Volunteering action plan

Living the plan

One of the main strengths of both the Volunteering for All: National Framework, and especially this Plan, has been the approach to co-creation that's been employed. This Plan has actively engaged c.60 volunteering stakeholders in Scotland.

Moving forward, this same commitment to collaboration and co-ownership is embedded in the implementation of the Plan.

The diagram above indicates a range of 'new' structures which are fundamental to the delivery of the Plan. Further planning work is required in order to identify objectives, ownership, resources and timing, amongst other considerations.

Plan management

An ambitious 10-year plan will need ongoing flexibility and the opportunity to review and refresh actions based on the changing landscape. Many actions will require the establishment of groups of stakeholders and funders to progress them – they cannot be achieved by one organisation acting unilaterally. The Scottish Government and Volunteer Scotland will act as an enabler and facilitator in supporting this work over the next decade. The Plan will be managed through:

• A multi-agency management group that meets quarterly to steer and evaluate the progress of the plan with a focus on strategy, ownership and stewardship of the Plan. Comprised of main action holders, such as Third Sector interfaces (TSIs), large / small volunteer involving organisations, the NHS, COSLA, a representative from Funders, Volunteer Scotland, sectoral leadership bodies, and the Scottish Government, amongst others.
• Programme management. This should ideally include a programme management office from the outset, with resources dedicated to the ongoing facilitation, co-ownership and monitoring of the Plan.
• Communication and engagement - see Communication and Engagement.
• Monitoring and evaluation, which includes producing an annual report and building in a formal 5 year review in 2027. See Monitoring and Evaluation.

New 'enabling' structures (see Living the Plan) will be progressed, including VFA: National Learning Community, Funders Consortium, Resilience Partnerships, Policy Champions Network, Cross-Government Policy Group, Volunteering Research Group, and a System Stewards' programme.

The Volunteering Action Plan seeks to develop our strong volunteering community over the next decade. A key element of our Communications and Engagement activity will be raising the profile of volunteering and its impact on society.

We've had significant stakeholder involvement in the process so far and we want this to continue. A wide range of stakeholders and delivery partners will need to come together to galvanise actions in priority areas. The Plan will require energetic engagement and goodwill across the Sector.

We recognise that while some actions will be quicker and easier to achieve, others will be more long term in nature, complex and may require that we also build capacity or change behaviour.

The co-produced Plan is underpinned by the vast collective experience of its participants, who remain vital champions and ambassadors in promoting the Plan and in sharing learning and key messages. They have the ability to influence decision makers and to ensure that the power of volunteering is recognised across policy areas and across our communities.

The need to improve the visibility of volunteering in policy making is vital. By increasing awareness of the strategic importance of volunteering we can realise the outcomes of the National Performance Framework.

This Plan provides a detailed narrative for the future of volunteering in Scotland, but will need to be tailored to different audiences to ensure we maximise its impact. The launch of the plan is just the beginning.

We will develop a communications plan and website for the action plan, to create the widest possible awareness across Scotland and encourage as many individuals, communities and organisations as possible to think about the part they can play in building the future of volunteering over the next 10 years.

The rollout of this Scotland-wide Volunteering Action Plan is a major commitment given the ambitious programme of actions encompassing policy influence, partnership working, volunteer reach and resourcing – both in time and money. This makes the development of an effective monitoring and evaluation system all the more important.

Its key objectives are:

• Monitoring – to track the rollout of actions and record what has happened. This will provide the factual data to support an Annual Monitoring and Evaluation Report.
• Impact – to assess the impact of actions 'on the ground'. What are the intended and unintended results of the Action Plan?
• Performance – in what ways can the performance of the action planning and rollout process be enhanced? Is the work cost-effective and does it represent value-for-money? Answering these questions is fundamental to a learning culture and the ongoing development of a 'Living Plan'.

Central to achieving these objectives is a strong evaluation approach. However, this needs to be driven 'bottom-up', not 'top-down'. The whole success of the Action Plan rests on those organisations responsible for leading the change – be that funders, national and local bodies, local community groups, and volunteer involving organisations. It is critical that they take ownership for their own actions, and this includes the monitoring and evaluation of their work.

This is a complex process and attention needs to be paid to the following:

• being clear on the objectives of the monitoring and evaluation function;
• proportionality to ensure a cost-effective monitoring and evaluation service;
• engaging those responsible for funding and other key partners which are critical to the rollout and implementation of the Action Plan;
• providing capacity building support to VIOs in monitoring and evaluation; and
• recognising that this is not about trying to map and evaluate all activity relating to the Action Plan – this is neither feasible nor desirable.

A Monitoring and Evaluation Group will be established to set out the principles, responsibilities, and timelines for reporting during the expected 10 year time horizon of the Volunteering Action Plan.

Lessons learned so far… (March 2022)

The creation of the Plan was challenging; involving over 60 organisations for more than a year with a strong emphasis on co-production. Volunteer Scotland evaluated this process in March 2022. High level findings are shown in Appendix 3, alongside implications for the roll-out of the Plan.

Headlines include: Engagement of partners is critical; Co-production works! Structure – keep it simple; Systems – keep it simple; Management support is key; Communications – the lifeblood of such initiatives; 'Voice' was missing in some key areas.