Diversity of volunteering practices and contexts: the case for new approaches.

The diverse volunteering practices and contexts across the Benevolent Society, NSW Rural Fire Service, St Vincent de Paul Society and Australian Catholic University have challenged all four organisations to address questions of the changing nature of volunteering, the need for new pathways into and within the different organisations and ways of enhancing the volunteer capacity of the volunteers and the organisations. The three-year project, called "V21 - Enhancing volunteering for the 21st century", has been engaged in issues of common language, understanding the organisational and social contexts and examining how volunteer capacity contributes to the individual's, organisation's, and community's social capital. The paper reports upon the diversity across the organisations and issues to be addressed in the development of new frameworks for the organisations to effectively enhance their volunteer capacities. The project is developing the capacity of each of the organisations through critique of practice, mutual learning, and skills transfer.

Whose focus? The case for new forms of partnerships which enhance community and university capacity.

Three community organisations - the NSW Rural Fire Service, St Vincent de Paul Society, and the Benevolent Society - and the Australian Catholic University are partners in a three-year research project V21, Enhancing volunteer capacity for the 21st century. Key to this project is the need to examine how the organisations develop their ability to work as partners and learn from each other in ways which enhance each other's capacities. This has led to a form of scholarship which respects the insights and expertise of all members and challenges the university to be a genuine site of engaged citizenship. The changing nature of communities and volunteering calls for new forms of communication and collaboration between the organisations themselves as well as with the community, particularly for rural and remote areas . This paper reports upon the procedures which have been employed in the project to ensure that approaches and outcomes reflect the priorities of all the partners. The implications of this project for the the community and higher education sectors are also presented.

Community sector partnerships - Critique of practice and mutual learning.’

Three community organisations - the NSW Rural Fire Service, the St Vincent de Paul Society, and The Benevolent Society - and the Australian Catholic University are partners in a three-year research project called “V21 - Enhancing volunteering for the 21st century.” The project was initiated to address the questions of the changing nature of volunteering, the need for new pathways into and within the different organisations and ways of enhancing the volunteer capacity of the volunteers and the organisations.

Challenges in developing an effective partnership have included the diverse organisational and social contexts of each organisation and the different language usage across organisations. Early in the project, the partner organisations recognised the need to examine how they might best develop their ability to work as partners and to learn from each other in ways that enhanced each other's capacities. Critique of the partnering process was established as a regular project activity. This has led to a form of scholarship which respects the insights and expertise of all members and challenges all four organisations to genuine engaged citizenship. The changing nature of communities and volunteering calls for new forms of communication and collaboration between the organisations themselves as well as with the community. The project is developing the capacity of each of the organisations through critique of practice, mutual learning, and skills transfer. The implications of this project for the community and higher education sectors are also presented.

Frameworks for community sector partnership and engagement.

Three community organisations, NSW Rural Fire Service, The Benevolent Society, and St Vincent de Paul Society, and the Australian Catholic University are partners in a three year research project titled “V21 – Enhancing volunteering for the 21st century.” This project was initiated to address the questions of the changing nature of volunteering, the need for new pathways into and within the different organisations and ways of enhancing the volunteer capacity of the volunteers and the organisations. The project has engaged the four organisations in understanding the organisational and societal contexts in which volunteers operate, and the critical issues to be addressed in the development of new frameworks for these and other organisations aiming to effectively enhance their volunteer capacities.

Key to this project is the need to examine how three community organisations develop their ability to work as partners and learn from each other in ways that enhance each other’s capacities. This has led to a form of scholarship and an approach to research that respects the insights and expertise of all members and challenges all four organisations to genuine engaged citizenship.

The changing nature of communities and volunteering calls for new forms of communication and collaboration between the organisations themselves as well as with community, particularly for rural and remote areas. The project is developing the capacity of each of the organisations through critique of practice, mutual learning and skills transfer. The implications of this project for the community and higher education sectors are also presented.