Mahi Tahi, Mahi Wātea resource strengthens the sector
By Michelle Kitney
Mahi Tahi, Mahi Wātea was developed to give community groups greater confidence to engage disabled people as volunteers.
It is an excellent resource, providing clear and straightforward, practical tools that help organisations reflect on curren tpractice, identify barriers, and take action, from role design and onboarding, to retention strategies. It is an excellent tool to start from or strengthen your inclusion journey.
The Guide and Framework are here: https://volunteeringauckland.org.nz/nonprofits/resources
Volunteering is constant and also evolving
Volunteering remains a constant and key enablerof community life and our collective wellbeing. Voluntary participation ratescontinue to increase, but how we want to give our time is changing.
We know time, cost-of-living pressures and digital barriers can make participation uneven.
At the same time, there is a clear opportunity: communities are asking for flexible, purpose-driven roles and for inclusive practice that welcomes everyone, including disabled people and our super diversecommunities.
Approximately a quarter of New Zealanders identify as disabled, so inclusion cannot be an ‘add‑on’. It must be built into how we design and deliver volunteering.
Inclusive volunteering built into practice
Inclusive volunteering doesn’t happen by chance; it is a programme design and leadership choice.
The Enabling Good Lives approach reinforces self‑determination,person‑centredsupports, ordinary life outcomes, and ‘mainstream first’ all of which can translatedirectly into how we recruit, onboard and support volunteers.
Practically, enabling volunteers meansremoving barriers: designing flexible roles, providing accessible materials and spaces, buddy systems and peer support,asking about access needs rather than medical details, and building feedbackloops so volunteers can shape their experience. But most importantly it meansbeing person and volunteer centric.
Accessibility and inclusion are at the heart the 2023 Volunteering NZ Best Practice Guidelines. Co-designed by the community sector and volunteers and provide a mandate and framework for all organisations to engage with volunteers from a people first approach.
Mahi Tahi, Mahi Wātea gives leaders the roadmap to make inclusion the norm.
I encourage you to download the guide, use it to review your volunteering engagement and programmes.
One or two small changes can make a difference. If we each make small, deliberate shifts, we will collectively strengthen volunteering accessibility and inclusion practice nationwide.
My congratulations to Cheryll Martin and her team at Volunteering Auckland, the contributors and partners who have brought Mahi Tahi, Mahi Wātea to life, and all those working every day to make volunteering in Aotearoa inclusive and strong.