Youth Volunteering

Overview

The UK has seen a particular focus on youth volunteering in recent years, especially through the Millennium Volunteers scheme launched in 1999, the Russell Commission's framework for youth action and engagement published in 2005 and the new youth volunteering charity V launched in 2006.

Some important themes in youth volunteering include increasing social inclusion and community participation, creating ownership through youth-led opportunities and recognising young volunteers through specific awards and accreditation. Organisations wanting to involve young volunteers also need to deal with a range of legal and practical matters when deciding what roles are suitable or adaptable for a particular age group.

This section contains articles, examples and links to help you work with younger volunteers. Many of the core themes in the Good Practice Bank will also be relevant, as will some of the other specialist themes.

Articles

• Legal Issues and Youth Volunteering - VE article
• Active Citizens in Schools - IVR report
• Millennium Volunteers Evaluation - IVR report
• What Young People Want From Volunteering - IVR bulletin
• Young Adults and Voluntary Arts - Voluntary Arts Network (external link, PDF)
• Young People's Volunteering and Skills Development - National Youth Agency and Department for Education and Skills
  summary version (PDF) or full report (PDF)

Examples

• If you have any example policies or documents to contribute please let us know!

Case studies

• Guide to Involving Young Volunteers - Sport England (external link, PDF)

Links

Useful reports and resources on external websites

• Russell Commission
  The Commission published a framework for youth action and engagement in March 2005, following a national consultation and review.
  Read the consultation documents, frequently asked questions and final report on the Russell Commission website
• Millennium Volunteers Project Workers website features a good practice section containing useful example documents contributed by MV schemes.
  Read the MV Good Practice section
• Safeguarding Children and Safer Recruitment in Education
  New guidance published by the Department of Education and Skills. Includes useful guidance on recruiting and working with volunteers, a recruitment flowchart and interesting case studies on which volunteer roles might require a CRB check.
  Read the new guidance on the Every Child Matters website
• The youth volunteering charity "v"
  The website features a learning zone and information about funding for projects involving volunteers aged 16-25.
  www.wearev.com

Publications

Free publications

• Involving Young Volunteers: a toolkit - Timebank Energise (external link)
• A national framework for youth action and engagement - Russell Commission

Priced publications

• Generation V: young people speak out on volunteering - Volunteering England
• Taking The Lead: young people and volunteering - UK Youth (external link)

Share your experiences!

The Good Practice Bank is growing steadily as more information is added to it. An important feature of the Bank is allowing users to share their documents with other volunteering organisations. We are particularly interested in receiving example policies or documents that you are happy to share with others. If we use your contribution, you could win a book on volunteering from our regular prize draw.

• If your organisation has an example to contribute, please use our simple form to submit it.
• Or, please send us an email or telephone 0800 028 3304 (phone and textphone)