Good governance is the safety net for volunteers and communities. It translates Movement principles into everyday protection, inclusion, and accountability. This page brings together the IFRC Volunteering Policy, the Volunteerism & Legislation Guidance Note, and the Legal Issues Toolkit, and shows how to localise them into clear, branch-friendly procedures. Governance is practical: agreeing what rights and responsibilities volunteers have, how complaints are handled, what insurance and duty of care look like, and how decisions are recorded and reviewed. When these foundations are in place, the rest of the volunteer lifecycle becomes fairer, faster, and safer.
IFRC
Volunteering & Legislation
Legal Issues related to Volunteering
- Policy first: Localise the IFRC Volunteering Policy and use it in induction, supervision, recognition, and exit. IFRC Volunteering Policy
- Law in plain language: Use the joint Guidance Note and the Legal Toolkit to create simple checklists for screening, insurance, data protection, and incident handling.
- Standards for safety & well-being: Adopt the IFRC standards that set minimums for keeping volunteers safe, secure, and well, and link them to branch SOPs. IFRC Implementation Guide
Treat governance documents as living tools. Test them with volunteers and coordinators to ensure they’re understandable and humane. After any incident, debrief and adjust the relevant clause or SOP—then brief branches on what changed and why. Regular reviews (every 3–5 years, or sooner when laws change) help keep practice aligned with principles and context.