Background
Background:
In early 2006 the Northern Ireland Olympic Task Force was established to coordinate and maximize the benefits for Northern Ireland of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. It was Chaired by the Permanent Secretary, DCAL who is also the London Organising Committee Olympic Games (LOCOG) Nations and Regions representative. In initial discussions the Task Force identified a number of key themes that needed to be taken forward to maximize how Northern Ireland might contribute to and benefit from the 2012 Games opportunity - one of these themes was volunteering.
In May 2006 the Task Force appointed the Northern Ireland Sports Forum to establish a Working Group to develop a Volunteer Strategy for Northern Ireland. The Sports Forum asked Wendy Osborne OBE, Director of the Volunteer Development Agency, to be Chair of the Working Group with the target of producing a draft Strategy for September 2006. The Draft Strategy was completed by September and approved by the Task Force in January 2007.
The Working Group was asked to develop an Operational Plan from the Strategy. The draft Action Plan places an operational framework around the recommendations of the Working Group in relation to objectives and actions required to involve, recognize and maximize the contribution of volunteers as part of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic experience; with the important Legacy of using the enthusiasm generated by the Games as a catalyst for inspiring increased volunteering.
The Action Plan is a working document which takes into account external factors that could potentially impact on it; including the overarching NI Strategic Framework associated with the Task Force, the amount of resources available and the implementation of LOCOG’s Volunteer Strategy. The Action Plan was submitted to DCAL in August 2007 and subsequent successful meetings and discussions resulted in resources being made available through DCAL.
The Volunteer Development Agency (now Volunteer Now), through DCAL funding, appointed a Project Manager in September 2008 to manage the implementation and delivery of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games NI Volunteer Strategy.
The vision of the NI Volunteer Strategy is to “involve, recognize and maximize the contribution of volunteers as part of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games as a catalyst for inspiring increased volunteering”.
© 2012 Volunteer Now
