MV Good Practice
Good Practices for MV Providers are:
Personal Commitment – MVs are asked to make a sustained commitment to volunteering. Most young people are expected to target hours of voluntary activity within one year, or two years for young people with learning difficulties or disabilities. Additionally, Project Managers have flexibility to allow those volunteers who need more time to gain the Award of Excellence to do so, providing they manage the resource, support and financial implications of this within their agreed budget. An important thing to remember is that whilst MVs need to make the commitment, project staff also have a responsibility to support that commitment and enable them to maintain it.
Community Benefit – All MV activity must have a community benefit. Volunteering opportunities must therefore bring benefits and positive changes to local communities or to individuals within those communities. ’Community’ can be taken to mean the people living within a geographical area, or a smaller community group such as a school or youth club. It is often easier to think about this in terms of what MV is NOT about - so, for example, MV would not arrange an administrative placement for a young person in a bank; they could however arrange a similar placement in a community organisation such as an advice centre.
Voluntary Participation – Participation in MV should always be voluntary and the activity should not be something that young people are ’told’ they have to do. An example of this could be a young person who is doing a childcare course, and who has been told that, as part of the course, they would be required to do a placement at a local nursery. This activity could not be counted as volunteering hours. However, if that young person chose to volunteer beyond the requirements of the course, this would be acceptable. One final point; MVs should neither gain, nor lose, financially from their volunteering.
Ownership by young People – Delivery organisations need to ensure that they have enabled young people to become fully involved in the design and delivery of the voluntary activities. It is worth remembering that not all young people will actually want to get involved; in fact it may well put some people off. That said volunteers should be given the opportunity, skills, and encouragement to design their own activity. Ownership also means young people having a say about how your project runs; having the opportunity to take decisions and influence how MV operates in the local community.
Quality – The ’quality’ of a particular MV project can be measured in many different ways, from adhering to the 9 principles to the writing and implementing of timed action plans. Using this manual and other quality frameworks is a good starting point, but it is what you do after you have completed your assessment that will start to build a ’high quality’ programme. Researching and implementing elements of good practice from other projects and/or volunteer programmes helps you to improve the quality of your programme.
Recognition & Accreditation – Every volunteer who walks through your door will have his or her own reasons for doing so. Whether they want work experience or simply to fill some spare time, recognising their contribution is crucial in order to build confidence, say thank you and record their achievements. Recognition is not all about the award, nor does it have to come hand in hand with a big celebration event; sometimes it can just be about chatting through the achievements of that young person, sharing feedback from people they have worked with or congratulating them for reaching their own personal goals.
Inclusiveness – Volunteering should be open and accessible to all young people aged 16–25. You should look at your organisation’s equality policies to help you start the assessment. However, it is important to look at how you and your colleagues are actively breaking down the barriers to participation. How are you practically implementing the policies that have been created to include all 16–25 year olds? It is an interesting exercise to challenge your own pre–conceptions and decide for yourself if you are running a truly inclusive project.
Variety – MV should provide a rich variety of volunteering opportunities through a wide range of activities. There are different ways in which we can create true ’variety’ within MV which take into account the diverse nature of volunteers’s expectations and aspirations. For some young people, this will be the chance to try out lots of different activities, for others it will be a particular role with one organisation, whereas for some volunteers it will mean them having the chance to develop their own voluntary activity.
Partnership – There are a number of partners that will help you to deliver MV. These could be other MV Projects, placement providers, local community groups, referral agencies, training providers, local schools, colleges and universities; even local businesses could play a role, for example through promotion and sponsorship. It is important that whatever partnerships you have formed are constantly developing. Good partnerships will ensure that what you are offering to volunteers is relevant, timely and responsive to community need, as well as assisting you to deliver a quality programme. For this reason, it is important that partners are fully involved in the development, implementation and evaluation of your MV project.
Project Management – You need to have systems in place to ensure the effective delivery of MV, specifically the skills, policies, resources and working practices required to effectively manage an MV project. This aspect of self–assessment will probably only need to be completed on an annual basis, unless there are significant changes to either the structure or management of the MV project or its delivery organisation.