National meeting of BOVA and SYM
Venue- Savio House, Bollington UK
Date- 05/03/2011
Present- Patrick Kerridge, James Murray, Sam Legg and Tom Sellars
Agenda- discussion on volunteering with BOVA and SYM from the view of young people and the organisations.
· Introductions
o The agenda and purpose of the meeting
o Who we are, our experiences as and with volunteers
· Why do/did you volunteer?
· Why do young people volunteer?
· Why does your organisation do what it does?
· Challenges faced by young people and organisation
|
Young people |
BOVA/SYM |
|
-Awareness of opportunities -Is it cool? -Perceptions (e.g. Stigmas, holiday vs work, tourist vs volunteer) -Misconceptions (what it is, time, nature, etc) -Time to do it, barriers in life/education cycle/etc -Enough training/support/follow up -Peer pressure for ‘trendy experience’ -Thinking they will save the world -Language barriers -Costs -Channelling energy/feelings afterwards -On going involvement opportunities -One off experience vs commitment to change -Recognition |
-GAP year vs volunteering -Competition- not just rival external organisations but also with in Salesians (e.g. other projects, camps, sisters, DBYN activities, etc) -Funding and costs -Local volunterring lacks regular opportunities or facilities for ongoing involvements (in some areas) -CRB, risk assessment, framework prevents involvements -Ideological differences -On going support/opportunities for involvement -Catering for increased numbers of volunteers (cost) - full time workers dedicated to individual projects |
· Brief dialogue of solutions to some of these challenges
· Executive summary- looking at what they found and discussing it with the perspective of our work/s.
Outcomes- through the discussion we were able to share and gain an insight into the various experiences and attitudes towards volunteering. We were able to highlight some of the major challenges that are faced by the young people and the organisations (BOVA and SYM). With this knowledge the group are ready to take these views and share them at the congress in Krakow with the aim of finding suitable and realistic solutions to these challenges we face.