As National Volunteers Week gets underway, the Council has published its collaborative strategy to support volunteering efforts and drive social integration across the borough.
Building on the efforts of voluntary, community, and faith sectors to shield and support Newham residents through the pandemic, the strategy focuses on maximising the impact of volunteering on organisations, communities, and volunteers themselves.
Ranging from Mutual Aiders to Faith Groups, the voluntary sector and Active Newham, the strategy sets out a vision for improving volunteering in all settings and building on the ground-breaking efforts of volunteers during the pandemic.
The strategy sets out the Council’s goals to transform the sector by recognising, celebrating, training, and signposting opportunities to volunteer, investing in the organisations and resources that volunteers need, and focusing on driving up participation in the borough.
It will also work closely with the Council’s social integration strategy to place volunteering at the heart of efforts to build a more cohesive, diverse, and integrated Newham.
Councillor Rohit K Dasgupta, Commissioner for Social Integration and Equalities, said:
“Residents who volunteered to help their communities in the last 12 months quite literally saved lives. People who gave just a few hours of their time were part of an effort that ultimately delivered tens of thousands of hot meals, befriending calls, and advice sessions to their fellow residents who were struggling.
“Our strategy celebrates those contributions and sets out a bold agenda for this Council to champion volunteering as a means of transforming life and communities in the borough. We co-created this strategy alongside volunteers and we will deliver it in the same way – together, as one community, because We Are Newham.”