Christian Aid UK has become the first national development charity to be awarded the Investing in Volunteers (IiV) standard. I am a Lead Assessor for England with Volunteering England for the UK-wide quality standard ‘Investing in Volunteers’ (IiV). From May 2008 to June 2009 I led a team of UK-wide IiV assessors as Christian Aid UK worked their way towards achieving the IiV standard. My main contact was Marie Raffay Christian Aid’s Volunteering Manager (pictured below with myself and the prestigious IiV plaque).
Marie was great to work with as were the whole of Christian Aid staff and volunteers and they thoroughly deserved their IiV award. Once all the self-assessments had taken place, the development plans developed, evidenced produced, some new policies and procedures reviewed, revised and rewritten, CA were ready for their final assessment in February 2009 – the face-to-face interviews with IiV assessors across the UK for their volunteers, staff and trustees. The interviews took place over a three-week period in Feb 2009 (and went into March) during the worst snow storms to hit the UK for decades. So, after months of planning we devised something called ‘snow watch’ – checking the weather forecast every day to see how many volunteers might be able to make it for interviews in Wales, Scotland, England and Northern Ireland. All went pretty well as planned considering the amount of white stuff around. Christian Aid demonstrated excellent practice and importantly, always viewed achieving the IiV standard as a way of improving their already good practice for the present and the future – well done! From the volunteer’s testimonials, Christian Aid is great organisation in which to be a volunteer. The presentation of the IiV plaque took place at Christian Aid’s London HQ in June 2009 and involved some nibbles and a fair few bottles of Fair Trade sparkling wine (very nice).
In the picture opposite:
Stephen Drew Christian Aid volunteer
Sinead Whelan Head of Marketing and Operations (IiV Lead)
Marie Raffay Christian Aid Volunteering Manager
Dane Gould IiV Lead Assessor (England)
