On 29 March, the LSE Volunteer Centre held the Community Engagement Programme’s Finals Day – an afternoon in which the 10 teams of volunteer consultants on this year’s programme presented on the projects they had completed for partner charities and which covered topics including educational equity, racial justice, social care, sustainable development, saving lives at sea, women’s rights, eliminating global hunger, community-building, environmental policy, and mental health.
The Finals Day was a fantastic afternoon in which the consultants seized the chance to showcase their work, receive expert feedback, connect with others on the programme, and engage in discussions with one another not only about social justice but also concerning the challenges and opportunities involved in social impact projects.
The Community Engagement Programme sits at the nexus of higher education, student learning and the non-profit sector. It is concerned with community outreach. But it’s also an immersive learning experience for the volunteers.
As one consultant explains in their feedback on the programme, the CEP is ‘a brilliant programme, which allowed me to work with students in different years and from a variety of departments. Taking part in the CEP provided both a valuable insight into consulting and enabled us to deliver useful recommendations to a charity in the process. It was a fantastic experience that I would recommend to any student at LSE interested in consulting, and having our findings taken forward to potentially make real change feels very rewarding. Connecting with several students all studying different disciplines was also a great opportunity to meet likeminded people interested in the non-profit sector, and working together allowed us to realise each other’s different skillsets at numerous points in the project. The LSE Volunteer Centre and our charity partner were extremely supportive throughout and made the process that much more enjoyable.’ (Koshiki, Volunteer Consultant 2023 and First-Year Undergraduate)
In addition to LSE Volunteer Centre support, all of the teams had an LSE Alumni Mentor support them during the consultancy process. This year’s mentors have been described variously as ‘very supportive’, ‘amazing’, ‘available’, ‘very experienced’, ‘very encouraging’, ‘fantastic’, ‘flexible’ and ‘attentive’ in the volunteers’ feedback on the programme.
Our judging panel of experts at the Finals Day praised the work of every team. Special awards went to the 5 teams whose work focused on social care (Overall Winner), women’s rights (Overall Runner-Up), saving lives at sea (Special Commendation for Excellent Report), sustainable development (Special Commendation for Excellent Reflection), and educational equity (Special Commendation for Excellent Presentation).
The 10 projects are already having an impact in informing the charities’ internal discussions and thinking concerning the organisational challenges they presented to the LSE Volunteer Centre for investigation by the volunteers.
As one of our charity partners explains: ‘The CEP programme was extremely helpful as the final report not only clearly demonstrated an understanding of our context and needs, but delivered actionable recommendations that could make a difference to our charity. Furthermore, it highlighted how we can change some of our marketing strategies to help capitalise on our volunteer motivations for joining and staying with us. I have been incredibly impressed with the diligence and professionalism of all the LSE volunteers and staff running the programme and want to express how thankful we are to have their recommendations which came from the team’s ingenuity and hard work.’ (Anonymous Charity Partner 2023)
Next year’s Community Engagement Programme will run in early 2024, with applications opening in the autumn of 2023. Keep an eye on our newsletters, blog, social media and website for updates!
