Being a Younger Person
Youth Volunteering
The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) define youth social action as ‘young people taking practical action in the service of others to create positive change’. They note that ‘Good meaningful social action is seen as being of double benefit to young people themselves and the community, be it volunteering for a charity, caring for someone in the community, providing peer support online or fundraising for a specific cause’. Social action might happen through a structured programme, or might be self-generated by young people themselves.
Young people are the future older volunteers. A good experience is therefore key to retaining them. Young people between the age 16 years and of 18 years can volunteer.
Young people have the following opportunities to volunteer which is a good starting point for Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprises(VCSE) to recruit young volunteers aged 16 years to 18 years
• Digital social action e.g. code clubs
• Structured programmes e.g. National Citizenship Service (NCS)
• Local clubs and services/ faith organisations e.g. youth clubs
• Social enterprises e.g. setting up businesses and enterprises
• Schools and education
• Public service e.g. libraries
• Outdoor and other activities e.g. sport clubs
• Federated organisations e.g. Young Farmers
• Training and development e.g. Duke of Edinburgh.
Generation Change note the categories suggested above are not exhaustive and can over-lap.
Preparing For Young Volunteers- Things To Think About:
Can you develop/adapt opportunities & roles that will appeal to young people?
Be aware that organisations have a duty of care towards the young person.
Can you offer bespoke, flexible age-appropriate roles?
Do you practice good volunteer management, supported through your policies & procedures?
Can you design and implement age-appropriate interview & induction processes?
Offer micro taster volunteering sessions.
Provide peer support/volunteer buddy.
Benefits For Young People
Improves connection to & awareness of community & social issues.
Offers relevant work experience, enhancing skills & career prospects with the relevant support.
Raises aspirations & promotion of personal resilience.
Builds new skills & networks.
Gives opportunity to meet a wider range of people.
Boosts their CV, UCAS and employability potential.
Top Tips
Involve them in decision making.
Supervise your young volunteers. If a young person over the age of 16 is engaged in any activity that is not under supervision your organisation may want to consider DBS check.
Give positive role models.
Have clear boundaries.
Show trust.
Help them access training opportunities.
Understand they may have other commitments.
Give support
Help build confidence.
Be friendly, welcoming & understanding.
Have health and safety and risk assessment plan in place for each volunteer.
Young volunteers should be covered by your organisation’s Public or Employers’ Liability insurance.
Young volunteers under 18, cannot work more than 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week unless there are special circumstances. Young people need 48 hours off in one go each week.
Young people are not usually allowed to work either between 10pm and 6am or between 11pm and 7am. (except in certain circumstances)
There should be 12 hours' rest between each working day.
There should be two days' weekly rest and a 30-minute in-work rest break when working longer than four and a half hours.
Think about inviting them to join your board of trustees if your constitution has provision for such involvements.
Scenario
Background: Reasons for volunteering – Fred and Sally had a desire to help others, because they can do something that they choose to do with their time (i.e where they volunteer/spend time is up to them), they are working on Duke of Edinburgh and volunteering is a required part of that.
Why choose volunteering at the library – Fred and Sally chose to work at the library as it is a calm place that they were familiar with. Also, they know they can easily get to the library.
Volunteer role: After school Fred and Sally helps with with library tasks such as shelving and displays. On Saturdays Fred and Sally helps with the Lego Club setting out welcoming children, encouraging building & play, packing up after.
Volunteer recruitment: The volunteer was pro-active and approached us.
[The library advertises for young volunteers to help us in the summer holidays, some of these volunteers stay on after the holidays and do their DofE volunteering here. Some young people are just looking for things to do, and approach us, sometimes we have young people who use the library very regularly and we ask them if they would like to volunteer over the summer.
Support provided: usually shorter volunteering shifts, an hour after school for D of E, or 1.5 hours on Saturday for lego club, staff are always around to supervise so the volunteer is never left without staff nearby. Saturday lego club works as a team of volunteers, so responsibility is not on just one young person – it is social as well as ‘work’.
Impact: The volunteer feels it has given them more confidence. They are better at being social with people they don’t know – library users and families who bring children to lego. They have made new friends – with other volunteers. They have gained experience of interacting with children and families which might help them with career prospects in the future. They enjoy spending time in the library. Volunteering is a nice way to spend free time, so they would recommend volunteering to other young people.
Useful Resources:
Young volunteers and safeguarding | NSPCC Learning
Involving-Young-People-as-volunteers.pdf