From managing volunteers to managing partnerships: excluded youth as active partners in non-profit organisations

Abstract

This article aims to provide a theoretical framework for working with excluded youth as active partners in non-profit organisations. Using the Youth-Adult Partnership model, we propose three strategies for creating partnerships with youth in the realm of volunteerism: (1) group volunteering; (2) mentoring as a managerial strategy; and (3) management councils. Each strategy is a means of relying on youths’ knowledge and expertise, and assigning volunteers and practitioners joint authority to lead the services. Based on Bourdieu’s (1986) theory of capital, we argue that such partnerships serve not only as a means of reducing the inequality of young people experiencing social exclusion as volunteers, but also as an opportunity to demonstrate the social capital of youth as service providers stemming from their marginalisation. Such recognition by adults and staff, who are the service providers of the youths as clients, can change the rules for both the youth and the organisations.