I was recently asked to review the experience of a number of signatories to the code (VCoP) to see what lessons could be learnt and opportunities idenified - both for the code and for the signatory organisations. The structure of the VCoP review mirrors that of the existing audit approach that has been adopted – building on the investment already made by all signatories to the code.
A set of questions – drawing on the VCoP; the Self-audits; Donor perspectives & my own experience - formed the basis of the review which was conducted as a series of one-2-one interviews with the volunteer coordinators from the participating organisations:
The answers from the participants allowed for a “point-in-time” assessment (audit) PLUS an opportunity assessment in relation to opportunities to strengthen the overall organisation’s management processes. By extension, these opportunities can be categorised to allow the lesson learnt from the review to be consolidated and shared among Comhlamh members.
When looking at programme quality, we focused more on “ways-of-working” and this was categorised for the purposes of the under four headings:
Organisation: Assessment of VCoP Principles against organisation requirements (e.g. strategy; resourcing; planning; etc.)
Volunteer: Assessment of VCoP Principles against volunteer responsibilities (e.g. use of Comhlamh Volunteer Charter)
Programme: Assessment of programme (proposals/plans) & policies/procedures for alignment with CoP principles
Partners: Assessment of VCoP Principle against in-country partner responsibilities (e.g. within MoUs; etc.)
Undertaking an exercise like this also allows us to try and learn about the broader Development Agenda of sending organisation. Via the identification of broader development items based on the "Application of CoPs" assessment.
You can learn more about Comhlamh by reading their strategy document here
