This Volunteering Policy Implementation Guide has been produced by the Organizational Development Department of the secretariat as a resource for National Societies reviewing the issue of volunteers and volunteering. One very concrete application of the Guide will be for National Societies seeking to develop their own volunteering policies in line with the 1999 Federation Volunteering Policy (see Annex 1).
The Guide should however be seen as having wider value; firstly in the generic approach it suggests for the adoption of any policy within a National Society, and secondly through the wider questions that it raises around the subject of volunteering. In this it is a part of the secretariat Volunteering Review Project; an ongoing secretariat project to understand and suggest responses to the apparent decline in the numbers of members and volunteers in the Movement.
The Guide has been developed from a draft written for the Organizational Development Department. This draft was then revised in the light of comments from volunteers and managers from a number of National Societies. I would like to express my thanks for this constructive comment and criticism. If you have any further comments on this Guide, please send them to the Senior Officer for Volunteering in the Organizational Development Department.