Looking Forward to the Year of the Volunteer

This past year has been an incredible one for Public Achievement.  Lows included the Education Minister, Catriona Ruane slashing her Community Relations Budget, and an overall downturn in the economy which is hitting the voluntary sector every bit as hard as any other sector of our economy.   These challenges were not insignificant, but fortunately for us the highs have been great, and have allowed Public Achievement to go some way toward avoiding the overall trend.

Specifically, the award of funding to the 'Driving Change' project, and the award of funding from the Atlantic Philanthropies for our WIMPS (Where Is My Public Servant?) project have given the organisation resources and profile that are unprecedented in our 11 year history. 

Driving Change is a partnership between Public Achievement, the fire services north and south of the Irish border, and a range of government departments - led by the northern Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety.  Public Achievement will employ the five project staff (three are already in place at the time of writing) at our new Armagh Office.  It has taken much longer than we had hoped to get this project up and running, but now that it is we will unroll technical training for fire fighters (led by secondees from the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service and Leitrim County Fire Service) and youth work training for volunteer fire fighters and local community members - who will in turn work with local groups of young people help improve driving and reduce road traffic collisions in border areas - where accident rates and fatalities are highest.

Through the WIMPS project we will be establishing 21 local WIMPS 'Crew' across Northern Ireland - local groups of teenagers who will cover local issues, engage with their local politicians and work collectively on a number of central campaigns.   A new site will be launched in the Spring in time for the May elections and referendum, and the year will be punctuated by events and campaigns - including a summer international youth media camp for young activists from conflict regions around the globe. 

Our 'Away from Violence' project has been having a terrific year too - with the launches of the Heritage Exhibitions - including a month in Belfast's City Hall.  Local groups continue to meet on a weekly basis and are increasingly working collaboratively on a cross-community basis on common themes and issues.  You will see a lot more of this work in the week and months ahead, along with the work of sister project - 'Breaking the Cycle'. 

The core theme of this coming year will be volunteers - who will increasingly become the backbone of all of our work.  Volunteer coaches will support the local WIMPS Crew, Away from Violence and Breaking the Cycle teams.  We will also train coaches from amongst the fire services north and south of the border.  This will create a broad network of locally based volunteers, recruited, trained and supported by Public Achievement staff.  It is vital to the sustainability of our 'civic youth work' model that volunteers should be at the forefront of our work.  It is also vital to the future of our society that as citizens, we all take responsibility for the creation and recreation of community and the building of a democratic fabric that prevents us from slipping back in the atavistic conflicts of the past,

The timing of this new emphasis in our work is fortuitous - as 2011 is also the European Year of the Volunteering and is the tenth anniversary of the 'International Year of Volunteering' - so around the world people will be focusing on the spirit of voluntarism and value that volunteers bring to our communities.  For us, volunteering is partly about service, but also about being an active citizen - contributing to community and society and building a more democratic and inclusive society.  In straightened financial times it is more vital than ever that we pay attention to what is happening within and between our communities.  I remain unconvinced by what motivates David Cameron's 'Big Society' ideal, but I know that communities with vibrant volunteerism are much healthier than those without.  There has now been more than two decades of research about the value of 'social capital' to our communities - and we know in Northern Ireland the importance of bridge builders - who can create links between our still fractured communities, across our sectarian, cultural and economic divides. 

2011 will also - I suspect - be a year of major challenge for the Northern Ireland Executive.  Though the first half of the year will be largely lost to the electioneering in the run-up to May's elections, immediately afterwards, they will have to deal with a series of very serious issues and economic choices - unprecedented in the short life-span of the Northern Ireland Assembly.  Again, I would argue, this political experiment has much greater chances of succeeding in an atmosphere where politicians and citizens work together than one in which citizens are treated merely as consumers - or worse - only attended to in order to secure valuable votes.

As you will see in our staff section - our team has been growing at a terrific rate!  We have a fabulous team and although we said goodbye to some great staff members in 2010, we have the largest and strongest team in our history.  Indeed most of our former staff members are now working with us as volunteers - either on our Board or as local coaches!

If you've been thinking about volunteering - come and talk to us - we have some very exciting opportunities and training for volunteers this year, whether your interest is road safety, media and politics, or working with young people in their communities.  Have a great 2011 - and come and spend some of it with us.