Youth volunteering guidelines

Develop

Overview

Developing Young Volunteers

The opportunity to try, learn and build their skills is of utmost importance to young volunteers. Having a range of opportunities for young volunteers with the ability to smoothly transition between these roles is vital in allowing them both the freedom and fun of exploring different activities.

Flexibility is key, and the opportunity for young people to co-create or shape their experience adds an element of agency and empowerment that lends itself to a greater sense of reward from having achieved something from an idea that they have designed or contributed to. The ability to support and implement their thinking in a volunteer role can have a profound effect on both the experience of the volunteer, the community and the organisation itself!

Young Representatives

Participation of young volunteers within your organisation does not need to be limited to award schemes or issue-based opportunities. By involving young people in decision-making and development, not only will decisions be made with young people in mind, but their contribution will provide fresh perspectives and new challenges to old problems.

Shaping future responsibilities

Involving current volunteers in the development of future opportunities adds huge value to your volunteering scheme. The best examples allow young volunteers to work 'in' the organisation and 'on' the organisation. Consider creating a Young Person's Advisory Group who can meet on a periodical basis to review and evaluate your existing work with young volunteers.

From the outset it is worthwhile thinking about the impact of your youth volunteering efforts. Evaluation Support Scotland can help with this important work.

Supporting transition

Do you have a clear idea of how you would like a volunteer to develop and grow into having greater responsibility? Where internal development opportunities are limited, signposting your volunteers to a partner or other local organisation may be appropriate.

Young Representatives

Participation of young volunteers within your organisation does not need to be limited to award schemes or issue-based opportunities. Taking on young people in membership or governance roles allows them to gain invaluable workplace experience and leadership skills.

'By involving young people in decision-making and development, not only will decisions be made with young people in mind, but their contribution will provide fresh perspectives and new challenges to old problems.' (Youth VIP)

Young adults are great at informing new ideas and processes. The ability to challenge existing work cultures can become easier when you involve young people at all levels. Examples of such roles are Young Trustee, Young Advisor, Committee Co-Chair, Young Advocate, Representative.

Like with all volunteer roles, the capacity to support these young people is key to their success. How any new roles will be integrated into existing governance structures will need to be considered carefully and reflected in supporting documents. Managing the expectations of young people in these roles is also incredibly important. Are they going to be part of a decision- making board or a consultation group? They need to know how their contribution will make a difference.

Shaping future responsibilities

Involving current volunteers in the development of future opportunities adds huge value to your volunteering scheme.

Young people can act as Peer Mentors alongside new or younger volunteers, they can review your policies and recruitment processes and be involved in designing other opportunities for engaging more young people in volunteering.

Consider creating a Young Person's Advisory Group who can meet on a periodical basis to review and evaluate your existing work with young volunteers. Following their initial experience, 54% of young people surveyed by Youth VIP took part in further volunteering activities so getting it right counts in terms of impact.

Supporting transition

Internally - is there a clearly defined pathway for transition to further opportunity? For a staged award scheme, this may be as simple as providing a 'passport' documenting achievement with details of what is required at future stages. For other opportunities, this may mean facilitating an induction to a new role or introducing a volunteer to a new team.

For time-bound volunteering opportunities where there is no progression, consider a celebration event and the opportunity for reflection and evaluation.

Progression to employment or education - local employers, schools and colleges may be interested in supporting or sponsoring your volunteering programme as a means of promoting their own initiatives. Working with external partners to develop a package of support for transition can be really beneficial in ensuring young people maintain their interest in both parties and feel supported in their new venture.

On a similar theme, allowing all your workforce to take part in volunteering activities during their working week will help to embed social action as common practice. Volunteering days and corporate responsibility partnerships are becoming increasingly popular in the public sector. Youth VIP recognise that small and medium sized enterprises need additional support with this and encourage businesses to seek further guidance from an organisation such as Volunteering Matters or Volunteer Scotland and trial this approach.

Case Study

Cal is a transgender man. He suffered a lot with social anxiety. He was searching for an experience that would help him make his transition to the next step in his career. With the help of local support agencies, Cal was encouraged to build his confidence and self-esteem whilst volunteering at the British Red Cross serving customers, organising the shop and dealing with customer queries.

Cal was encouraged to think about how he wanted to develop his skills and what he wanted to do to progress his increasing experience and confidence. His support workers supported him to develop a CV and have the confidence to apply for other paid work. Cal was successful in gaining and sustaining full-time employment in a local factory doing Quality Control.

Cal said that he was encouraged to think big as soon as he started volunteering and without this encouragement to progress that he wouldn't have had the confidence to move forward in his life.