The Empowering Communities partnership have put on some exciting events coming up over the next quarter. But we would like to take this opportunity, as we launch the programme, to share information about the volunteer passport:
You can access the EC partnership events calendar here. And you can see recordings of some of our recent events here.
Norfolk Volunteer Passport
The Norfolk Volunteer Passport launched in autumn 2021 and is delivered through a partnership between Voluntary Norfolk and Adult Learning. Sessions continue to be run online, and to date we have had 37 volunteers come through the programme. The next course has commenced today (20th April 2022).
The Passport provides volunteers with training that equips them with the skills, confidence, and knowledge to volunteer; volunteers can join a pool of ‘passported’ volunteers able to be called on to fill urgent, short-term roles as and when they come up and enables volunteers to move easily between voluntary organisations.
The free six-week training course, which all volunteers wishing to get a volunteer passport must complete, takes approximately 2.5hrs per week and covers the key areas volunteers need to know about: everything from health & safety to safeguarding adults and children.
Once volunteers have successfully completed the training, Voluntary Norfolk obtains suitable references for the volunteers and registers them on the Volunteer passport system, this means that other voluntary organisations, community groups and charities can then request support from volunteer passport holders alleviating some of the paperwork involved in finding volunteers.
The scheme could also be a great way to keep your current volunteers engaged in volunteering throughout the year, we know it can be difficult to retain volunteers if you only need them on an occasional basis; volunteers can access the training sessions without having to commit to being a passport holder, so you can use this as a way to enable volunteer refresher training and upskill your volunteers, helping them to feel valued and supporting retention.
Here’s what one Norfolk Volunteer Passport learner said:
‘It helped me to identify where I want to focus my skills and experience within a volunteering role, and where I feel I could be of most use to my local community. I have also gained the confidence to understand that I have a lot to offer in a volunteering role. Thank you for letting me participate in this course. It taught me structure, to value myself as an individual, and what I could bring to an organisation. A very positive and beneficial course and a great tutor!!’
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