1. Crafting a Guide for Student Volunteerism and the One-Stop Service at Stellenbosch University Mike Leslie 11 March 2011 With acknowledgements to Mouton et al, SURVEY OF THE OUT-OF-CLASS EXPERIENCES OF STELLENBOSCH UNIVERSITY STUDENTS AT THE MAIN CAMPUS IN STELLENBOSCH, 2010

2. Overview Stellenbosch University context ◦The creation of the One-Stop Service ◦What the One-Stop Service does Developing a booklet responsive to the needs of students First and Second Editions What lies ahead...

3. Students who participate in voluntary work/community service @ SU (N=1308)

4. Where and how do students volunteer at @ SU?

5. Organisation/structure through which voluntary work or community service is performed (N=434)

6. Frequency of voluntary work (N=425)

7. One-Stop Service origins RAG sought to make more visible its annual contribution through a new initiative to demonstrate to students, the main fundraisers, the direct application of generated funds for social development; A recent audit of Stellenbosch University asked the institution to develop “principles, processes, and monitoring mechanisms to assess the quality of current and new community interaction initiatives” (CHE, 2007: 34); Efforts to develop MGD as an NPO had professionalized the organization, but made it increasingly less reliant on student volunteers for its programmes; and A proliferation of short-term student projects generally lacking in coordination and capacity resulted in concerted efforts from student leadership to identify and create new campus-wide opportunities.

8. One-Stop Service takes shape “This new initiative could play an important role to promote outstanding community interaction on campus by supporting individual students or groups who wanted to participate in community projects. It could help facilitate growth opportunities for students, increase the capacity of service providers by facilitating partnerships with student groups and increase the well-being of our communities by facilitating sustainable community-driven initiatives” (Burger, 2007)

9. Matie Community Service programmes MGD ABETKLP Primary Health Entrepre- neurship One- Stop Service

10. One-Stop Service Advisory Board One- Stop Service SRC: CI RAG Student Affairs One-Stop Service Programme Manager SU Academic staff Div. Community Interaction Other MGD staff

11. Maties RAG Financial contribution towards MGD 60% - One Stop Service Funds student driven projects

12. What does the One-Stop Service do? Sharing of knowledge, experience and resources Co-ordination between student community projects Access information regarding all student involvement in community Provide training and guidance for volunteers Enhance the professionalism of community projects ‘ together we grow’

13. Where did the need arise? Following trainings and meetings, students wanted more information on HOW to do things. Structures, processes, and rules began to take shape and required transparency. In the project proposal process we saw students still lacking an understanding of the WHY. Experience and feedback necessitated further clarification*.

14. How has the booklet taken shape? First edition Invited input from all stakeholders Practicality first and foremost -What do students want to know? Compiled any and all relevant documentation Sorted and printed everything Useful but less coherent Still lacked important organisational, programmatic, and process information Most relevant for student project leaders Second edition Received more constructive critique from stakeholders Move towards balancing what students want and what they should know More extensive editing process and common voice running throughout Strengthened links and coherence of the booklet to specific programme activities Direct application for short course participants Still aimed at student project leaders but accessible and relevant to volunteers and other interested parties Broader input!

15. Crafting a booklet responsive to student needs Context and structural understanding Programme goals, activities, and theory of change A step by step explanation of the project proposal process and templates Rights, risks, and responsibilities Administrative information

16. For the future... Pilot of community interaction short course (April-August 2011) Opportunity to incorporate partner organisation feedback Second phase of community interaction short course with project proposal process integrated (September-March 2011) Review and revision for 2012

17. Contact details: Mike Leslie Coordinator: International Student Life & Integration Postgraduate & International Office (PGIO) Stellenbosch University Ph: +27 21 808 9021 C: +27 76 912 4767 mikeleslie@sun.ac.za

18. THANKS!