Newsletter October 2003

Image » Sun Microsystems volunteers “at work” at the Four Winds Inspiration Centre

This issue:

Volunteering Goes South:
A new project for South Edinburgh
Young Scots Overseas:
Peer to peer in Malawi
The New Mentoring:
Doing it by email
Future Youth:
What’s to become of MV?
Must we police check?
New legal responsibilities for orgs
More..
Sun volunteers, Recruitment Fair, More Promotion, Farewell Irene

Volunteering Goes South

Living or working in South Edinburgh? The Volunteer Centre is opening a new project to recruit, develop and support local volunteering in the area. The project arose from an idea from several local organisations in the Gilmerton area who were finding it difficult to recruit, retain and support enough local volunteers to help deliver their services. With support from the South Edinburgh Voluntary Sector Forum the Volunteer Centre has now secured funding from the SIP for a Project Coordinator and admin support. New workers should be in place by November.

The project will be based in Gilmerton and will become a mini Volunteer Centre for the area. It will promote volunteering and recruit volunteers. It will identify new volunteering opportunities with local groups and will identify support and training needs that may help more people volunteer.

Responding to local demand, the project will also look to develop a completely new area of work for the Volunteer Centre, a ‘supply-pool’ of local volunteers who could help a range of organisations for short term or one-off tasks.

Volunteer Centre Edinburgh has provided a city wide service from a single central office for the past 30 years. It is really exciting to be developing this locally based project that will be able to respond much more effectively to local needs.

Malawi Youth Exchange

Andreena Irons of the Wester Hailes Partnership reports on a peer education trip to Malawi.

Preparation? No matter how much training, team building residentials, discussions or research the group did, we could never fully prepare for the experience a youth exchange to Malawi would bring. When we arrived we were greeted by about 12 people – all eager to meet us. The young women were jet-lagged and sat in the bus on the way to our accommodation in shock – looking out on to the busy streets in amazement at the amount of people walking by, most with no shoes, looking very poor. The buildings and scenery of Malawi are very different from back home, lots of shack type housing, but with beautiful mountains in the background.

Once we arrived in our accommodation – the reality of staying in Malawi for 3 weeks hit the group– most were anxious about how they were going to cope. We had to remind them of all the contingency planning we had done before we left. However our ultimate plan was to keep them as busy as possible and provide an opportunity that they would never forget. The young women for the next twenty days observed sexual health sessions held in schools and villages and also planned and organised workshops themselves which they co-facilitated with the other young Malawian women they were exchanging with.

Session planning in Malawi is not the same as back home, so many things had to be considered – language, culture, resources or lack of them, facilities, prior knowledge. Prior knowledge was an interesting one! When the young women were preparing to deliver a session in a school a couple of hours drive away, they asked, “How many young people will be there”, the workers were not sure but estimated maybe 50, maybe even 100 pupils. The reality was very different! We walked into the School hall – the whole School was there… over 400 pupils! They were all so happy to have visitors that you could not hear a thing for all the whistling and clapping – eventually the girls managed to calm the (very) large group down! They managed to hold discussions and raise issues which became evident throughout our time in Malawi. Some of the common myths were that condoms gave you cancer, or that it was OK to use a condom more than once, one boy even told of how his friend ties his on with string to be ‘prepared’! At first we thought that the lack of knowledge was so different to Scottish young people, but on reflection we realised that we had also heard some of the same myths back home in Scotland.

Both the peer educators in Malawi and our Scottish group were able to appreciate the importance of sexual health education which is accessible and is able to provide young people with the correct information in a way that interests them and is not intimidating. One way is to train young people to be educators themselves and spread the word.

Our group experienced amazing welcomes from 8 schools, 9 villages, street children’s projects and orphanages – all performing some type of welcome whether it be a dance, drumming, a drama piece or discussion piece about HIV/AIDS, all were creative forms of education – allowing those involved to raise the massive issue of HIV/AIDS facing Malawi and its neighbouring countries today. There were a few tears, feeling sad about the reality of people’s lives but also the amazement at people’s determination to make a difference through education.

Whilst in Malawi the girls were asked to record their feelings about the realities of living in Malawi. As one of the Scottish contingent put it: “We should be grateful for everything we have because we have much more than the people here”.

Email mentoring: a real alternative?

Having helped unemployed people move towards work through Volunteer Centre Edinburgh’s New Deal mentoring project, volunteer employment mentor Mike McLean looks at the pluses and minuses.

Mike McLean is a busy man. He is a Senior Analyst in a top assurance firm. He has a young family. But three years ago Mike decided to become involved in the Volunteer Centre’s New Deal mentoring project, encouraging and supporting unemployed people back to work.

“ During my career I’ve had a lot of assistance and opportunities with employment” said Mike. “I wanted to try and help someone who hadn’t had the same opportunity”

Since then Mike has met up with a variety of people for around an hour a week, listening to their issues and offering any advice, support and suggestions he can.

“ It’s been great meeting people I would never have met and doing what I can to help. You never know what issues are going to come up and it’s completely different from my day to day work.”

Earlier this year, always open to new challenges, he answered an advert at work for volunteers for e-mentoring. It promised it would take no more than 15 minutes a week. Intrigued to find out the difference between e-mentoring and “face to face” mentoring, he volunteered to take part.

“ The trendy extra “e-“ at the front signifies that the mentoring is done via email. In the scheme that I volunteered for the mentees are school children in their final year working towards business studies qualifications. They are matched by the school with a set of mentors provided by an organisation. The mentees and mentors correspond once a week. This mentoring takes place over a fixed 10 week period and follows a suggested structure which is provided to both mentor and mentee to allow areas of business interest to be explored”

“ The scheme had initially been set up some years ago to mentor school leavers from a disadvantaged background but the response rate was poor and so the scheme has evolved over time to target those who recognise that help is available and hopefully worthwhile”

So how does e-mentoring compare with his experiences with the New Deal Mentoring project?

“ Well you still get the occasional no-show but at least the electronic version doesn’t involve standing in the rain at the meeting place that seemed like a good idea last week!

“ E-mentoring allows you to provide mentoring from a distance (the school we linked up with was in Glasgow) so theoretically you can be matched where you are most needed.

“ Also you have a little bit more flexibility over when you write your email response.”

So what’s the verdict?

“ I enjoyed my first experience of e-mentoring and have volunteered to help out if a further school comes forward. I think it’s a useful format in this particular situation if your mentee is enthusiastic and wants to learn. I was sharing specific business knowledge rather than giving more general advice.

“ However I suspect that it will be some time before I will be carrying out my employment mentoring via email as well. In e-mentoring you don’t meet the mentee so it does take longer to establish a dialogue. I think an important aspect of the New Deal project is that the mentees value the personal interaction. A real person being prepared to give up time to listen and, hopefully, help.

“ And anyway I’d miss waiting in the cold and rain!”

For more information on New Deal Mentoring, or e-mentoring projects, contact Nick Woodhead at Volunteer Centre Edinburgh:
nick.woodhead@volunteeredinburgh.org.uk tel: +44 (0) 131 225 0630

Young Volunteers: Investing in the future

Young volunteers hit the headlines earlier this year when First Minister Jack McConnell announced the introduction of Scotscorp, a gap year volunteering initiative, but what’s happening with the existing programme, Millennium Volunteers?

The Scottish Executive has directed Volunteer Development Scotland to undertake an extensive review of Millennium Volunteers (MV) and ultimately recommend whether it should continue or be replaced. A report will be made to Ministers later this month. Due to an enormous disparity in funding, MV in Scotland has never achieved the success of its English counterpart. As predicted by many who participated in the original consultation, the 200 hours commitment is both daunting and difficult to sustain for young volunteers. However, MV has still brought value to volunteering for those who participate. The personal planning aspect of MV enables volunteers to identify placements that could help them to obtain the skills and experience they need for the future - 55% of the Volunteer Centre’s own Millennium Volunteers left the programme early because volunteering had helped them to find a job or to get a place at college or university. The atmosphere and excitement at the Award Ceremonies held for those who did achieve 100 or 200 hour certificates were a resounding testimony to the importance of recognition to volunteers.

In view of the pending change to MV, the Volunteer Centre is currently taking time out to find out what type of service young volunteers want us to provide. Over the next few months we shall be talking to young people, referrers and placement organisations to develop a youth volunteering strategy.

Do you work with young people who would be willing to participate in a focus group on volunteering?

Are you a youth worker or support worker who might refer young people to the Volunteer Centre? If so, what additional support or assistance do you think we could provide?

If you answered yes to either of the above contact Linda McNeill at the Volunteer Centre on +44 (0) 131 225 0637 or email linda.mcneill@volunteeredinburgh.org.uk

Volunteer Managers – What are your views on young volunteers?

Whether you already have young volunteers, or would like to inject some youthful enthusiasm into your organisation, we would like to hear from you. Do young volunteers require different volunteer roles? Is a different style of training delivery needed? Do you think they have different support needs to your other volunteers? These are just some of the questions you can help us to answer.

There will be opportunity for Volunteer Managers to input at the next Edinburgh Volunteer Organisers Forum on Thursday 25th September or alternatively contact Linda McNeill on +44 (0) 131 225 0637 or email linda.mcneill@volunteeredinburgh.org.uk

Promoting Volunteering

In a bid to recruit more volunteers for organisations across Scotland, the Volunteer Centre Network is sponsoring a clutch of advertising campaigns, to run in September, October and January. The ads will run in the Daily Record and Metro newspapers. Look out for ‘TV Guy’ below. This bored looking chap watching TV will challenge people with the question “How well do you spend your time?” He’ll feature in the Metro Ads in October and January. Hopefully these initiatives, the outcome of last year’s joint Volunteer Centre branding exercise, will result in hundreds more volunteers coming to you, the volunteer organisers.

Volunteer Recruitment Fair 2003

The recruitment fair this year promises to be as popular as ever. 60 organisations have already booked stalls and more are set to follow. The event will be advertsised in the Herald and Post, Evening News and Big Issue, and there has been an extensive poster and fliering campaign. Volunteer organisers taking part are provided with lunch and refreshments from the cafe at the event.
Volunteer Recruitment Fair
9 October, 11am - 7pm
Assembly Rooms, George Street
If you haven’t already done so, book your stall now! Email admin@volunteeredinburgh.org.uk or call us on +44 (0) 131 225 0630.

Do we have to police check our volunteers?

This is a question that we have been asked many times since the changes to the system last year and the establishing of the Central Registered Body for Scotland (CRBS). Until now the answer has been that there is nothing in the original legislation that makes Disclosures (police checks) on staff and volunteers mandatory (although factors such as the Care Commission and insurance may already strongly influence this).

However, for organisations that work with children and young people this is about to change. In 2004 the Scottish Executive are planning to implement the Protection of Children (Scotland) Act 2003. Although the plans for implementation are still in the early stages it is important for organisations working with children and young people to start considering its implications because they will risk committing an offence if they do not comply with the legislation.

The Act allows Scottish Ministers to maintain a list of persons deemed to be unsuitable to work with children (a child is defined as anyone aged under 18) and covers both paid staff and volunteers. The list will include not only those individuals who have a relevant criminal conviction against children, but also anyone working in a child-care position who harms a child or puts a child at risk of harm and:
- is dismissed from their post
- is moved away from access to children
- or would have been dismissed if they had not resigned, retired, been made redundant or left at the end of a temporary contract.
Organisations will have a duty to make a referral to the list in any of the above circumstances.

The reason that this legislation effectively makes Disclosures on staff and volunteers mandatory is that the Act makes it an offence for an organisation to knowingly employ someone who is on the list and the only way to access the list will be through a Disclosure check. The obvious question is what is meant by ‘knowingly’? The official line from the Executive is that an exact definition would have to be determined by the Courts. But the Explanatory Note for the Act states:

“ It is a defence for the organisation to prove that it could not reasonably have known that the individual was disqualified.” (Explanatory Notes to Protection of Children (Scotland) Act 2003 (asp 5)

Given that organisations have the ability to check the list through the Disclosure system, it is probably safe to assume that it would not be considered reasonable that an organisation chose not to check, and they would therefore be at risk of committing an offence.

The earliest date that we have heard about for implementation is Spring 2004 and it may well be later than that. But if your organisation is working with children and young people and is not currently registered with CRBS and carrying out Disclosures on staff and volunteers, you should start thinking now about the possible implications for your organisation.

In passing the Act Scottish Ministers acknowledged that the Voluntary Sector would need additional support and guidance to help them comply. The First Minister has given assurance that “in bringing the new legislation into force, we [the Scottish Parliament] will take account of the time that organisations will need to gear up for implementation.”
At the time of writing there is no indication of what form this support will take, but a working group has been established to look at the issues. CRBS are also considering the issues involved and will provide information as it becomes available.

The implementation of the Act raises a lot of questions that are still to be answered, and we will keep you up to date with information as it becomes available. We will also try to feed in to the wider debate about this issue and so if you have any thoughts or questions please let us know.

More info:

Jude Wilson, Volunteer Centre Edinburgh, +44 (0) 131 225 0630 jude.wilson@volunteeredinburgh.org.uk

CRBS, Unit 55, Stirling Enterprise Park, Stirling +44 (0) 1786 849777 www.crbs.org.uk

The Scottish Executive has issued a information booklet, Protection of Children (Scotland) Act 2003 – Information Note which can be obtained by calling Hazel Warne on +44 (0) 131 244 3735 or by emailing dwcl@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Sun shines on team volunteering

Sun Microsystems staff discovered that a good team challenge is a “win-win” situation with everyone benefitting from the experience. For a local family centre it meant “the complete refurbishment of an overgrown garden area including the supply of some lovely plants”. A Staff Member added “We would certainly recommend the use of volunteer teams to other organisations. Only by generous help from organisations and individuals like this can we maintain our facility and keep it looking as attractive as it is”. Volunteers were equally enthused. “I think everyone enjoyed themselves, even if we did get a bit wet in the process! Hopefully the local kids will notice a bit of a difference to the place when the sun eventually comes out again”. The added benefits for volunteers include the team building aspect of these projects, as one Team Leader observed “It was a good catalyst to get different engineers working together who ordinarily do not get the chance. It is a good (cheap) way to help build team spirit in otherwise tough times”.

Volunteers proved that they were happy to get their hands dirty! Weeding; debarking elm trees; painting; pulling weeds; pond clearing and general site maintenance.

Sun, like an increasing number of companies, recognises the benefits of encouraging community involvement by offering paid time off work to volunteer.

If your organisation has a task that needs doing, that would benefit from a team of volunteers, contact Paul Wilson for more information on +44 (0) 131 225 0630 or email paul.wilson@volunteeredinburgh.org.uk.

Volunteering for personal development

The Support and Advice Team continue to be involved in a range of initiatives to help people develop personal skills through volunteering:
As part of a nationwide pilot, Sarah Cleary is using and adapting The Rickter Scale with volunteers who have disabilities and health problems. In conjunction with the Young People’s Unit at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital we have developed a new course – “WAVE” (Ways to a Volunteering Experience). For many of the participants this has been their first experience, not only of volunteering, but of a working environment. We have also contributed to a new course being run by the criminal justice team of the Social Work Department – “Time2Change” – an alternative to imprisonment for long-term persistent offenders. These are in addition to our usual talks and presentations to a number of rehabilitation and community care services.

Farewell Irene

A fond farewell to Irene Whittaker who left the Support and Advice Team in August. Irene worked with us for three years, and brought great skill, experience and humour to her work with volunteers with extra support needs.

The views expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily those of Volunteer Centre Edinburgh.

Please send all contributions to mark.steven@volunteeredinburgh.org.uk.