A new whole-of-Government action plan for supporting and recognising volunteers in the ACT community has been launched by the Minister for Community Services, Rachel Stephen-Smith.
The ACT Volunteering Statement Action Plan 2018–2021 was unveiled to coincide with National Volunteer Week, noting that Canberrans had the highest rate of volunteering in the country.
Ms Stephen-Smith said the Action Plan, based on the four principles of the ACT Government’s Volunteering Statement — that volunteering is recognised, valuable, diverse and supported — identifies initiatives and activities that will support individuals to volunteer, increase awareness of volunteering opportunities, and provide organisations with access to resources to ensure safe and sustainable volunteer involvement.
She said the Action Plan drew on the ideas of hundreds of people across the city and was developed in conjunction with Volunteering and Contact ACT.
“Among the initiatives to take place over the three years of the Action Plan, the ACT Government will develop a website to improve access to information on volunteering; Government and community volunteers will work more closely together through Volunteering and Contact ACT’s Network Forum; and Volunteering and Contact will also create more resources to support volunteers,” Ms Stephen-Smith said.
“Progress against the Action Plan will be reported on annually.”
The Minister said she hoped even more Canberrans would volunteer and experience all of the personal and community benefits it brought.
The 16-page Action Plan can be accessed at this PS News link.
