Why not make all young people work as a volunteer for a certain time before they reach the age of 25, for example doing sport with children and young people in a residential district, which is nothing like the one they grew up in themselves? And why not have a massive campaign to make all the parents who are able to, get more actively involved in their children’s education at school so that there are more professional resources available to concentrate on the children who need special help?

Welfare under pressure

These are some of the ideas that Knud Aarup recently put forward in his book “Volunteering for the Welfare Society”: “Our entire welfare system will be under massive pressure in the coming decades. To put it bluntly, we shall soon find that in many places there will be a lack of workers due to the ageing population. Then if you consider all the services people expect, it all leads to welfare needs which cannot be satisfied. So we are additionally seeing a financial crisis in welfare provision – we need to prioritise the services we are able to afford more rigorously and organise them in new ways, and in doing so we must use voluntary resources much more than we do today,” notes Knud Aarup.

Voluntary sector included from the start

He cites Randers Hospice as a concrete example of the type of institution we are definitely going to see more of. As the local authority was not consulted concerning a regional hospice, they decided to establish one of their own, on their own terms. The local authority appointed a volunteer coordinator, who has recruited 25 volunteers. They have all undertaken to be available three hours a week and are therefore crucial in being able to create an everyday environment with people close at hand and to provide individual attention for the terminally ill. “They don’t do things which require specialist skills. They ensure that the residents can get out in the fresh air or have a trip to the library, as soon as they want. There is always someone who has the time to listen or to fetch some special food from the town which gives the residents more of an appetite. Without the volunteers, there would be noticeably fewer resources and the hospice would not be able to give so much individual attention,” explains Knud Aarup.

Need for new experiences

The residents and their relatives as well as the employees and the volunteers all see considerable advantages in this cooperation, which has simple rules to define the boundaries between the volunteers and the professionals. For example, unless invited, a volunteer never goes unaccompanied into a resident’s private room or attempts to make contact; they only visit the common areas. A professional eye is needed to see whether the individual resident wants company on that particular day or not. Except in the case of severely disabled children or adults, who require particular professional skills, for example, Knud Aarup can see countless opportunities for bringing volunteers onto the team within a variety of welfare services. “I hope that we shall soon see many new experiences in which we can ascertain how voluntary workers can perform different tasks with reference to children, young people and the elderly. Voluntary work must become far less something we do for ourselves and like-minded people in a specific context than it is today. Rather it must become more of a contribution we can make to society. In some cases, volunteers will be able to provide an extra service, like in the hospice. In others, they may be able to relieve the pressure on professionals by taking on part of their work. For example, by managing certain activities in schools or leisure clubs or by acting as mentors for young people who need support,” states Aarup.

Increased social justice

Speaking at various events in recent months, Knud Aarup has often discussed his ideas with a number of people and he knows that the way forward for his ideas will not be easy. “Some people hear my opinions as a big savings project, but this is definitely not the intention. I want to organise welfare services in a way that is fairer in terms of social justice, so that those who need help most of all get a larger share of the service. For example, some time ago we established crèches which were particularly aimed at young families who had the least resources, so as to give their children a really good start. But over the years we have come to realise that the crèches are primarily used by better-off families, while the children we really want to target are more likely to go to a childminder, where the service provided is under resourced and less professional. This is an example of the need to evaluate and rethink our services on an ongoing basis,” he says.

Ghettos reduce trust

A lot of his concerns involve the increasing inequality in society, which is also apparent in where we live. Compulsory schooling is no longer the melting pot where all classes in society meet, because nowadays we live in ghettos – some for the rich, others for the middle classes and again others for the socially disadvantaged. “We go to school, work and socialise with the people who are most like us. But it is extremely important for mutual trust in society to get to know people who are in different circumstances than our own. This leads to my idea for a compulsory welfare service for all young people, which could be done while studying, for example.

Scepticism from voluntary organisations

When Knud Aarup presents his ideas for a more binding voluntary commitment, he is often met with scepticism from the voluntary organisations. Enforced welfare service does not fit too well with the idea of volunteering, according to some comments. In his experience, “the voluntary organisations also need constant commitment from people who get involved as voluntary visitors for example. When there are people who are waiting for you, you can’t just stay away, even if in many ways it would suit you better. I basically want to see us making a greater commitment towards others, even on a rainy day. When I finally start to talk to the organisations on this subject, our views aren’t all that different.”

Time: a scarce resource for many

Even if an increasing number of Danes make a voluntary contribution in the coming years, there will still be a long way to go to reach the ambitious level Knud Aarup is trying to attain. “Right now the debate is primarily focused on whether we should work more than we do at the moment and on whether students should complete their courses quicker to be able to enter the employment market. Is it realistic to expect more voluntary commitment? It’s true that many young families have a hectic lifestyle. It will typically be the parents who get involved in sports clubs or other activities in their children’s lives, and it is also important for this part of life to function well. I am thinking of two large groups in particular, namely pensioners and those who have taken early retirement, where there are many resources which can be used to achieve what I am trying to do. They currently make up more than a million people altogether and their numbers are set to increase considerably over the coming years,” says Knud Aarup. Fact box:

A new strategy for civil society

Last autumn, the Government put forward a new strategy for civil society in Denmark. The Government aims to have every other Dane involved in voluntary work by 2020 – the current figure is approximately one in three. 100 million kr. has been set aside over four years for initiatives to increase voluntary work.

As part of the strategy, the Government will:

• Allocate funds to pilot projects to test new solutions for outreach and preventive work

• Promote social enterprise. Social innovators must have better support in the initial phase so that more ideas and products can be of benefit to the socially disadvantaged

• Promote active citizenship and support a culture of volunteering. The Government wants to highlight voluntary contributions and encourage people to do voluntary work

• Give the voluntary organisations more authority for recruitment, retention and fundraising

• Reinforce the cooperation between local authorities, commerce and voluntary organisations. Among other things, clear ground rules need to be established for cooperation.

At the beginning of January 2011, the Danish Minister for Social Affairs, Benedikte Kiær, hosted a meeting for over 25 humanitarian, professional and local governmental bodies who are to implement the Government’s strategy for civil society.

Link to the Government’s national strategy for civil society: Sm.dk