Mumtaz Bashir - Head of The Olympic and Paralympic
Games Pre Volunteer Programme for London 2012
MMU - Sport Volunteeri​ng Conference
“Turning Potential into Legacy”
Wednesday 10th September 2014
Introduction
Career Background
The Personal Best Story
Mega events a catalyst for social change
The Legacy
The impact on the people
A Vision for Future Games
- Olympic & Paralympic Games in Rio for 2016
The Pre Volunteer Programme
Vision
To raise the profile of volunteering as a recognised means of improving skills / knowledge
and experience and creating routes into employment for those furthest away from the
labour market.
Using global games as a catalyst for change
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Objectives
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Delivery of real skills to participants
Leading to long term employment opportunities for those unemployed
Vocational training
Qualifications achieved to secure Games Delivery Volunteer roles
Increasing regional / national pool of volunteers for future events
Target Groups & Eligibility
 Unemployed
 Economically inactive
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BAME groups,
Refugees,
Ex-offenders,
People with disabilities / health conditions,
Low income households,
Lone parents and those with carer responsibilities,
Homeless
For all the target groups the following eligibility applies: Must not have a level 2 qualification or above and must be entry level 2
 Must be resident within UK
Key Elements
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Engagement in the context of local communities
 Voluntary / community engagement
 Key local delivery agents
 Sporting venues - Football Clubs eg
Chelsea/United/ Etihad Stadium/ Wembley
Stadium/Aquatics Centres/Velodrome/Oval
Cricket Ground/O2.
Nationally Accredited Qualification
Graduation Ceremonies – Recognition of Achievement
Routes to progression for graduates:
 Further learning /training,
 learners identify new pathways for
participation
 Engage with employers
Mentoring & Coaching
The Personal Best Training Course
9 units (120 Guided Learning Hours) leading
to a Level 1 Award funded by the LSC:
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Becoming a volunteer
Volunteering and the Olympics
Developing effective customer relations
Emergency and basic fire awareness
Public safety
Equality and diversity
Conflict resolution in a public environment
Developing team and interpersonal skills
Preparing for and reflecting on a voluntary
placement
Performance in London
21,000 individuals have engaged with the programme
6,438 registered on to the PB training course
4,380 completed their training
1,300 participants have entered into employment
132,000 hours of volunteering
41% of registered participants were female
7% were disabled
47% from BME Community
Over 800 applied for Games Time roles
%
NATIONAL PROGRAMME
8 Regions delivered Personal Best
5,487 individuals enrolled onto the Personal Best programme
1,841 people achieved a level 1 award in preparation for event volunteering.
53,460 volunteering hours delivered
Over 40% of participants from black and minority ethnic communities.
22 % had a long term disability/ health problem or learning difficulty.
25 % of graduates have found employment.
50 centres:- further education colleges and private training
providers/volunteer/community centres offered Personal Best in England.
Examples of Progression Pathways
Volunteering
Training
Employment
Boat Race 29th March
Skills 4 success
Sales Assistant
Madonna Concert
Security course
Care Assistant
Life FM
Certificate for IT Users
Nursery Assistant
Hammersmith & Fulham Job Fair
English course
Home Office employee
World Flavours Event
First Aid
Cleaning supervisor
Great Get Together
Food & Hygiene
Customer Care Assistant
London Marathon
ECDL
Warehouse Operative
PB Ambassador Forum
CV Workshop
Driver
Parenting Programme
SIA
Tower of London Warden
CAFOD
NVQ in Childcare
Clerical Assistant
Half Marathon
Lets Build Construction
Carer
Walk for Life
GCSE
Customer Service Assistant
Sports Science
Sterilisation Technician
Games Delivery Volunteer (GDV) roles
The GDV roles encompass both specialist and universal volunteer opportunities
GDV roles
 Specialist roles
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Medical
Technology
Sport
Media
Universal roles
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Drivers (up to 10%)
Spectator Services
Transport
Village Operations
Role type
%
Olympic
Paralympic
Total
Specialist
40
21,600
6,400
28,000
Universal
60
32,400
9,600
42,000
All GDVs
100
54,000
16,000
70,000
Mix
 Up to 10% of GDVs from Personal Best
 Nations and Regions
 Six strands of Diversity and Inclusion
 Partners
Games Makers & Manchester Ambassadors
Glasgow - Pilot
Elements for Success
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Public and Private agencies working in partnership:
Key Government agencies
Corporate business
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Sport Sector Collaboration:
Venues: Stadia Centres of Excellence
Sports Networks working in Collaboration
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Community participation:
Equality of Opportunity
Standardisation of Accredited Programme
Access to World Class facilities
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New Ways of Working:
Innovative
Partnerships
Inspiration
The Vision for Future Games
Life changing experience
Social and economic impact
Quality Standards achieved
A common “Journey of Learning”
Leading to “Equality of Opportunity”
Owen
Owen Spence wanted a helping hand getting back into
employment. He heard about the programme through
Connexions in Lambeth and thought the topic on the
‘Olympic Games’ sounded interesting.
Owen enjoyed meeting new people, building a rapport with
them and learning about their different cultures and
lifestyles. His proudest moment was being nominated to
take the class minutes on the “Volunteering and the
Olympic Games” module. Personal Best also helped him to
set personal goals and now he plans to go into further
training in Sport Science.
“The Personal Best programme has built up my
confidence to talk up in front of a group of people.”
Excel Live Exhibition, March 2008
Christina
“The programme has helped me immensely and I would recommend it to anyone as it will
give you confidence. You will use skills you didn’t know you possessed.”
Christina, mother of three had been unemployed for twenty years, “I was stuck in a situation of
relying on benefits because it felt safe.” One day she felt it was time for a change. She gave
herself a goal to find a job within one year and went to her local Jobcentre Plus for help. Her
personal advisor told her about Personal Best so she attended one of their local induction sessions
to see what the programme had to offer. She has not looked back ever since. “The thing I
enjoyed most was the confidence that it brought out in me. The tutors made me believe in
myself.”
Volunteering at the local hospital is one of Christina’s proudest moments which led to her achieving
her goal of being offered a job as a clerical assistant in the records department eight months after
her first visit to her local Jobcentre plus centre.
Sam
Sam had always wanted to go back into education but lacked the self-confidence and
courage to do so.
Personal Best helped Sam to believe in her abilities and not be afraid of being in a classroom
anymore. Through the course, Sam was meeting new people and learning about their cultures,
which gave her a new outlook in life and encouraged Sam to try new things. It also inspired Sam to
do more volunteering as she was keen to help her local community but was not aware that it could
also help boost her CV, highlighting new skills that she had gained through her volunteering. As a
result she began to enjoy learning again and as she saw her self-confidence grew each day, Sam
was determined to complete the programme. “I’m proud I stuck through the course. Personal
Best made me believe that I can do something. I always wanted to do SIA but now I had the
guts to do it.”
Since Personal Best, Sam went on to complete her SIA training and now works as a door
supervisor.
………Congratulations to you all for last
night……..
Emily Towers (LSC)
Feedback from Graduation
Ceremonies
“Thank you to all the people who
organised this event, the food was nice
and the atmosphere was cool, thank you
for making my skills valued to your
organisation. I am glad you made me part
of Personal Best, you are a fantastic force,
well done God bless you.”
“…..it was so uplifting and the guys from
Brent really seemed to have a great
night”
Joanne Francis (Brent)
“…Last night was a delightful event and
shows what can be done if everyone
pulls together…”
Maree Walker (CE, OCN)
Nadia Penn (Participant)
“…participants all had a great time
and were thrilled to be able to meet
the sports celebrities…”
Southwark
“…wonderful event at the wembley stadium…”
Haringey