Following the profound impact of COVID-19 on volunteering, Volunteering Australia is running an advocacy campaign to reinvigorate volunteering.
The goals of the campaign are to:
- Engage the support of the Australian Government to partner with the sector to reinvigorate volunteering as Australia adapts to living with COVID-19.
- Secure the Australian Government’s commitment to a more strategic, whole-of-government and national approach to volunteering, recognising the crucial role that volunteering plays to social cohesion and the wellbeing of Australians.
Key elements of the campaign are:
1. Engagement and relationship-building
- We are engaging with decision-makers and influencers inside and outside of government, to build an understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on volunteering and its role in Australia’s recovery
2. Growing the evidence base
- Our research agenda seeks to understand the impact of COVID-19 on volunteering, ongoing trends and how best the volunteering sector might respond. This research included commissioning ANU to analyse the experience of volunteers during COVID-19 and our Re-engaging Volunteers and COVID-19 Survey.
3. Policy development and promotion
- Drawing on expertise from across the volunteering sector, we are developing policies to help reinvigorate volunteering. Our 2021/22 Pre-Budget Submission includes proposals for a Reinvigorating Volunteering Action Plan.
4. Communications activity
- We are communicating with stakeholders to raise awareness and to bring in the lived experiences of volunteers and volunteer managers.
For further information or if you would like to share your story of how COVID-19 has impacted volunteering, please contact policy@volunteeringaustralia.org.
