Big Society's Big Mouth Powered by v

If You Google this you'll find a pitch for socia investment

"The US side is presumably attempting to foster democracy in another country, which never expressed much interest and shows little real interest now. That of course is Iraq, where recent estimates indicate a cost of $1.5 billion per week.

That same amount of money, spread over five years instead of one week, would more than" cover the investment cost of the initial components of this project Read less

It's true that work placements have a huge impact on being able to secure a job. What companies want is people who can hit the ground running with little or no extra training. Internships are now the entry level jobs and yet remain largely unpaid.

If I could have afforded to do work placements whilst studying I would've done. However, my loan barely covered my rent. Talking to other people many have had the same problem. Another issue is that these internships are full time meaning missing uni classes which isn't exactly ideal.

If previous experience is so vital in gaining employment then courses at higher and further education level need to take note and build it into the course. As it stands, graduates are facing unemployment or taking any job just to pay the bills or to fund a stint of UNPAID placements. I'm beginning to think certain industries are elitist, where is the diversity?
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But even for a volunteer there are costs involved in taking someone on.

For example, I don't believe volunteers should have to pay to help out - therefore we refund them travelling expenses and make sure we provide dinner when they help us all afternoon and evening at one of our ceilidhs. It's only the time they should give for free.

Internships you get something tangible back from - not just that warm feeling inside, but something concrete to go on your CV, a reference, particular training, etc. I agree, I would hate to have to work full time in London without being paid, but I also understand why people do it.

My own sister is currently doing an internship with the BBC (her second one). I know organisations like this will keep you as a free intern as long as possible, and even once you're employed (if you're lucky) you're on a short term contract, low wages, etc. In this scenario, even if your contract is renewed you get no more rights, as you're seen as a new employee again, rather than totting up the time you've been there.

Life at the bottom sucks in general I think. But if you're discovering new and exciting things, is it worth it? Read less

Controversial. The key point for me is that there are very different connotations associated with the word 'volunteer' compared to 'intern'. An internship is seen as an indirect path to employment, or at the very least upskilling for the intern to boost employability. The focus in on benefitting the intern. Of course the reality can be very different and there is a lot of grey areas in both public and private sector internships.

Volunteering, on the other hand, is seen as more - well for lack of a better word - 'selfless' ... the focus is far more on providing the volunteer with a rounded perspective of the organisation and 'fun' tasks, because they are not being paid.

In reality, internships and volunteering are two very different creatures ... but either way I feel the volunteer/intern should think very seriously before undertaking the activity if it is at a financial cost to themselves.  Read less

That's a really clear way of putting it. I agree.

We often have problems encouraging volunteers to do things that we can't afford to pay staff to do (eg, stuffing envelopes) - they often want more responsibility - which boils down to more power and therefore more interesting tasks.

But to what extent should a volunteer have a say in what they are doing if they are being 'selfless'?

You'll find that most volunteers have a motive for being there: it might be to feel good about giving their time to charity (in which case envelope stuffing is ok, if unfulfilling), or it might be to meet other volunteers (in which case envelope stuffing might be an ideal opportunity), or it might be to try new things, get to know service-users, or something else, for which envelope stuffing is no substitute!

If volunteering is like a 'selfless' internship, perhaps we need more categories - volunteering for work experience, volunteering socially, volunteering to help an organisation, or volunteering to help end-users.... Read less

I was lucky enough to visit Egypt last year and meet some youth activists there.

The youth there have some big problems - there's a "youth bulge" which means there are suddenly way more young people there than there ever has been before, so not enough services, jobs etc - I think about half of the population under 25 and unemployment is off the scale. So maybe it's easier for them to take on the government because there's more of them??

But we have seen clever use of t'interweb in recent UK protests, like this from the student protests: http://bit.ly/gzVyEI Read less

hey Muntakim - interesting to hear your views on the Future Jobs Fund, especially in light of the views expressed by Conservatives and Liberal Democrats pre-election:

David Cameron praised the Future Jobs Fund as a “good scheme” and the Conservatives said they had “no plans to change existing Future Jobs Fund commitments”. (Liverpool Daily Post, 31 March 2010; letter from Theresa May MP to Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations, 28 April 2010)

The Liberal Democrats also pledged to keep the Future Jobs Fund, saying "We have no plans to change or reduce existing government commitments to the Future Jobs Fund. We believe that more help is needed for young people, not less". (Letter from Steve Webb MP to Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations,, 21 April 2010)

Why the change?  Read less