Scotland runs the risk of falling into a ”social recession”, the head of a national reform organisation has warned.
George Thomson, chief executive of Volunteer Development Scotland, warned radical action is needed if volunteers are to play the part expected of them in shaping the future of the country’s public services.
At the annual meeting in Stirling on Monday, Mr Thomson said public service providers and many organisations which involve volunteers are badly out of touch and need to change their attitudes to ”unpaid help”.
”Volunteers should play a central role in a new model for delivery of public service providers,” he said. ”They can add a unique dimension to a recipient’s experience of public services. Too often, however, they are taken for granted, misunderstood, undervalued and ill-recognised.
”A radical change in culture is required in public service providers and among volunteer-involving organisations.”
VDS is already in discussion with partners in NHS Tayside on a pilot project exploring how volunteers can enhance the provision of health care for the elderly.
”This work in Tayside is at an early stage, but it’s a great example of the progressive thinking that we need to adopt across Scotland,” Mr Thomson told The Courier. ”There are hundreds of examples in Tayside, Fife and Angus where volunteers are making a positive impact and enjoying a rewarding experience and we need to make sure that the conditions are in place for this to continue and to grow.
”Volunteering, in its traditional sense, is flat-lining at present. We see a disconnection between what volunteers want to gain from their experience and the opportunities that many organisations are offering. This is what needs to change.”
Susan Hughes, chief executive of business improvement company Dunfermline Delivers, said: ”Volunteers make a big difference in extending the scope of what we can deliver especially in the organisation of big events like the Bruce Festival.
”Dunfermline’s successful Operation Safe Night project also depends on volunteers, combining the efforts of street pastors, St John’s Ambulance and Neighbourhood Watch alongside ourselves and the police. It’s important that these people enjoy what they do and feel valued.”
Mr Thomson endorsed the experience in Dunfermline, saying: ”Great things happen when the aspirations of the volunteer is properly recognised. They must be treated as individuals and given the opportunity to grow and develop.
”People’s attitudes to citizenship are evolving. Our experience at VDS shows that people are moving away from traditional, formal ideas of volunteering to something less formal.”
He added that the country’s social framework must be rebuilt from the ground up and urged policy makers to create conditions that encourage people to see volunteering as something to aspire to.
Manager of Volunteer Centre Dundee Kathryn MacKenzie said: ”There have been a number of changes with public bodies, including the NHS, strategically recognising the need to make it easier to volunteer, but in many instance this has still not yet filtered through to changes on the ground.”