology officer has hosted over 98 events – equivalent to £98 thousand
Evaluation of the strategy
Description of action / Targets / End Date / Lead and partnership / RAG report (as of 26 November)34. Survey of level of formal and informal volunteering. / Robust information about % of people volunteering. / June 2015 / Southwark Council, all other local organisations involved in volunteering.
35. Annual review of Action Plan. / To ensure that the action plan is updated annually / March 2015 / Southwark Council, Volunteer Centre Southwark.
New actions for 2014/15
Description of action / Targets / End Date / Lead and partnership / RAG report (as of 26 November)36. Promote non traditional volunteering, so that people who cannot commit to a fixed slot per week can nevertheless volunteer. / To be agreed / To be agreed / Volunteer Centre Southwark
37. There is a need to create an action to support volunteer host organisation communicate better the difference that having volunteers makes. / To be agreed / To be agreed / To be agreed
38. There is a need for a project that enables people coming to retirement age to gain information about the differences they too can make by volunteering, and to look into new patterns of work which mean that older people will continue work for longer and so volunteering is no longer thought of as something that people leave to when they stop doing paid work. / To be agreed / To be agreed / To be agreed
39. We will collaborate with the Public Health team to create volunteer exercise motivators aimed towards helping people to take advantage of the free opportunities we all have to use our parks and outdoor gyms to exercise in. / To be agreed / To be agreed / Public Health team, Community Engagement team in Southwark Council. Anyone else?
40. Employee supported volunteering can be promoted, and the council is being encouraged to investigate this as a way for council employees to get more engaged with the wider Southwark community. / To be agreed / February/ March 2015 / Community Engagement team in Southwark Council. / Paper drafted for comment, circulation to Human Resources division
Anything else?
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