Community Services Target Diverse Backgrounds to Boost Volunteer Numbers

Community services are responding to a drop in volunteer numbers by promoting Home and Community Care (HACC) services who rely on volunteers to people from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

A new resource was launched on the 3rd February by Bankstown Area Multicultural Network Inc. (BAMN), titled Enriching HACC Services: The Kit. It is a step by step guide for community services on how to recruit, retain and manage volunteers from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. It has been specifically written for services in the South West Sydney region.

The resource highlights that the volunteer landscape is significantly shifting which is having a major impact on volunteer dependant services.

‘Many services are struggling to find adequate numbers of people willing to regularly commit to volunteering. These services, providing support to the elderly, people with disabilities and carers need to find new and creative ways to adapt to the changing needs of potential volunteers,’ says Debbie Giacomin, Multicultural Access Worker, BAMN.

Researchers Caroline Romeo, BAMN and Felicity Zadro, Zadro Communications found that having volunteers from diverse cultural backgrounds not only boosts numbers, encourages service provision in other languages and allows the service to be reflective of local communities, it has other important ramifications.

‘Services with volunteers from diverse backgrounds are generally more open to new ideas and ways of doing things. Services tell us that with volunteers from diverse backgrounds everyone has a deep appreciation for each other’s experiences and a strong sense of community and family develops. It enriches everyone’s lives,’ says Romeo.

Traditional sources of volunteers are disappearing in a shifting cultural landscape.

‘Increasing demands on grandparents, people working past traditional retirement age, the advent of mutual obligation and migrants needing to re-skill are having a major impact on the pool of volunteers,’ says Giacomin.

The findings of Enriching HACC Services: The Kit are based on the search for best practice in managing volunteers across a number of services and regions. The results centre on the need for collaboration, new ways of doing things and adapting to the current needs of potential volunteers, instead of volunteers adapting to services.

People with experience and examples of managing volunteers from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds are invited to share their stories at swshaccdo@bamn.org.au

The Kit is available for download in 3 parts below.