Step up to Serve: A real chance to support young people’s volunteering

Today sees the launch of a new campaign to encourage youth social action. Led by the indomitable Julia Cleverdon and Amanda Jordan, the Campaign for Youth Social Action, or Step up to Serve as it is now to be known, aims to engage a new generation of young people aged 10 to 20 in the service of others. Another new campaign, I hear you say. We need that like the proverbial hole in the head. Well, while I would usually be the first to agree, there is a chance that this time things might be different.

The volunteering world has been plagued in recent years by a virulent strain of ‘initiativitis’. I have lost count of the number of conversations I have had with shadow charity ministers who, while in opposition, have pledged to stamp out ‘vanity projects’, only to succumb to the allure of the ‘shiny new’ upon assuming office. So we have had the nonsense of perfectly good and effective organisations being de-funded in place of new groups doing virtually identical things, with all the waste of intellectual and human capital that this entails.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not arguing against innovation and new thinking; quite the contrary. The volunteering movement after all is built on the desire of individuals to experiment and change things for the better. What was it that the great social anthropologist Margaret Mead said? Something along the lines of never doubting the capacity of a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens to change the world, as in the end it is the only thing that ever has. Throughout our history most important social change – votes for women, the abolition of slavery, the response to the HIV/Aids pandemic – has been brought about by individuals, by volunteers, who have been prepared to take risks and push boundaries.

Change and experimentation is the lifeblood of our movement and should be cherished at all costs. But so too should continuity and experience, knowledge and relationships, those rather under-rated and out-moded virtues that help make things happen. We need the systems and institutions at local and national level which understand how volunteering works and which have the contacts and networks to support and nurture the fledgling ambitions and aspirations of the social entrepreneur. And it is in this sense that my heart sinks when I hear of the closure of another volunteer centre or well-regarded volunteering programme, followed the next day by government support for yet another new initiative which looks uncannily similar to the ones which have just gone under.

So why should this new campaign be any different? Well, for two reasons I believe. First, the campaign was launched this week with full cross-party endorsement, which gives hope that whatever the outcome of the next election, government support will be retained. Julia and Amanda should be applauded in pulling off this coup, helped in no small part by the strong and committed leadership provided by The Prince of Wales. Perhaps, in the sphere of youth social action at least, we might be seeing the beginning of the end of the vanity project. Second, we have been promised that Step up to Serve has no ambitions to morph into another new delivery body (yes, yes, we’ve heard that many times before, I know) but will remain a tightly-focused campaigning force, with a finite lifespan, working to bring the private, educational and voluntary sectors together to make the change in social action for young people we all hope to see. Early days of course, but there is enough which feels different about this venture to encourage NCVO to give it its wholehearted backing and to join others in pledging our support. I would urge you also to take a good look and see what you can do to help.

In support of the Campaign for Youth Social Action NCVO is pledging:

To develop good practice guidance that will support organisations to engage young people. The guidance will provide practical tips, bringing together existing good practice and drawing on the learning from successful projects and approaches with the overall aim of reducing barriers and overcoming challenges to engaging young people in social action.

To pilot greater opportunities for young people to engage their talents and energies in volunteering relationships and activities with older residents in care homes, through the Volunteering in Care Homes Project, funded by the Department of Health. We shall disseminate the evidence of their contributions to enhancing the residents’ quality of life and celebrate these achievements.