Promoting Volunteering in Kent
The Big Society in Kent - Volunteer to help make a
difference.
Volunteers contribute to the improvement of life within our
communities. Partnerships with local and national organisations
have been developed to better understand the many roles that
volunteers undertake, how volunteers are recruited and retained,
the day to day business of voluntary organisations and how external
factors, such as the recession, can affect this.
The Chairman of Kent County Council (KCC) takes an active role
in bringing together these partners through the Kent Volunteers
Advisory Group, and all work together to encourage voluntary
activity and community involvement to benefit people's lives and
improve our environment.
Partner organisations, listed below, carry out a
variety of roles and their websites contain useful background
information on topics covering all aspects of
volunteering.
Kent County Council works to ensure that the voluntary sector is
included in the planning and delivery of services, and works
with hundreds of voluntary organisations which involve volunteers
in their activities.
In addition to placing partnership contracts with voluntary
organisations, Kent County Council also manages volunteers in
a wide variety of projects so at any one time there are
thousands of volunteers working across the county. To find out
more about these opportunities see our Volunteer with KCC services information.
There are many volunteering opportunities within KCC
services . The council's own staff are also encouraged to volunteer
either as individuals or within teams through our Employee Volunteering scheme.
Engaging Volunteers
The Engaging Volunteers - A Starter Toolkit is a
template document which can be used by organisations where
volunteers are involved in the delivery of services, and could be
used to form the basis of an organisation's volunteering
policy.
The templates can be adapted to give information on a range of
topics such as; the role the volunteers will be undertaking, how
expenses will be paid, the availability of training, to explain
about insurance cover and also matters of confidentiality. The
document could also form the basis for an organisation's volunteer
handbook.
Please Note: Information contained within the
Toolkit in respect of implementation of the Independent
Safeguarding Authority registration scheme is subject to change as
it was halted by the Coalition Government in June 2010 to allow the
scheme to be remodelled. Therefore it is not currently possible to
register with the ISA. The Toolkit will be updated when the
Scheme remodelling has been completed. Criminal Record Bureau
checks should continue to be carried out through the usual
routes.
Investing in Volunteers Standard (IiV)
The Investing
in Volunteers Standard is an accreditation that voluntary
and public organisations can achieve based on their commitment and
involvement of volunteers within the organisation.
The Standard assesses how an organisation's volunteers are
recruited, managed and supported in terms of resources and personal
contact, their involvement in decision making, the diversity and
appropriateness of the volunteers in line with the organisation's
aims, and that an approach to official checks and health and
safety is done in a considered way.
Achieving the Standard shows prospective volunteers that this is
an organisation that knows how to look after its volunteers, so is
a valuable tool when recruiting new volunteers.
Three Kent County Council managed schemes have now achieved
the Investing in Volunteers accreditation.
- Environment & Waste volunteers
- Learning Champions (Adult Education)
- Referral Order Panel volunteers (Youth Offending Service)
The Kent Partners Compact
The
Kent Partners Compact (PDF, 298k) is a partnership
agreement between the voluntary and community sector (VCS) and the
public sector in Kent. It is a jointly agreed framework of
principles to guide their future working relationship for the
benefit of the Kent community.
The Kent Partners Compact was developed through The
Kent Partnership
and has brought together key members of the public, private and
voluntary sectors, and has led to a 'joining up' in delivery,
providing a forum for the development of relationships with the
voluntary sector at a countywide level.
The Compact underpins relationships both at sector level,
between public sector partners and the voluntary and community
sector as a whole, and at contract level between partner and
individual service providers. The purpose of The Compact is to
define and improve these relationships to make working together
more productive across the whole range of voluntary activities.
Find out more about the Kent
Partners Compact.