An update on the development of the National Volunteer Strategy- analysing the information the government is working with

Volunteering Victoria has been focussed on ensuring that the Federal Government listens to the volunteering community during the process of developing the framework for supporting volunteering in the future. The background paper which you can read about on our website makes it clear that the National Strategy will set the grounds for investment in volunteering across Australia.

It’s important then that we are clear about what information government is using. The Centre for Social Impact’s  (CSI) paper  Addressing social disadvantage through volunteering (the CSI paper)  commissioned by the government and now made public, presents an analysis of volunteering that is a challenge for the current systems that underlie volunteering activity. The idea of volunteering as a vehicle for social inclusion- i.e. inclusion of those excluded- is a conceptual shift that is both welcome and challenging. The paper is available from the publication section of CSI’s website

The CSI paper will, we assume, be only one input into the thinking around the National Volunteer Strategy. But it indicates an important fact: that volunteering is increasingly seen in instrumental terms by government, i.e. what it can be used to do, rather than just what it is.

In the face of significant demographics and community change, and increased regulatory requirements, volunteering as a community activity is now faced with challenges it may be not be able to meet in its current scope. This is clear from  the CSI paper’s view that volunteering is in some way an activity of the socially dominant, at least in terms of educational  and income levels (human capital) and in terms of connections/networks (social capital).

The key challenges the CSI paper presents to volunteering are:

• The need to shift volunteering from an activity  predominantly  carried out by advantaged groups  in the community to one that is more inclusive of disadvantaged community members
• The mechanisms for doing this- targeted recruiting and supporting more volunteers from excluded groups (with no real resources to recruit or support them, and the potential use  of the Disability Discrimination Act to ensure volunteer organisations become accessible )
• The underlying notion that volunteering as a social phenomenon can somehow act to implement changes as if it is a kind of service system: in fact the reality is that volunteering is millions of people carrying out thousands of activities with no real coordinating or management model and minimal resources

Volunteering Victoria welcomes the significant intellectual value of the CSI paper. The debate about volunteering as a mechanism for social inclusion is one we need to have. But it is going to be important that the Federal Government understand that volunteering is not a (social outcome) machine.

Given the current level of support for volunteering from government, volunteering as a whole has minimal capacity to take up social challenges (even though we somehow keep finding a way to do what is required).

If the volunteer community is to become the mechanism for social inclusion, then government needs to give us some equipment, in the form of a well designed volunteer support program (noting that the current recurrent spending by the Federal Government on volunteering is around $5 million per annum).

And of course this is where the National Volunteering Strategy comes in - and why we must help the government get it right. Volunteering Victoria is committed to facilitating the voice of Victorian volunteers and volunteer organisations in the discussion that sets the context for the Strategy’s development. But we want to hear your voice.

Let us know what you think needs to be the focus of the Strategy. We’ll keep you informed about further developments-but remember: if we don’t speak now we may get a National Volunteer structure that will set priorities across Australia for many years to come, but which doesn’t embody the voice of volunteering. It’s up to us.

For information or to send comments contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , Policy and Advocacy Officer