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DVSC is part of Third Sector Support Wales and our shared vision is for a future where the third sector and volunteering thrive across Wales, improving wellbeing for all. This includes a commitment to recognising youth volunteering and promoting good practice to enable organisations to effectively involve young people in volunteering and social action. We do this through our #DenbighshireVolunteers Third Sector network where we meet as peers to share tips, expertise and good practice. We also have information sheets about best practice in volunteering in our advice and guidance section of our website.
We have been listening… Over the last 18 months Third Sector Support Wales has gathered insight from young people and third sector organisations, and as a result we are refreshing the ways in which we reward and celebrate volunteering and how we enable volunteer-involving organisations to continuously improve their practices. This fresh approach will enable broader diversity of volunteering to be promoted, recognised and celebrated under the brand of DenbighshireVolunteers/net/GetInvolved as the local entry point to  'Volunteering Wales'.
New resources to improve how you develop and promote youth volunteering A range of new resources are available to support the development and promotion of youth volunteering in Wales, which include;
New volunteer management system Third Sector Support Wales has launched a new volunteering digital platform which has been developed with young volunteers' feedback. DenbighshireVolunteers.net/GetInvolved is the way that #DenbighshireVolunteers can access this digital platform.
The new platform enables volunteers of all ages to;
Search for volunteering opportunities and make contact with organisations quickly and easily
Enable volunteers to log their hours and receive digital achievement badges and downloadable certificates
Use the mobile friendly site on smart devices, such as mobile phones.
New way of recognising volunteering
The new digital achievement badges for volunteering will mark milestones of hours achieved at 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1000. Volunteers can sign up here and can start logging their hours, as long as the organisation they volunteer with is registered on the system.
In addition, volunteers and their host organisations will be able to print a certificate to evidence their volunteering activity at any point on their volunteering journey, which might be useful for a university or job interview, or local celebrations of volunteering.
DVSC was one of the first movers in Third Sector Support Wales to support and empower #DenbighshireVolunteers through our public facing website, www.DenbighshireVolunteers.net which includes among other things stories to inspire the next generation of #DenbighshireVolunteers to step up and Get Involved. We also run a number of public engagement campaigns.
What about the Millennium Volunteer Award?
The essence and ethos of the Millennium Volunteer Award, which since 1998 has recognised volunteering among 14 - 25-year olds in Wales, will be embraced by the new approaches to volunteering in Wales. The recognition of hours will be achieved through the new digital badge system and certificates, the quality of volunteering opportunities for young people will be encouraged through our new resources and we will continue to promote youth volunteering, in ways that young people tell us are important to them.
For young people and organisations who are already involved in the Millennium Volunteer Award, the current certificates will remain available until the end of December. From January 2019, only the Volunteering Wales digital achievement badges and evidence certificates will be awarded, via the new digital platform.
Need some help? If you would like to find out more about the new resources or need some help registering on www.denbighshirevolunteers.net/getinvolved please contact DVSC volunteer@dvsc.co.uk or call on 01824 702 441 and ask for a member of the volunteering and wellbeing team.
Want to talk to us? If you would like to share your comments about the future of youth volunteering in Denbighshire, and nationally please contact volunteer@dvsc.co.uk.If you want to tell your Volunteer Story or have views about youth volunteering we’d love to hear from you via volunteer@dvsc.co.uk and can even publish your views on our blog.