Participant management encompasses the role that facilitators will play as a point of contact for the participants, and a liaison between the participants and the project, and vice versa. Participant management is a crucial part of a facilitators training and they should fully understand the volunteer journey, detailing the interaction that volunteers have with the project or activity. This includes how to sign-up volunteers, the level of contact to maintain, how to sustain enjoyment within the project, the end of their journey and recognising achievement and contribution. A critical aspect of this includes recruitment. It should be made clear whether the project partners or the facilitators will be responsible for recruiting, and the process should be clear. Questions to consider are - Will you use an external organisation to recruit? How will you advertise the opportunity? Will you interview potential volunteers? How many volunteers should they aim to recruit? What are the official processes for signing up a volunteer?

An Earthwatch employee, a smiling woman with dark hair wearing a dark blue shirt with Earthwatch's logo, is leading a training session with several people wearing blue shirts saying "Water Programme". They are all seated at one table writing on pieces of paper.

It is critical to remain in contact with facilitators and participants. A communications plan should be established and the channels by which to communicate detailed. Facilitators should know how and when to contact volunteers, if it is their responsibility to do so. Providing drafts or templates of emails and social media posts is a good foundation for volunteers, allowing them to understand the language and messages you wish to utilise.

Team building skills equip facilitators to get the best from volunteers and understand more about the dynamics of diverse groups. Team building strategies establish the partnership and enforces the collective and collaborative nature of the task. Activities can be used to establish a welcoming and safe environment, helping facilitators and participants to become acquainted. This could begin with an exercise in which participants detail why they chose to get involved and what they want to gain from the training. Alternatively, you could define a list of characteristics and ask participants to find different people in the room with those characteristics. There are a broad range of ideas for team building exercises, that vary in length and complexity.

All of the above aspects will play a role in retention of volunteers. Drop-outs can be unavoidable, but mechanisms can be employed to increase volunteer retention and prepare for suspended engagement. This includes establishing reliable channels of communication, making volunteers and facilitators aware of the support networks in place for them, offering other opportunities to participate based on interest and acknowledging and celebrating the contribution they have.

Legal and ethical considerations are also a large component of participant management and must be considered extensively. Health and Safety procedures must be clear, valid and stringent – project partners should ensure all facilitators are aware of and abide by the procedures, and ensure that their volunteers do the same. Relevant data regulations, such as GDPR, should be abided by and facilitators and participants should understand how they are relevant to the work they are doing and how to avoid breaching them. You may wish to provide proforma templates for legal and ethical considerations to your facilitators. All of the above should also be considered by project partners in regards to facilitators.

Last modified: Thursday, 11 March 2021, 3:53 PM