Thursday 3 May 2012
12.00 pm − 1.00 pm
Brotherhood of St Laurence
67 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy
Fr Tucker's room
Contact:
Kristine Philipp
Email:
kphilipp@bsl.org.au
Phone:
94831364
Volunteering contributes to the richness, stability and cohesion of our society, helps improve quality of life and maintains social inclusion. Older people have been identified as a key source of volunteers, with older people contributing more time than volunteers of any other age group. Volunteering is a key productive and healthy ageing strategy, as it is both socially productive and provides social and health benefits for older people. However, there are profound changes occurring within the contemporary volunteering world, and these changes are having a significant impact on the recruitment and retention of older volunteers. This paper will discuss these challenges by drawing on data from an in-depth study of volunteering in local community services.
Professor Jeni Warburton is currently the John Richards Chair in Rural Aged Care Research at La Trobe University in Wodonga, Victoria. Jeni has more than 20 years’ experience of research into social policy, particularly relating to issues associated with an ageing population. Her main areas of expertise are in healthy and productive ageing; as well as volunteering and community, with her current research focusing on ageing in rural communities. Jeni has published widely both nationally and internationally on these topics, and her research has played a key role in the development of practice and policy around volunteering and social inclusion, particularly relating to older people.
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