Age-Friendly Volunteering
Volunteering with Belfast City Council Age-friendly team
Volunteering is about people choosing to give time to others and their communities to make Belfast a better place to live.
The Northern Ireland Volunteering Strategy defines volunteering as ‘the commitment of time and energy, for the benefit of society and the community, the environment, or individuals outside (or in addition to) one’s immediate family. It is unpaid and undertaken freely and by choice’
Volunteering offers a range of benefits including
- Making a difference to other people’s lives;
- Contributing to your community or to a cause you care about;
- Meeting new people, feeling part of a team or having new experiences;
- Contributing to your employability and strengthening your cv;
- The opportunity to use your skills in a productive way or to develop new skills;
- Helping to increase your confidence and expand your horizons;
- Adding to your sense of belonging and well-being, and
- Connecting you to people and places.
We support volunteering through:
- Providing the opportunity for people to volunteer for flagship city events
- Grant programmes which support the work of volunteer-involving community, arts and sporting groups across the city
- Award schemes such as the Belfast Sports Awards and the Age-friendly Belfast Older Volunteer Awards
We offer volunteer opportunities in the following:
- We run various older peoples events across Belfast throughout the year. These include tea dances and Be Prepared events
- In October we host Positive Ageing Month. This is a month is filled with over 150 events ranging from physical activity programmes to arts and culture
- As part of Age-friendly Belfast initiative we work with businesses to help them become more age-friendly.
Our Roles include:
Volunteer Ambassador
As a Volunteer Ambassador you will encourage people who are 50+ to get involved in Age-friendly Belfast initiatives
Event Volunteer
As an Event Volunteer you will have the opportunity to support Age-friendly Belfast events and workshops throughout the year.
Facilitation Volunteer
As a Facilitation Volunteer you will have the opportunity to support the Age-friendly team during events by facilitating discussions and feedback information collected
Positive Ageing Month Volunteer
As a Positive Ageing Month Volunteer you will have the opportunity to support the Age-friendly team in the planning, coordination and delivery of programmes during Positive Ageing Month in October
Mystery Shopping Ambassador
As a Mystery Shopping Ambassador you will take part in mystery shopping exercises and identify and inform Age-friendly Belfast Charter Organisations of findings and where further support, information and training may be required
If you are interested in Volunteering with us, please complete the Expression of Interest Form. A member of our team will then be in contact with you to discuss next steps.
For further information please email anne.ross@bhdu.org or telephone 028 9050 2073.