Volunteerism cannot be forced upon us

By Ian Adderley / @IanAdderley

Last week Gordon Brown, in announcing a manifesto policy compelling all young people to complete 50 hours of ‘community service’ before the age of 19, stated:

“We can achieve a step change in the participation of young people in community service. It is my ambition to create a Britain in which there is a clear expectation that all young people will undertake some service to their community, and where community service will become a normal part of growing up”.

It is excellent to see that a commitment to increase volunteering will make it into the manifesto, particularly as alongside it is the development of an accreditation scheme – ensuring the work of young people is properly recognised.

However, the inclusion of the compulsory element does little to bring around a ‘step change in participation’. If anything, it damages it.

Making ‘volunteering’ compulsory (oxymoronic I know!) changes the whole ethos and spirit behind voluntary community involvement. Many young people currently volunteer in their community. They choose to give up their time to help others and usually this is greatly appreciated. It is seen that they are volunteering because they want to and as such it is valued. As soon as you bring in compulsory community service much of that value and appreciation associated with volunteering will vanish. Young people will no longer be helping because they want to, they’ll only be doing it because they have to – at least that’s what the arguments will be.

If we really want to achieve a ‘step change’ in volunteering, and create a society where ‘community service will become a normal part of growing up’ then we should be trying to inspire young people into community involvement.

We need a strong and well-recognised accreditation system for volunteering. We want young people to be able to have something to show for their work. But we also need to make volunteering easier. Compulsory community service fails to go to the heart of the issue. It fails to address and tackle the barriers to volunteering.

We need a manifesto commitment that goes across government departments. We need to ensure that the whole system is geared up to encouraging and recognising volunteering. We need to ensure schools are actively promoting community involvement and providing the opportunities for young people to get involved. The same can be said for the youth service as well. We need business to get on board and start to give due weight and credit to the voluntary work young people do when it comes to applying for jobs.

Further, why are we only targeting young people? We not only need more young people to get involved in their local communities but we need all people to get involved. We need a scheme that encourages people over 19 to get involved in their communities as well. Volunteering is an excellent way to develop peoples’ skills and is hugely beneficial.

Whilst it is positive to see a manifesto commitment on volunteering, the compulsory element needs to be removed.

Don’t force, inspire!