Rolled out to great fanfare it now seems to be moving from big to bogged. In fact, the situation in the UK now seems to be getting out of control:
First up as I blogged last week, Lord Nat Wei of Shoreditch hired to be one of the main advisers for the Program reduced his time because he found out after his appointment that it was a voluntary role and he could not afford the time or money to volunteer.
Secondly, this week Liverpool Council one of the four cities involved in the Pilot project pulled out after "the council learned in December that it would lose £100m in specialist grants from the government, many of which were allocated to charities and community groups tackling welfare issues, from worklessness to family breakdown. The Prime Minister of England continued to defend Big Society as he attacked Liverpool Council.
Thirdly Charity leaders are starting to speak out against the scheme. Dame Elizabeth Hoodless, a formidable figure in UK volunteering ha weighted in saying that the Government cuts are destroying the Big Society. She was backed up by others including Sir Stephen Bubb, head of the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations, who said Big Society "more soundbite than programme", causing "a tide of cynicism" and said it was "hitting the buffers".
Eight concerns I have about Big Society:
- do vast numbers of British people want to overnight suddenly start running, for no pay, services in their areas that for decades have been run for them? e.g. their libraries
- do we really want everyone to volunteer? There are some I don't believe should volunteer.
- a lot of people are no longer connected to one local area in today's modern world
- Cameron has said: "“I don’t believe that civil society springs up of its own accord” yet has massively cut so much infrastructure and support for volunteer management e.g. Volunteering England
- it means replacing paid staff with volunteers -morally dubious
- it ignores the huge numbers of volunteers already out there- will they be expected to volunteer more or will others really join them
- most telling was that a number of Politicians when asked how they volunteer cold not tell people (ala the cartoon below!)
- Big Society sounds awfully like the 21st Century version of Thatcher's Privatisation in disguise. A program detested by some Britons and welcomed as salvation by others
In the 70s and 80s there were many TV shows that imagined a future Britain in a state of collapse and bereft of services (The Guardians, The Changes, Noah's Castle). If they are not careful Big Society may actually hasten that in and not prevent it.
"do we really want everyone to volunteer? There are some I don't believe should volunteer. " Would love to see you expand on that?
ReplyDeleteI understand completely. Not everyone is suitable for the roles they wish to paricipate in , or have the necessary training or understanding of the responsibility they shoulder when undertaking roles in a voluntary capacity. Without experienced people in the field to guide these people and yes perhaps 'filter' and redirect, the experience can be negative for the volunteer themselves, the organisations they are involved with and the service users of that organisation. This can obviously have a variety of knock on effects including that person not wishing to volunteer at all in the future, whereas if they have received the correct advice and support from the outset their exeriences may have been all together different.
ReplyDelete"do we really want everyone to volunteer? There are some I don't believe should volunteer. "
ReplyDeleteWhy I so strongly agree with this statement:
* There are people who don't have time to volunteer, and when they try, they end up disappointing people rather than helping. Talk to any mentoring program manager about the damage done by people who volunteer to mentor a student and then constantly cancel.
* There are people who don't work well with others and can be toxic to other volunteers. I call them toxic volunteers. Others call them bullies. And I've seen volunteers and even managers of volunteers in tears over them. We don't need more of these people!
http://blogs.forumer.com/jcravens/44041/The+volunteer+as+bully+%3D+the+toxic+volunteer.html
* There are people who have agendas that don't comply with the missions of certain organizations. Do you want the person who supports public censorship staffing your local library? Do you want someone who supports and promotes dog fighting staffing your local dog shelter?
Right now, most managers of volunteers have the right to turn down anyone as a volunteer - would that right go away if schools, libraries, transit offices and other institutions are going to be staffed by volunteers?
I dont need to add much more to the last two responses.....i call toxic ones: "volunteers from hell"!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link Jayne!
Thanks Martin, for summarising the Big Society debacle so concisely. Imploding? Looks like it! I would add 'societal meltdown', especially with the funding cuts. Worst in my view is the arrogant overlooking of the ideology of volunteering (and Community Development, Social Enterprise, and Civil Society), turning volunteering into a tool of government and volunteers into worker ants.
ReplyDelete