Introduction to Doing volunteering 'well'

Among other marginalised communities, many people who have experienced forced migration are not privileged with the same resources and rights as most UK-born nationals enjoy, making it harder to contribute as a volunteer and harder to access the benefits of undertaking volunteering. Many newcomers also encounter support offered by other volunteers, which may be unexpected or not well understood in this context.

Volunteering as a western concept is built for, relies on, and mostly rewards, people who have resources such as ‘free time’, access to certain forms of knowledge, and rights such as consistent personal agency, personal safety, and freedom of movement.

Volunteering is socially and culturally specific. It means different things to different people, according to their social, cultural, historical and political positions. However, there is one dominant construct of volunteering, which has emerged from a specifically Western setting. Individuals who are potential volunteers but who do not conform to, or identify with, this dominant construct can be inadvertently excluded from volunteering. For more information, we recommend reading: Lukka, P. and Ellis, A. (2001) Voluntary Action 3(3): 87-109 ‘An exclusive construct? Exploring different cultural concepts of volunteering’

Understanding volunteering as actions undertaken through ‘free will’ in ‘free time’ can be less relevant for people with a forced migration background, where:

• voluntary experience is essential to access training and paid work, and significant in creating social connections
• not everyone has the opportunity to work legally or to participate in democracy, or the resources to play an active part in the community
• discrimination affects the opportunities, knowledge, services health, wealth and relationships that are accessible, and pushes marginalised communities to develop informal support to meet their needs
• volunteering can cost the volunteer financially, emotionally, and in other ways.

If you are running a volunteering programme, consider exploring how volunteering might be understood by your volunteers and by your client group, and their motivations for volunteering or accepting the support of a volunteer.

When people can access healthy opportunities to contribute, it can have positive and long reaching impact for whole communities and for almost every aspect of a person’s wellbeing. However, it's not easy to do this well. Volunteering can be problematic, harmful and counterproductive if undertaken without creating accessible, inclusive and psychologically safer cultures, and without recognising the power dynamics involved.

Despite the potentially negative consequences, many people want to give time, knowledge and resource to causes, communities, strangers and friends - for a wide a variety of motivations and benefits. Newcomers to our communities, and especially those who have experienced forced migration, often have a particular desire and impetus to connect, contribute, build relationships, relevant experience, or apply their expertise in a local context.