Today I attended a YMCA youth conference in Northamptonshire in a curious attempt to network with other organisations in the county and promote my community film festival Film Northants. And although I was a little dubious that there may be too much talk about statutory bodies (that's council services to most people), and indeed the talks focused perhaps a little too heavily on these, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was a really useful event and I made lots of great contacts and inadvertently picked up tips on how to get our little grassroots organisation recognised by other voluntary groups. There was however a lot of talk about 'engagement', 'participation' and the the ConDemnation's (ConLib coalition) favourite new fad The Big Society.
And like the vicar at my old middle school used to say in his weekly assembly "Now that got me thinking..."
There is an increasing wave of thought that people, rather than government, ought to be running their communties, councils, police forces and schools, and we should all just dig in and volunteer our services for free. In principle I agree that this is a great, if not somewhat misguided and idealistic, approach but I do think it misses the point. Yes people do get involved in community groups, charities and the voluntary sector to achieve a sense of 'making a difference' and giving something back to the community, but there are many other less altruistic motivations as well and so there should be.
Take for instance my own involvement in Ghanaian charity FREED UK and my founding/running of Film Northants. My volunteering for both these groups has been either accidentally or socially motivated. And by socially I don't mean a sense of 'social action' as described in the ConDemnation's policy on Big Society, but the fact that in these groups I mix with friends and do things that I enjoy and have a genuine interest in - they are pretty much leisure activities. And I think that is crucial to getting people engaged in volunteering.
Volunteering is not necessarily about about doing good but it is about doing something you enjoy with friends, that you feel passionate about. I used to play netball in a team as a hobby and now I run a film festival with a team of friends, in my eyes as a hobby. This is what all this talk of Big Society is missing. It all sounds a bit do-gooding and window twitching, and not enough about volunteering actually being a fun, social activity.
Film Northants is something that I do because I love film and I am curious about local talent. To me it is not a case of volunteering my time selflessly, it is about selfishly doing something I want to do.
And in all honesty my involvement in FREED UK came about because I fancied a trip to Ghana as I thought it would look great on my journalism CV, would be an exciting experience and I would get a good tan. Since then I have made friends at the charity and again it has become a social activity. At the meetings we chat and catch up, we go for lunch and we are invited to one another's weddings etc. Fundamentally it is not a chore and not a job.
In a similar vein, but on a slight tangent, my friends recently laughed at me for attending a resident's meeting. Admittedly I was the youngest person by about 30 years, but I went in essence because I am nosy and I wanted to know what was happening in my little area.
For those people thinking about embarking on a mission to join a charity or volunteer themselves, I would say don't. You need to fall into it almost by chance. I know from experience that when I set out to be a 'volunteer' and decided Victim Support sounded ok it never really worked for me. A great organisation, but for me it was too much paperwork and I didn't always agree with the way they ran things. I now feel guilty that they spent money training me and I only lasted 12 months.
Setting out to be a volunteer can often be short lived. Instead it may be better to get involved gradually maybe via a friend or set up something yourself.
And volunteering is such a bad word anyway, as it has connotations of onerous tasks and sickening worthiness, perhaps it should be renamed.... any suggestions?
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