Action Plan 2024-2027 is the first three-year Action Plan of the National Strategy for Volunteering. It outlines a set of co-designed actions designed to address priorities for National Strategy implementation.
The Action Plan identifies lead stakeholders who bear responsibility to progress their actions. It also details dozens of supporting actions: opportunities for others in the volunteering ecosystem to flexibly contribute to Action Plan 2024-2027 and the implementation of the National Strategy.
The first three-year Action Plan will see 22 actions led by stakeholders and networks, collectively making progress towards each of the National Strategy for Volunteering’s Strategic Objectives. Actions include:
- New volunteering data collection, including a survey to measure the volunteer experience
- Greater consistency and alignment of volunteering funding, policies and strategic initiatives
- Establishing forums and communities of practice to share knowledge
- Campaigns to raise awareness of volunteering and share volunteering stories
- Sharing research insights and identifying future topics to explore
- Development and sharing of resources to support volunteer management
The Action Plan brings together state and territory volunteering peak bodies, federal government departments, federal government agencies, non-government organisations, researchers, the National Strategy for Volunteering Coalition of Support and the wider volunteering ecosystem.
Presenting Action Plan 2024-2027
The National Strategy for Volunteering’s first three-year Action Plan was launched on Wednesday 28 August. The Presenting Action Plan 2024-2027 launch celebration was held both online and in-person, featuring special guest: the Minister for Social Services, Amanda Rishworth MP.
The event recording and presentation slides are available below.
Taking Action for Volunteering
Across the country, people are using the National Strategy for Volunteering and Action Plan 2024-2027 to take action for volunteering. You can:
- Read through Action Plan 2024-2027 to identify actions that align with your role, mission or priorities.
- Join the Coalition of Support to sign up as an official supporter of the National Strategy.
- Start planning which supporting or ecosystem actions apply to your volunteering practice.
- Use the National Strategy for Volunteering’s eleven Strategic Objectives as a guide to take action independently and help achieve its vision to make volunteers the heart of Australian communities.
In September 2024, Volunteering Australia hosted an online event to provide more detail on how stakeholders can use the Action Plan to strengthen volunteering.
Co-Design Process
In keeping with the principles of the National Strategy, Action Plan 2024-2027 has been co-designed with the volunteering ecosystem. This process saw wide engagement from hundreds of volunteering stakeholders across Australia.
Through public workshops, consultations, events and surveys, the volunteering ecosystem contributed 1,600+ ideas for actions to implement the National Strategy. These were analysed to identify key themes, then developed into actions through a series of workshops with a National Strategy working group: the Establishment Design Team. This team was comprised of over 30 members of the volunteering ecosystem, each representing a different stakeholder and perspective.
The Establishment Design Team also developed criteria used to test suggested actions to ensure they are transformative, timely, scalable and sustainable.
The candidate actions that emerged from the co-design process were tested with key stakeholders across the volunteering ecosystem. Actions that received support were included in Action Plan 2024-2027, while others were noted as potential actions for future Action Plans or for stakeholders taking action independently.
Governance, Evaluation and Roles
Action Plan 2024-2027 is complemented by three other documents. These provide more detail on the governance, evaluation and responsibilities for the National Strategy.
Monitoring and Evaluation Framework
This document is a guide to measuring progress of the National Strategy for Volunteering. It includes an Outcomes Framework, which outlines how progress of each outcome will be measured, and guidance for reporting on the inputs, outputs and processes associated with implementation of the National Strategy.
Click here to download the Monitoring and Evaluation Framework.
Model for Shared Accountability
The Model is a framework that provides guidance on how stakeholders across the volunteering ecosystem can work together to implement the National Strategy for Volunteering. It is designed to jointly promote accountability and learning by outlining roles and processes for stakeholders taking part in the National Strategy.
Click here to download the Model for Shared Accountability.
Governance Blueprint
This provides a framework for oversight of the implementation and evaluation of the National Strategy for Volunteering. It identifies the governance processes and systems required to ensure the National Strategy is implemented effectively, efficiently and in a way that achieves its aims.
Click here to download the Governance Blueprint.
