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Volunteering Strategy
ANNEX C Implementing the Strategy: roles and responsibilities
Scottish Executive
1. The Volunteering Strategy provides direction for Scottish Executive policy on volunteering. This will be supported by the development of monitoring and evaluation mechanisms for the long term to ensure Scottish Executive interventions in the volunteering market help create optimum conditions for that market to flourish.
2. This approach reflects the views expressed by stakeholders in the consultation. While stakeholders clearly support government intervention and actions in the field of volunteering, many believe that it would be counterproductive for government to be at the fore in calling for people to volunteer. Rather, the Scottish Executive should be a facilitator and enabler to achieve the vision for volunteering. Areas of work outlined in this document indicate how this will be taken forward over the next five years.
3. Within the Scottish Executive, the Voluntary Issues Unit will take the lead on implementing the Strategy. This will involve engaging directly with key volunteering organisations and wider stakeholders, as well as taking forward work across Scottish Executive Departments and Agencies. The Voluntary Issues Unit will provide progress reports to Ministers annually. Scottish Executive analysts will play a role in providing professional direction for research, monitoring and evaluation and other evidence based advice and intelligence, drawing on expertise from the wider research community and volunteering sector.
Volunteer Development Scotland and the national Volunteer Centre network
4. A wide range of stakeholders in the voluntary, public and private sectors will play a role in achieving the overall aim of embedding a robust culture of volunteering in Scotland. In addition to the Scottish Executive and Project Scotland, the key players to take forward this Strategy will be those infrastructure organisations which are directly funded by the Scottish Executive, namely VDS and the national network of Volunteer Centres.
5. These organisations are core funded to promote, support and develop volunteering. VDS works at a national level, with a remit to represent the volunteering sector and act as a channel of communication between the sector and key strategic interests such as the Scottish Executive. It provides infrastructure support, which includes promoting best practice in volunteering, for example through developing resources, training and guidance. Volunteer Centres work at local authority level the length and breadth of Scotland, acting as one-stop shops providing information, guidance and support to enable people from all walks of life to volunteer. Their functions include working with volunteer involving organisations in the public and voluntary sectors to improve the practice of those working with volunteers. As such, VDS and the Volunteer Centre network are best placed to work closely with the Scottish Executive, in partnership with other intermediary voluntary organisations, in taking forward many elements of the Strategy.
6. The Scottish Executive will work with VDS and the Volunteer Centre network to ensure their role is developed to support the Strategy within the limits of current Scottish Executive resourcing. Additional resources will be assigned to Project Scotland.
Role of the wider volunteering sector
7. The Scottish Executive, VDS and the Volunteer Centre network will also engage with stakeholders from the voluntary, public and private sectors to take forward work for each strand of the Strategy. Through the consultation process, stakeholders proposed solutions to many of the problems in supply and demand of volunteers. These, as well as the outcomes of the broader research, will be taken into account in taking work forward. In the longer term, developments will reflect learning through the monitoring, evaluation, research and development strand of the Strategy.
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