Our volunteers O


ur volunteers come from all walks of life, and support us in many different ways. From running DofE groups to raising our profile, over 50,000 adults in the UK volunteer


for us because they share our passion about the development and growth of young people. Without their enthusiasm, dedication and effort 275,000 young people could not do their DofE. If we had to pay them, it would cost us at least £13m a year.


With your support, our essential work includes recruiting, training and supporting new volunteers, as well as our existing volunteers – many of whom have supported the DofE and young people for years.


Our ambition: to recruit, support and recognise more volunteers from diverse backgrounds, to extend our reach and enable more young people to achieve an Award.


Training our volunteers


We invest a significant amount of time and resources into supporting the volunteers who work directly with young people. Through high quality and inspiring training, we know we can improve young people’s DofE experience and increase the number of Awards achieved.


During the last year we launched a new Expedition Supervisors course and a new Introduction to the DofE course. Both of these courses are now more engaging, inspiring and innovative, and will improve the quality of our volunteers’ experience, helping to show how much they are valued.


All of the DofE’s training resources and platforms for adult volunteers are made available for our delivery partners. This ensures consistency of information, as well as contributing to the development of the youth workforce throughout the UK.


Case study


Jean has been a volunteer Expedition Assessor in the Brecon Beacons for over 30 years. In that time she’s supported over 750 young people, and last year alone spent 286 hours facilitating the success of young people on their expeditions. Despite being 70, she’s just gained her Basic Expedition Leaders Award and renewed her Assessor accreditation!


“So often, I am witness to the great effort with which some young people overcome their difficulties. It keeps me in touch with the young, whilst hopefully demonstrating to them that us oldies can walk alongside them and appreciate each other.” Jean (pictured below, middle row, far left)


The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award – Annual Review of 2010


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