Frivillighet er løsningen - har de vært problemet? : hvordan kan offentlig sektor og frivillig sektor arbeide systematisk til det beste for og med innbyggerne?

摘要

In Norway and Denmark, voluntariness has a long tradition. In Norway, we had a very activevoluntary sector until after World War II. During the postwar years, Norway developed a veryrobust welfare state. In this welfare state, the philosophy was that it should be the state takingcare of the citizens, while the voluntariness became a more abstract role in the society.Now we see that the welfare state has trouble meeting the challenges between needs, wantsand resources, and the state need to think of new ways to solve some of the challenges in oursociety. In Denmark, they have come a long way to specify the new type of focus in society,with specific plans and methods so that both employees and the people volunteering can worktogether. In Norway, we have many reports and documents stating the importance of publicsector collaborating with the sector of volunteers, but we have little if anything specific onhow to achieve this.The aim of this thesis is to investigate how the public and voluntary sector systematically canwork together to the best of the society. To answer this question, I have analyzed documentsused in Norway and Denmark. On two occasions, I have observed meetings where voluntarysector was the main topic of discussion. The third method of collecting empirical data camethrough interviewing eight people who in different ways gave an insight into the questionsasked in this thesis.In addition to the main question, I have three research questions. In one question, I ask if theleaders in public sector have a special responsibility to make sure the collaboration betweenthem and volunteers runs as smooth as possible. This question has at least to answers. If weanswer the question within the frame of New Public Management, the answer is yes. If we askthe same question within the frame of governance, the answer is not so clear. In the secondquestion, I ask if we can lead volunteers the same way we would lead employees. If you wantto succeed in this task, as a leader you must acknowledge that it is two different spheres thatneeds to be treated differently. In the third question, I asks if we are truly ready for thischange in society, where we all must participate in a more active way than we have done in along time. With the right frame and the right incentive, I think it is possible, but it willdemand a lot from all of us.