Activities
The following activities are suggestions to further
explore the issues raised by voluntary matters 3 in
group discussions or training
sessions.
You may choose to do the activities with other people
from your organisation or with people
from a range of organisations. Contact your local Volunteer
Bureau or Council for Voluntary Service
to see if there is already a group forum in your area.
If not, set one up!
Watching the Living Dangerously programme
in a group will raise a number of points. Below are
other suggestions to get more out of a group session.
Discuss
In a group, discuss whether you agree with the idea
that the voluntary sector has lost its innovative
edge in recent years and become overly concerned
with avoiding risk. Spend about 15 minutes discussing
this.
As a group discuss the view that working with
volunteers is more risky than working with paid staff.
Spend about 15 minutes talking about this.
Try
In groups of four for five, consider the idea that
taking risks can be exciting and think
about what exciting risks you offer your volunteers.
Do this for about thirty minutes.
On your own, think of the worst things that
could go wrong on a volunteer placement with
your organisation and make notes. Note down what would
be so bad about each issue, what effect that would have
on you, the volunteer, the users or clients, and the
organisation. Then assess the probability
of the worst happening. How could you reduce
the risk, and, if it did happen, how could
you minimise the damage? Spend about
twenty five minutes on this and spend twenty minutes
discussing the issues with a partner.
In pairs, look at the risks taken in your organisations
and consider whose risks they are. Stopping others from
taking risks can be seen as taking due care,
but it can also be seen as being controlling
and disempowering. Spend about thirty minutes
on this.
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Where to now?
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- Try doing the scenario
in a group, to explore how you could deal with
a volunteer's concern about risk
- Tell us how you got on with the activities
in the discussion
- Check transmission details of the Living
Dangerously TV
programme or order
the video
- Check out weblinks and publications in resources
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