Australia: The Bushfire and Natural Hazards Centre for Excellence (BNHCRC) has released findings into the changing face of emergency service volunteering.

As expected, the major societal changes in lifestyle and technology are major forces driving change and trends in Australian volunteering. The major areas are:

• changing lifestyles and values and the changing nature of work (e.g. work and commuting being more time consuming) 
• the impact of new communications technology 
• greater private sector involvement 
• growing government expectations
  of, and intervention in, the voluntary
  sector.

The study highlights promising activity in areas of opportunity and provides examples internationally and where available, in Australia:

• Targeted coordination and planning for informal citizen responses to disaster;
• Building capacity to engage with digital and digitally-enabled volunteers;
• Establishing partnerships with
  the private sector to support appropriate employee and skills-based volunteering
• The co-production of community- based disaster risk reduction with existing, well-established community groups

Press the image of the report to read full details.