REC341-4536

The State Emergency Management Committee develop an Action Plan to grow and strengthen the emergency services volunteering workforce. The Action Plan should be aligned to the NSW Volunteering Strategy’s Focus Areas, and include the development and implementation of:
a. A coordinated, targeted volunteer recruitment strategy that is aligned to the collective capability targets developed in response to Recommendation 1 and includes a focus of increasing the diversity of the volunteer workforce.
b. Initiatives to address barriers related to the financial costs of volunteering.
c. More flexible volunteering pathways and opportunities.
d. Mechanisms to improve the portability and recognition of volunteer training and qualifications across organisations, including greater use of multi-agency training and recognition of prior learning.
e. A targeted approach to identifying communities experiencing capability challenges and working with them to develop place-based volunteering models that meet their needs.
f. Initiatives to better support volunteer leaders.
g. A strategy for working with employers to encourage corporate volunteering and support for employees who are emergency volunteers.
h. Initiatives to increase youth participation in emergency volunteering, including the identification of opportunities to build on and expand current cadet programs and the development of new partnership with schools and universities.