5 November 2009
Media release
New Plans For Volunteer Management
Volunteering New Zealand plans to lead a new strategy aimed at building a professional development programme for
volunteer management in New Zealand according to Alison Marshall, Chairperson of Volunteering NZ.
She announced this to mark International Volunteer Managers Day, Thursday 5 November.
“It is most appropriate that this important new initiative should be announced on this day as its aim is to identify and
provide education and other support programmes which will enable volunteer managers to carry out their roles more
effectively and gain much increased recognition for the value of their work,” said Ms Marshall.
“Recognising the value which well trained and skilled volunteer managers bring to the thousands of volunteer programmes
here and in other parts of the world is the aim of International Volunteer Managers Day”.
The impetus for the strategy came from a proposal put forward by a large number of the delegates at the Volunteering
Unleashed conference held in Wellington last week. They called for the development of a professional pathway for
volunteer managers.
They envisaged this would be achieved through appropriate training programmes and the provision of other resources which
volunteer managers might need to achieve a high degree of professionalism in their work. The group also proposed the
establishment of standards for volunteer services and managers which could be used for benchmarking.
Volunteering NZ is forming a small steering group to determine the next steps to be taken and it will also have
discussions with education organisations about the role they might play in assisting in achieving an effective education
programme for volunteer managers.
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