Subscribe & Follow
Advertise your job vacancies
Trending
Show more
Rethinking employee volunteering
South Africa's first conference on employee volunteering, Beyond Painting Classrooms, took place last week in Johannesburg, run by the FirstRand Foundation, VOSESA and CAFSA. The conference was aimed at rethinking employee volunteering and its role in the eradication of poverty and the development of South Africa.
(L-R) Desiree Storey - FirstRand Volunteer manager, CAF Southern Africa's Colleen du Toit, Helene Perold, the founder and executive director of VOSESA
Key learning and discussions held at this conference provided a platform for industry leaders, government, CSI practitioners and NGO's to discuss how employee volunteering can be strengthened to contribute to the National Development Plan.
The conference engaged with over 40 companies and 40 NGOs on ways of aligning corporate employee volunteering more closely with the country's development priorities.
community of practice
FirstRand Volunteer manager Desiree Storey ended the two-day conference with a call for sector-wide collaboration on the future of employee volunteerism. It is a declaration of intention, says Storey, to work towards a community of practice. "Competition is healthy, but we can actually come together and all shine in the same place."
FirstRand Volunteers in conjunction with VOSESA and CAF Southern Africa will put forward a proposal to the conference attendants for the means of collaboration, including but not limited to a database of information for both corporates and NGOs to access. "We need statistics to take into the boardroom. We need to understand the models that work for NGOs," said Storey.
Related
