An article examined the meanings of citizenship for older people, and identified two strands – volunteering as leisure and work, and volunteering as care and civic consciousness. Government views of volunteering as a route to paid work, as a panacea for society and therefore needing to be more 'work-like', were discordant with the perspectives of older volunteers.
Source: Mabel Lie, Susan Baines and Jane Wheelock, 'Citizenship, volunteering and active ageing', Social Policy and Administration, Volume 43 Number 7
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-Dec
A report summarized proceedings at a seminar organized to highlight the relevance of volunteering to those groups who were the furthest from the labour market, and its ability to enhance both employability and social cohesion.
Source: The Value of Volunteering, Economic and Social Research Council
Links: Report | ESRC press release
Date: 2009-Dec
A new book provided an overview of the concepts and theories that explained the nature of volunteering; reviewed the data on who volunteered and for what; examined key organizational issues for volunteer managers; and discussed the enduring challenges that volunteering faced – the need to change its image, the push for an inclusive approach, the danger of formalization, and the threat to its independence.
Source: Colin Rochester, Angela Ellis Paine and Steven Howlett, Volunteering and Society in the 21st Century, Palgrave Macmillan (01256 329242)
Links: Summary
Date: 2009-Nov
A report examined the difference between private sector and public sector attitudes to volunteering. In 2007, 36 per cent of employees, and approximately 70 per cent of FTSE 100 companies, had an employer-supported volunteering scheme available to them. The report said that all government departments should have some sort of scheme in place by 2011, and called for all civil servants to be given up to five days off per year to volunteer.
Source: Julia Neuberger, Employer-Supported Volunteering in the Civil Service, Cabinet Office (020 7261 8527)
Links: Report | Cabinet Office press release
Date: 2009-Jul
An article examined methodological issues associated with measuring social participation and volunteering at the local level.
Source: Jan Gilbertson and Ian Wilson, 'Measuring participation at a local level: be careful what you ask for!', People, Place & Policy, Volume 3 Issue 2
Links: Article
Date: 2009-Jul
A report examined the benefits of volunteering in the criminal justice system. Although volunteers already played a 'hugely important' role in often closed institutions, more could be done to tap into the potential of people who had experienced the system.
Source: Baroness Neuberger, Volunteering Across the Criminal Justice System, Cabinet Office (020 7261 8527)
Links: Report | Cabinet Office press release | NAVCA press release
Date: 2009-Mar