THE federal government says it is ahead of schedule in developing its National Volunteering Strategy, original set for release in 2011.
The National Volunteering Strategy, which is being developed by Canberra’s Social Inclusion initiative, aims to identify key barriers to volunteering and develop appropriate policy responses to address them.
“Much of the regulatory environment that governs volunteering is the responsibility of state and territory governments, and the development of the National Volunteering Strategy will be an opportunity to work together to improve harmonisation and coordination of regulations, where these issues create barriers to volunteering,” a Social Inclusion initiative report says.
According to the research undertaken so far, Australia’s volunteering landscape has changed and the government needs to introduce a strategy to overcome the challenges associated with that.
“An aging population and changing patterns of volunteering pose a challenge for organisations to recruit and retain volunteers,” the report says.
“The traditional volunteer who makes a long-term and regular commitment to a single organisation is starting to give way to an increase in volunteers who favour episodic and project-based activities.”
