Volunteers are part of staff complements at facilities and service centres, with roles and numbers varying widely. In a report evaluating the services rendered to older persons in the Western Cape, a total of 13 out of 20 facilities evaluated in 2015 relied on volunteers (Baerecke, 2015). Volunteers’ responsibilities varied from assisting with administrative tasks, cooking, cleaning, driving and delivering meals to beneficiaries at home. The same report found that there were no formal requirements for staff and volunteers working at service centres for older persons, despite the Older Persons’ Act (no.13 of 2006), as well as the DSD’s Norms and Standards for acceptable levels of care for older persons requiring a formal recruitment programme with corresponding selection and appointment criteria of staff and volunteers (Baerecke, 2015), as well as training of volunteers at residential care facilities for older persons (see Older Persons’ Act, chapter 4, section 17(i)). With an overburdened system characterised by shortages of staff and volunteers, service centres do not apply strict criteria, with few admittedly providing any form of training on how to care and provide services to older persons (Baerecke, 2015). Bigger facilities generally had a more formal organisational structure, whereas smaller facilities with fewer staff relied more on informal organisational structures that generally depended on the services of volunteers.

References:

Baerecke, L. (2015). An Evaluation of Service Centres for Older Persons in the Western Cape. Commissioned by the Western Cape Department of Social Development. Available from: https://www.westerncape.gov.za/sites/www.westerncape.gov.za/files/evaluation_of_service_centres_for_older_persons_final_report_branded_cover.pdf

Government Gazette. (2006). Older Persons Act, No.13 of 2006 (Vol. 13, Issue 1098). Available from: https://www.westerncape.gov.za/other/2012/3/older_persons_act.pdf