22 June 2007
The voluntary sector is at risk of reversing the modernisation of volunteering infrastructure if the proposed national support services framework is not drastically reworked, according to Volunteering England (VE). In a campaign to “Keep volunteering at the heart of ChangeUp”, the national development agency for volunteering, along with NAVCA, is calling on CapacityBuilders to reinstate a strategic lead for volunteering.
The campaign argues that national support for volunteering should, wherever possible, be delivered locally, sub-regionally or regionally. But at a national level work is still needed to support the 22 million volunteers and thousands of organisations in the volunteering sector by:
- Providing leadership and consistency for the future
- Ensuring that volunteering is made accessible to all and that barriers to volunteering are addressed
- Improving the quality of the volunteering experience for volunteers
- Increasing the number of volunteers from all parts of society
Christopher Spence CBE, Chief Executive of Volunteering England, said:
“We believe this draft framework proposal threatens the entire sector by removing the voice, knowledge and skills base of volunteering from the strategic level of the entire ChangeUp agenda. The proposal appears to take no account of the praise of the Durning report of existing strategic initiatives on volunteering, nor of the Treasury Third Sector Review interim report. We therefore call upon Capacitybuilders to create a 5th National Support Service Strategic lead in Volunteering.”
Kevin Curley, Chief Executive of NAVCA, said:
“Volunteering is at the heart of all our communities and it should be at the heart of ChangeUp’s strategy for the voluntary sector. It is essential that local groups are given the support they need from a well-developed infrastructure. It is only by keeping volunteering as a national strategic lead that local volunteer centres can be given the necessary tools and resources to flourish and evolve.”
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Notes to Editors
