Meet Yvonne Adnyana, an Assistant Headteacher who brings 17 years’ experience in education, alongside a background in psychology and the NHS, to her role as a VASE trustee.
Yvonne sees safeguarding as an enabler rather than a barrier to supporting children and young people. As she explains, “It is a tool that helps us do things safely, not a reason not to do them.”
After years of working with children and families, she recognises that, for smaller voluntary organisations, support can be as straightforward as helping them ask the right questions before an issue arises.
Yvonne adds, “In my experience, having safeguarding behaviours built into consistent practice is important. This is an area where VASE could provide practical support, helping organisations ask questions such as: Have we considered the risks? What would we do if something happened? Are appropriate processes in place?”
Speaking about her experience of joining VASE, Yvonne feels she has gained a new understanding of the scale of voluntary action within communities.
“I feel like a bit of a veil has been lifted,” she says, reflecting on her discovery that many services she has encountered throughout her career are delivered by charities or rely on volunteers, something that was not always apparent from the outside.
Reflecting on how children and young people understand their place within their communities, she believes they should be seen not only as recipients of services but also as people with the potential to participate in and shape the places where they live.
“They might be receivers of services, but in the future they could be contributors.”
Yvonne believes there is an opportunity to help children and young people develop a greater understanding of citizenship, volunteering and how communities function. She sees a role for VASE in connecting schools, communities and voluntary organisations, while strengthening the organisations that make this work possible.
For Yvonne, the ambition is to help people better understand what is happening in their communities and recognise that they, too, have a part to play.