The consultation launch event took place on Thursday 24 November 2005 at The City Chambers in Edinburgh . There was a lot of interest in this event which was well advertised, and attracted over 100 bookings, with almost 90 people in attendance on the day.  Facilitators for the event were drawn from the Volunteer Strategy Working Group (VSWG) and Volunteer Centre staff. 

The launch event seminar was entitled “Volunteering in Edinburgh – Challenges, Sustainability and Opportunities” and chaired by Stuart Mair , Project Co-ordinator at Canongate Youth Project (and also a member of the Compact Partnership). Harriet Eadie , Director of Volunteer Centre Edinburgh provided an introduction and background to the strategy in “A Volunteering Strategy for the City – Where are we now?” and this was followed by a presentation of VDS Research Findings on “The Role of Asking”[*1] by Laura Baird, Research Co-ordinator at Volunteer Development Scotland.

Some of the consultation themes that were explored in the group challenge sessions that day included:

• CLOSING THE OPPORTUNITY GAP      
• SOCIAL JUSTICE (ie. how volunteering can impact on social justice under some the themes drawn from City Plan and Regeneration Outcome Agreement) [*2]              
• IMPROVING THE VOLUNTEERING EXPERIENCE

Download the agenda (.doc)

Download notes from the workshop sessions (.doc)

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More on the Volunteering Strategy:

• Introduction to the Strategy
• Background to the Strategy
• Role & Remit of iGIVE - Articles of Operation
• iGIVE (Implementation Group) - Papers (agendas, minutes etc.)
• iGIVE (Implementation Group) Members & Meeting Details
• The Edinburgh Partnership
• Edinburgh Compact Partnership
• Consultation Launch Event
• Strategy Weblinks