Justin Davis Smith has confirmed that Volunteering England will not bid to deliver the pilots for the coalition government’s National Citizen Service scheme taking place from June to September next year.

The Volunteering England chief executive said that the “broad-based nature of the scheme”, including a residential personal challenge and a learning element, led the organisation to believe it would be better suited to a supporting role.

“The areas where we feel we can make the biggest contribution are advising on best practice in volunteer management and support and helping to source great quality volunteering opportunities,” he said.

Tendering for potential providers to deliver the scheme began on 2 August with the government offering grant funding to successful applicants. Davis Smith advised that while it would not be appropriate for Volunteering England to bid, it is looking to partner with organisations that are bidding for the job.

“Bidders have to provide all aspects of the programme so it is not appropriate for us to bid alone,” he said. “We are talking with other would-be bidders about partnership approaches and we would certainly want to be involved in the volunteering element, particularly in ensuring good volunteer management and access to great quality opportunities for the young people on the scheme.”

Potential for volunteering legacy

Volunteering England is in the throws of a long-term commitment to the volunteering movement for the London Olympics which aims to attract 70,000 volunteers to help run the games in 2012. The organisation has been instrumental in developing the volunteering strategy with the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games. The games has been targetted as a solid legacy potential for volunteering in England and now so has the National Citizen Service strategy with Volunteering England recognising potential through an alumni scheme.

While both the Olympics and the National Citizen Service would be major commitments, the two should not oppose each other says Davis Smith:

”In terms of legacy we are suggesting that an alumni programme would be an excellent way of harnessing the enthusiasm of the young people and encouraging them to stay involved in their communities. We are supportive of the programme and see it as complementary to rather than in conflict with our 2012 work.”

The National Citizen Service idea was formulated by the Conservative Party four and a half years ago as a non-militarized voluntary service encouraging young people to take part in a series of personal challenges, community building and voluntary work exercises. Before coming into power the party had already raised £2m and garnered a range of supporters for the scheme which will see 16 year olds undertake tasks over an expected 7-8 week period, including a minimum ten nights spent away from home. While largely accepted, there has been some criticism from existing youth volunteering organisations which fear it will draw resources away from their smaller projects.

National Citizen Service stages

Phase 1	An introductory phase in which expectations will be set and relationships built between participants and staff.
Phase 2	A set of tasks, completed in a residential setting away from home, which are personally challenging (typically in the form of an outdoor challenge experience), and focused on personal and social development (one week).
Phase 3	A set of structured tasks involving visiting and helping the local community and developing skills, again the aim is that this would be completed in a residential setting away from home (one week).
Phase 4	Participants to design a social action task in consultation with the local community (one week).
Phase 5	A period of 30 hours of social action on a part-time basis.  A fair/event to encourage participants to get involved in ongoing social action or volunteering activities in their area (with a view to creating an NCS alumni scheme). A large celebration and graduation event for participants and their guests.  An alumni programme, including training sessions and reunion events, to build on the enthusiasm and relationships generated by NCS.  We hope to be able to offer outstanding NCS graduates the opportunity to take part in a programme of social action projects in developing countries.