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Volunteering Strategy
MINISTERIAL FOREWORD
People volunteer for all sorts of reasons. Some do it to help others. Some do it to help themselves to develop new skills or social networks. And some do it because they are interested in a particular issue or activity. Whatever the motivation, tens of thousands of people volunteer across Scotland every day. Their involvement strengthens Scotland as a nation. It helps connect people with each other and with their communities; and it encourages them to think more about the ways in which people relate both to each other and to the wider world in which they live.
We have come a long way from the roots of volunteering in the 19th century, when genteel middle-class ladies visited prisoners and impoverished waifs in workhouses. In its early days volunteering was about the "haves helping the have nots". Now, at the beginning of the 21st century, volunteering has evolved into a much more egalitarian activity whereby everyone has something to contribute and everyone has something to gain.
Almost every aspect of everyday life - the communities in which we live, the physical environment, our recreation and leisure activities, our places of work and worship, our schools and our hospitals - benefit from the input of volunteers. But volunteers themselves also benefit as a result of their actions. Volunteering can provide a real sense of personal fulfilment and achievement, the opportunity to make friends and to establish new contacts, and the reward of developing new skills and mastering new challenges.
Although volunteering is essentially an individual activity, government has an important role to play in creating the conditions within which volunteering can flourish. This Volunteering Strategy - which draws upon exhaustive research and extensive consultation - sets out how the Scottish Executive will work with the voluntary, public and private sectors to provide opportunities so that anyone who wants to volunteer can do so readily; to ensure that volunteering is valued and recognised as a force for good and a force for change; and to ensure that volunteers are supported and encouraged in every possible way.
We have deliberately placed young people at the heart of our Strategy, through the development of a unique new national programme entitled Project Scotland. This will be underpinned by a renewed emphasis on dismantling the barriers to volunteering; to securing the long-term supply of volunteers; and to improving their everyday volunteering experience. We will not interfere where all is well, but we will take action where there are problems to be resolved, where we have a locus to intervene and where we can have a positive impact.
Volunteering makes all of our lives better. It is in all our interests to embed a robust culture of volunteering in Scotland. This Strategy will play a significant part in achieving that aim.
Margaret Curran, MSP
Minister for Communities
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