Colin Rochester, Angela Ellis Paine and Steven Howlett have just published ‘Volunteering and society in the 21st Century”. Amongst other things this new book discusses the current challenges facing volunteering, including: the need to change its image; the push for an inclusive approach; the danger of formalization; and the threat to its independence. More information is available from the publisher’s website.
Posts Tagged ‘volunteering’
Volunteering and society in the 21st century
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009The value of volunteering
Sunday, November 15th, 2009I went to a seminar early November organised by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Third Sector European Network (TSEN) to explore the value of volunteering. All the presentations of the seminar are now available on the ESRC website and I believe a summary document will shortly be uploaded. The presentations by the Office of the Third Sector (Sarah Benioff) and the Department of Work and Pension (Zoe Alexander) provided a useful overview of why government supports volunteering and how in the current context volunteering is seen as a pathway to employment. Jeremy Kendall’s presentation from the University of Kent) had some really interesting international comparisons and contained a thought-provoking analysis of the policy context of volunteering and how it has evolved since Beveridge. For more information on Jeremy’s analysis you may also want to have a look at the paper he has written for the Third Sector Research Centre.
New Citizenship Survey results
Friday, November 13th, 2009CLG recently released the new citizenship survey results for April – June 2009. The survey is a really valuable resource for our project and anyone interested in participation. Some of the statistics in the publication could be a cause for concern, especially the ones relating to public participation and community empowerment, for instance:
- only 35% of people felt they could influence decisions in their local area compared to 44% in 2001.
but some are slightly more reassuring:
- 43% adults volunteered formally at least once in the 12 months prior to survey interview…this shows a small increase from the latest figures published for the year 2008-2009 (41%).
Interest in volunteering continues as recession deepens
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009A recent survey by IVR shows that over the past six months, 86% of Volunteer Centres have seen an increase in volunteering enquiries.
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