The Importance of Volunteering:a Policy Perspective

Stepping Up to the ChallengeDonald Jarvie

Head of Scotland’s Futures ForumThe Scottish Parliament

29 September 2015

What is Scotland’s Futures Forum?

• Scotland's Futures Forum was created by the Scottish Parliament to help its Members, along with policy makers, businesses, academics, and the wider community of Scotland, look beyond immediate horizons, to some of the challenges and opportunities we will face in the future. Looking beyond the 4 year electoral cycle and away from party politics, the Forum seeks to stimulate public debate in Scotland, bringing fresh perspectives, ideas and creativity on how we might prepare now for the future.

What’s the Policy interest in Volunteering?

• Volunteering is a critical part of realising Scotland’s economic, social and environmental prosperity

• Volunteering is a major component of individual and societal wellbeing

• We need meaningful public dialogue as to the purpose and relevance of policy to people’s everyday lives.

• We need to understand more precisely how policy will affect people’s well-being and also how such findings can be implemented into policy choices

Change the engagement framework

• Need to turn the pyramid for decision making upside down

A Futures Forum led multi-partner initiative that takes forward design and measurement of effective public policies in a practical way

Decide Deliver

Engage Empower

Enable

Volunteering is central to improving society, achieving policy goals and

realising positive community engagement • Volunteering creates a Better Society• Volunteering helps Community Empowerment• Volunteering increases Self Esteem• Volunteering helps develop Skill Sets • Volunteering has HUGE Economic Benefits

Wellbeing initiative - Programme Partners

Measurement of Wellbeing

• Now widely accepted that we need to measure more than GDP/growing the economy

• Scotland recognised as world leader – NPF, Humankind index

• Common threads in most frameworks

• Holistic view in all countries

• No simple answers

Scotland’s National Performance Framework

Yardstick for Scottish Government policy/assessment of progress

Developing the NPF-Volunteering Indicator?

– Need to measure impact and outcomes– Scotland Performs does not currently measure the extent to

which people are participating in voluntary activity – formal or informal

– Economic value of volunteering is estimated by Volunteer Scotland to be in excess of £2.6 billion in Scotland

– Is there a need to include a “volunteering” indicator? (e.g. via the Scottish Household Survey)– Through the wellbeing initiative, a volunteering indicator is currently being considered by the Scottish Government

Volunteering – Creating a Better Society• Volunteering creates greater society cohesion• Volunteers are activists: passionate about their cause; volunteers

make a difference and change society and culture to create a modern Scotland promoting equality, women’s rights, the rights of those with disabilities and fair pay; and supporting community activities defined by the lived experiences of those communities.

• Volunteering is a powerful tool for social change. It can transform people and places, and plays a significant role in contributing to healthy societies that are good to live in

Volunteering- Community Empowerment

• The success of the Community Empowerment Bill, and community empowerment more generally, is built on the assumption that individuals and communities can/will do more on a voluntary basis to empower their community – take on assets such as community centres, join representative bodies; deliver services and activities locally.

Volunteering - Self Esteem

• Volunteering increases the wellbeing of the giver and receiver

• “In what constitutes the real happiness of human life, [the poor] are in no respect inferior to those who would seem so much above them.” – Adam Smith

Volunteering – Skill Sets

• Volunteers are community leaders: leadership spans all aspects of our society

• Volunteering enhances communication and people skills• Volunteering develops “soft” skills such as creativity and

problem solving, resilience, time management, team player etc.

• Improved employability

Volunteering – Economic Benefits

• A well-being approach recognises the need to understand and measure non-market production

• We need reliable national indicators of well-being that link to policy and that complements economic measures like GDP

• An economic value (£ sign) can be a useful communication tool in dialogue with Policy Makers

• Economic value of volunteering is estimated to be in excess of £2.6 billion in Scotland

• Volunteer passion and commitment is viewed as priceless

Policy – Stepping Up to the Challenge

• What does Policy need to do to step up to the Challenge?• What are the barriers to Volunteering that Policy needs to address?• How can Policy/legislation facilitate increased Volunteering?

How can we turn the pyramid for decision making upside down?

Engage Empower

Enable

Decide Deliver

Engage Empower

Enable