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Full introduction to the accreditation program

How the accreditation program was developed

In April 2001 Conservation Volunteers Australia, on behalf of the Conservation Volunteer Alliance, secured funding from an Australian corporate sponsor (RioTinto) for developing benchmarks and an accreditation program for conservation volunteer organisations. This is the first major project undertaken by the Conservation Volunteer Alliance , and signals an immense opportunity for the group to grow and begin delivering significant benefits to each member organisation.

In May 2001 Conservation Volunteers Australia appointed Missing Link Consultants to develop the Accreditation Program. In developing the Program, Missing Link undertook three rounds of consultation with Alliance members, including:

1. A questionnaire
   - to identify what aspects of conservation volunteer activity should be accredited and what benefits should be created for accredited members.
2. A draft copy of the criteria for members to practice completing, and to provide comment on.
3. Visits to seven member organisations of the Alliance
   - to discuss and improve the Draft Program
   - done by Missing Link and Conservation Volunteers Australia
   - involving the Green Balkans (Bulgaria), Legambiente (Italy), British Trust for Conservation Volunteers, National Association of Service Conservation Corps (USA), Environmental Association for Senior Involvement (USA), the National Mexican Conservation Corps and Conservation Volunteers Australia.

The Draft Accreditation Program was then reviewed and endorsed by the Executive Board members of the Alliance on 27th October 2001 (Rome, Italy). The Executive Board then asked that Conservation Volunteers Australia prepare a 'start-up plan' to direct how to begin operating the accreditation program. The 'Start-up Plan' aims to accredit at least eight Alliance members in the first year and another eight in the second year.

Aim of the accreditation program

The accreditation program has been created to assist continually improve standards in conservation volunteer organisations. The overall aim of the accreditation program is therefore:

To assist organisations, professionally deliver a high quality volunteer experience and positive outcome for the environment.

The Program aim will be achieved by three objectives:

• Setting internationally agreed standards for sound practice
• Providing assistance for organisations to improve to the agreed standards
• Using the standards to confidently exchange volunteers between organisations

The focus of the accreditation program is on the practices needed to provide a safe and satisfying conservation volunteer experience.

Types of organisations that can apply

The accreditation program will be open to financial members of the Conservation Volunteers Alliance. Membership of the Alliance is open to any organisation involved in developing, delivering, coordinating or representing conservation volunteer activities. More detail on membership eligibility can be found within the membership section of the Alliance website. The accreditation program has been designed for two types of conservation volunteer activity:

1. Direct managers of practical conservation volunteers
   (Conservation Volunteer Project Management Organisations)
2. Representative coordinators of conservation volunteer organisations
   (Umbrella Organisations)

Some organisations do both activities, and would therefore apply for accreditation under both.

Type of accreditation to apply for

To identify the type of accreditation to apply for, an organisation needs to:

1. Identify the type of conservation volunteer activity your organisation does, that is:

• Conservation Volunteer Project Management Organisations;
• Umbrella Organisations; or
• both.

2. Identify how developed the organisation is, that is if it is:

• developing, or
• benchmark.

Developing organisations have some systems in place, and recognise the need for further improvement across most parts of their activity. Developing organisations are committed to further improving their standards.

Benchmark organisations have demonstrated systems in place across all parts of their activity, backed up by comprehensive skills and experience. Benchmark organisations are committed to helping developing organisations improve their standards.

Table 1 shows the type of accreditation to apply for, and the accreditation sections to complete, depending on the type of conservation volunteer activity undertaken and how developed the organisation is.

Table 1 Type of accreditation to apply for and accreditation sections to complete

Purpose of each section of criteria

The organisational management criteria are based on the need to maintain a healthy and viable organisation. This would result in fewer legal challenges from accidents, high staff morale and lower staff turnover, and a generally efficient business environment

The project management criteria are based on the need to generate ongoing volunteer confidence and support. This would result in high volunteer satisfaction, high repeat participation and high word-of-mouth recommendations.

The umbrella organisation criteria are based on the need to efficiently and comprehensively act as a catalyst to assist conservation volunteer project managers deliver programs. This would result in high satisfaction, performance and growth among members, affiliates and subcontractors.

Proposed benefits for accredited Alliance members

There are five main benefits for accredited members of the Alliance.

• Assistance to improve their standards;
• Increased opportunity to exchange volunteers with other organisations;
• Access to funding for conservation volunteer programs and projects;
• Cooperative marketing to increase the potential to attract more volunteers; and
• Collective international lobbying to maintain resourcing support for their organisation.

Assistance to improve practices

This benefit would involve accredited members helping other accredited members to improve their practices to the standards identified in the accreditation program. This benefit would primarily be directed to Developing accredited members. Benchmark accredited members would provide other accredited members with:

• examples of policies, plans and promotional techniques (that are not confidential);
• training programs; and
• staff exchanges.

Basis for exchange of volunteers between organisations

Many Alliance members would like to expand their programs by exchanging volunteers, particularly volunteers from other countries. The accreditation program would be used to assure exchanging organisations that their volunteers will be looked after in each others' care. Two benchmark-accredited members would have a relatively simple process to exchange their volunteers. Developing accredited members would require additional demonstration of capability, before exchanging volunteers with a benchmark-accredited member.

Access to funding for conservation volunteer programs and projects

This benefit would involve three types of funding opportunities:

• Developing accredited members accessing funding for improvement of practices to meet the accreditation program standards.
• Benchmark accredited members accessing funding to assist developing members improve their practices.
• Benchmark accredited members also accessing special international funding for conservation volunteer programs funded by organisations (such as the World Bank, European Union and Aid programs).

The first two types of funding could come from a major corporate sponsor or foundation, secured by the Alliance. The third type of funding could come from the Alliance approaching major funding organisations, explaining the merits of the accreditation program, and securing in principle support for the use of the accreditation program as a filter to select the organisations with the greatest ability to deliver quality volunteer projects.

Cooperative marketing

This benefit would involve benchmark-accredited members developing international promotions to increase the reach of volunteer recruitment. Examples of this could include:

• a special section of the Alliance website for e-commerce;
• joint exhibitions and representation at tourism trade shows;
• hyperlinks to each others’ websites; and
• special programs targeted at particular types of volunteers, such as students.

Collective international lobbying

This benefit would involve collective international lobbying by the Alliance to maintain resourcing support for accredited members. Possible examples of this are:

• lobbying to restore a loss of financial support for an accredited member from one of its funding bodies;
• lobbying to restore government support for an accredited member; and
• lobbying to increase volunteer support for an accredited member.

Other benefits

In addition to the benefits described above, Developing and Benchmark accredited members would be provided with an accreditation certificate and an accreditation logo, for their own use in promoting their accredited membership. The certificate will state the accreditation category and period of accreditation. Accredited members should display the certificate in their organisation’s office for visitors to see. Accredited members should also include their accreditation logo and a simple explanation of what their accreditation means in their promotional material.

Another benefit that could be developed for Benchmark accredited members is international insurance cover that is tailored to conservation volunteer organisations and competitive with most alternatives currently available.