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Volunteer Centres Ireland recently held its 4th annual members’ conference in Athlone. The two day conference comes in the wake of John Curran T.D. Minister of State in the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs and with responsibility for volunteering’ announcement, of a new policy to support the future funding of the network of volunteer centres in Ireland.
The policy followed a review in 2008 of a three-year pilot scheme to fund volunteer centres. Minister Curran has also launched a series of measures to support the network of centres into the future.
The conference brought together for the first time, chairpersons, managers, staff and volunteers of volunteer centres to introduce them to key aspects of the new policy measures such as the Quality Standards document developed by VCI and the introduction of a peer review process. These mechanisms will help to establish a base level of quality service provided by volunteer centres and will help to maximise the impact of local volunteer centres in supporting and developing volunteering opportunities locally.
The policy represents a new departure for Volunteer Centres Ireland and the department. Dr Yvonne McKenna welcomed the new policy document, “Volunteering benefits the individual volunteer as well as the wider community in which it takes place. Since the beginning of this year, we have witnessed an increase of more than 100 per cent in the number of people registering to volunteer via their local volunteer centre. Now, more than ever, it is vital that Ireland responds to the desire by its citizens to become active in their community. We welcome the Department’s policy as a reflection of its commitment to supporting and developing volunteering in Ireland and look forward to working with them to maximise the impact of volunteer centres locally.
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