Why Measure Volunteering and Skills?
The
new government strategy for sport recognises volunteering as a specific form of
engagement in sport that should be encouraged in its own right rather than just
as a means to an end. Volunteering helps people develop skills which can help
them find work or improve their career prospects and can therefore support the
government’s push on reducing worklessness.
The successful delivery of many sporting and
cultural events relies on the support of volunteers. Cultural events such as Carnaval del Pueblo
and Pride London benefit significantly from volunteer inputs. 2,080 volunteers take part in Carnaval del
Pueblo, including 700 volunteer artists during its street procession. Approximately 600 volunteers are involved in
Pride London, including 80 all year round, with roles including marketing,
event management and communications. The
Ryder Cup in 2014 recruited more than 2,000 volunteers who paid for the
privilege to offer their time to the event.
People engaged by events in these ways are typically sourced from the
host area although larger events requiring specialist experience might recruit
volunteers from elsewhere.
Some events also
provide people with practical training opportunities. A good example of this is the Cultural
Olympiad's Creative Jobs Programme. This programme enabled 40 unemployed young
people to undertake paid work within cultural organisations across central and
East London. The training posts were open to 18‐24 year olds who had been on Jobseekers Allowance
for at least thirteen weeks and were targeted at residents of the Olympic host
boroughs. All the jobs created were part‐time (24 hours a week), six‐month fixed‐term contracts, paid at National Minimum Wage.
Download - Volunteering and Skills Toolkit (.pdf, 54kb)