{"id":11259,"date":"2016-06-21T15:38:59","date_gmt":"2016-06-21T14:38:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vanel.org.uk\/va\/?p=11259"},"modified":"2016-06-21T15:38:59","modified_gmt":"2016-06-21T14:38:59","slug":"supporting-volunteers-award-revisited","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/vanel.org.uk\/va\/2016\/06\/supporting-volunteers-award-revisited\/","title":{"rendered":"Supporting Volunteers Award revisited"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Supporting Volunteers Award (SVA)<\/strong> was developed by VANEL<\/strong> a few years ago in response to demand from volunteers and from volunteer hosting organisations.\u00a0 It\u2019s an easy way for everyone to understand the level of competence and support that a host organisation offers to its volunteers.\u00a0 It\u2019s a Quality Award but without the costs or complexity normally associated with national awards and certifications.<\/p>\n

If an organisation has SVA level 1 or 2, new volunteers will be able to quickly understand what they can expect from that organisation when they arrive.\u00a0 And organisations themselves can proudly explain to staff, volunteers, trustees, partners, funders and others what their SVA accreditation demonstrates.<\/p>\n

Over the past few years, scores of local charities and voluntary or community organisations across both North East Lincolnshire and North Lincolnshire have achieved level 1 of SVA, with a dozen or more achieving level 2.\u00a0 VANEL created SVA and manage the award, but increasingly the award is being used further afield than North East Lincolnshire.\u00a0 VANL in Scunthorpe for example accredit SVA in North Lincolnshire.<\/p>\n

For 2016 the scheme has been reworked to react to changes in need, and only in the past month our latest SVA 2 awarded organisation was announced (the Navigo Dementia Engagement Project).\u00a0 So if your organisation is already at SVA level 1, maybe now is the time to start working towards level 2.\u00a0 And if you regularly host volunteers but haven\u2019t yet started out on SVA at all, why not think about SVA level 1 accreditation.<\/p>\n

The Level 1 Award<\/strong> provides a basic framework for any organisation that involves volunteers. Each standard within Level 1 enables an organisation to demonstrate that it takes the safety and development of its volunteers very seriously, and has all relevant policies and procedures in place.<\/p>\n

The Level 2 Award<\/strong> takes things further and allows organisations that involve volunteers to demonstrate enhanced systems and procedures that ensure the relationship between volunteers and their organisation is mutually beneficial and progressive. Volunteers and volunteer managers will be appropriately trained to undertake their roles, and will be willing to share best practice with others.<\/p>\n

At both levels there is a registration process, a process of self-assessment and then assessment checking from VANEL, and at level 2 we involve your volunteers more directly through a focus group to check the \u2018volunteer experience\u2019 first hand.<\/p>\n

The Supporting Volunteers Award scheme is self-financing so there are costs involved in accreditation, but these are kept to the minimum and don\u2019t compare to the normal costs associated with national schemes!\u00a0 Fees start at \u00a375 at SVA level 1 and the maximum fee is \u00a3200 for non-members at level 2.<\/p>\n

Further details of SVA are currently being updated on the VANEL website or you can speak to us directly for more details or to arrange to start the process (or move up to level 2).\u00a0 Contact Karl Elliott or Jacky Birkett at VANEL (01472 231123 or volunteer@vanel.org.uk<\/a>) for more information.<\/p>\n\n

\n <\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We recently awarded the Dementia Engagement Project their SVA level 2 accreditation for their work with volunteers. Read on for a full update of what the Supporting Volunteers Award is and how to get involved or update your accreditation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"xn-wppe-expiration":[],"xn-wppe-expiration-action":[],"xn-wppe-expiration-prefix":[],"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[11,152],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3cThd-2VB","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/vanel.org.uk\/va\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11259"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/vanel.org.uk\/va\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/vanel.org.uk\/va\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/vanel.org.uk\/va\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/vanel.org.uk\/va\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11259"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/vanel.org.uk\/va\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11260,"href":"http:\/\/vanel.org.uk\/va\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11259\/revisions\/11260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/vanel.org.uk\/va\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/vanel.org.uk\/va\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/vanel.org.uk\/va\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}