Policies

Please note that in all policy documents “the Hub” refers to the “Salisbury Community Hub for Ukraine”

Volunteer Strategy

Purpose: the Hub has been set up to provide help and support to Ukrainian refugees and their host families in Salisbury and the surrounding area. It offers:

  • A meeting place – where hosts and their Ukrainian guests can network with others at our weekly coffee morning;
  • information and advice – through the coffee morning, via our office, or from our website;
  • A listening ear – for anyone suffering from anxiety or stress, from The Listening Service;
  • Specific events and initiatives – which address the needs of our users.

The Hub is run solely by volunteers, (though may on occasion bring in paid experts for particular pieces of our work). Our volunteers are therefore critical to our success.

While our external focus as an organisation must be on our Ukrainian guests and the host families who we are here to help, our success thus depends on us putting equal care into the well-being of those who are here to provide that service, our volunteers. 

Strengths and Weaknesses: our major strength is the fund of goodwill within and beyond our organisation from people keen to help. This already shows in the effort made by our volunteers to get the organisation up in an extraordinarily short time. We are fortunate to have the resources and expertise of the Methodist church behind us, and established links to other organisations locally, and in Ukraine, Moldova and Poland. We are vulnerable in our dependence on some key players, and still need to put in place supporting structures that enable the Hub to reach a state of greater equilibrium, so that we can then be in a position to involve more of our potential volunteers. Work is needed to undertake research with our Ukrainian guests to ensure that we match our services to their needs, and to encourage more Ukrainians to become involved in the development and running of the Hub.   

Opportunities and threats: in these early days, the focus of our activity has been on providing support to hosts prior to the arrival of their Ukrainian guests, and to hosts and guests in the weeks following their arrival. Inevitably that will increasingly change as the small Ukrainian population in the area grows, and they become a more established part of the overall community. Our remit will be determined by their needs and wants – and may increasingly be run by Ukrainians for Ukrainians, or even cease altogether. This will inevitably affect the number of volunteers, how they are recruited and for what purpose. It is the role of the Steering Group to determine the nature of the organisation as things change. This Volunteer strategy will therefore be subject to review at least six monthly.

Volunteer tasks: the tasks of volunteers and any skills required will be established by the Management team in response to the activities and initiatives which are developed. A written description of each role, the nature of the role, and supporting information on induction, training and other support, will be signed off by the Steering Group. All volunteers will be made aware of who is taking responsibility for them and their area of activity, and to whom they should go if they have any concerns. There will be a designated person with overall responsibility for volunteers, who can also help them. In these early days of setting up the organisation, the Steering Group will regularly assess how well the organisation is working and what may need to be done to ensure volunteers are effective and feel valued.  

Recruitment: initially, any new volunteer role will be offered via the weekly email sent out to everyone on the mailing list (however, if a particular skill set is required, it may be necessary to look more widely). Work will be done to improve our recruitment approach to ensure we comply more fully with diversity and equality policies.

Training: as part of the induction process, all volunteers will have a discussion about training needs and an appropriate training response put in place. These will be subject to review at least annually. Because of the importance we attach to looking after our Ukrainian guests, a training session on cultural issues and safeguarding will be run every six months, and all volunteers will be encouraged to attend.

Supporting policies: volunteers will be made aware of these supporting policies at the time of their induction. They will all be available to view in the office and on the website

  • Safeguarding
  • Health and Safety
  • Equality, Diversity and Inclusion                                            
  • Lone Working
  • Data Protection and Privacy
  • Safer Recruiting

Impact: the role of volunteers will be celebrated on the website and in the regular emails sent out to everyone on the mailing list. Volunteers will be encouraged to contribute ideas to the running of the organisation, and will be invited at least annually to share their thoughts on all aspect of how we work – from our overall purpose and priorities to their own role and contribution.

Approved by the Steering Group:                           Last updated, June 2022