Gary ‘Butch’ Hendrickson to speak at CVSS’s National Volunteer Conference

THE COUNCIL of Voluntary Social Services (CVSS) will host its National Volunteer Conference on February 24. The conference will be held under the theme ‘Effective Collaboration as a tool for National Development’.

Gary ‘Butch’ Hendrickson, president of the CVSS, who is also chairman and chief executive officer of Continental Baking Company Limited, will lead off the slate of speakers who will address the conference.

Keynote speaker will be Nichole Cirillo, executive director of International Association of Voluntary Effort, who is a strategic programme and partnership leader and who will address the conference on strategies and recommendations for effective and impactful collaboration to drive action on health pandemics.

Other speakers will include: Dr Parris Lyew-Ayee Jr, director, Mona Geoinformatics Institute, who will speak on data-driven decisions for effective and efficient collaboration; and Robert Adelson, Foreign Service officer with the US State Department and the public affairs officer at the US Embassy in Kingston, Jamaica, who will bring greetings.

FUTURE OF VOLUNTEERISM

Kim Mair, vice-chair of CVSS, will lead a panel discussion on ‘What does the Future of Volunteerism look like?’, comprising of Andrea Dempster Chung, executive director of Kingston Creative, Kemoy Reid of the National Youth Council, and Nicolette Bryan of We-Change.

Meanwhile, Peter Melhado, president and chief executive officer, ICD Group, and Senior Superintendent Stephanie Lindsay, Jamaica Constabulary Force, will participate in a panel discussion on the value of volunteerism in corporations and the value that the employee as a volunteer brings to the organisation. The session will be moderated by Amasheika Lorne, communication and marketing practitioner, television and event host.

Saffrey Brown, chair of the CVSS, said that the conference will be held to improve structures of engagement and collaboration among multisectoral stakeholders in support of the resourcing of the voluntary sector.

“The goal is to convene with voluntary organisations to gain consensus on ways of working across the sectors for achievement of shared goals and objectives. This would include: discussions on policy frameworks, resource allocation and collaboration to ensure resiliency and responsiveness for effective disaster management. The conference will include participation from the public, private and civil society organisations,” she said.

Brown pointed out that the lack of collaboration among civil society organisations has hindered the sharing of data, expertise and resources within and across sectors, as well as the possibility of national alignment around various issues.

“Civil society organisation need platforms by which to facilitate the sharing of data, trends and issues facing the voluntary sector and available tools to achieve objectives,” she underscored.

The event is being funded by the United States Embassy and is a continuation of the work of the CVSS, which coordinated and mobilised voluntary organisations to meet the needs of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable groups in the society through its involvement in the PSOJ COVID-19 Jamaica Response Fund.