Chronic Illness Alliance - Peer Support Network

Management and Governance

As the program develops in size and complexity, you will find that there will be an increasing need for more formal management and governance arrangements.

Governance is about defining the overall purpose and values of an organisation, and the structures and systems necessary to support them. It’s about regulatory compliance, and about risk management – ensuring that potential problems are anticipated and fixed in advance. Governance is the responsibility of the Board (for a Company) or the Committee of Management (for an Incorporated Association).

Management is about action – taking the overall purpose of the organisation and making it happen supported by the systems and structures in place. In small organisations, some individuals may have roles that include both governance and management functions.

Whilst all these issues are relevant to any program, the responsibility will vary depending where the peer support program sits within your organisation at large. If your organisation exists solely to run your peer support activities, then the full range of governance activities need to be included within the scope of program activities (for example you will need to ensure that appropriate volunteer insurance is in place and that you hold any necessary government permits for fundraising activities). If you need assistance in this area, the Our Community web site is a good place to start[i].

On the other hand, if the program is part of a larger organisation, then issues such as insurance and permits may already be managed by others, but you will need to ensure that the program operates within the overall governance structure of the organisation.

The following sections describe some key management and governance issues as they are likely to apply to a peer support program.

5.1 Statement of purpose

As described in Section 1, it is important to have a statement of purpose defined when you initially develop your program. This is not to say that the purpose (or the details) cannot change over time. One important governance issue is to ensure that the organisation and its statement of purpose (whatever form this takes) remain closely aligned. This means that you should review your statement of purpose every two years (as part of a formal review) and make any changes necessary to it or to your operations.



5.2 Relationship of the program to its governing body

With large organisations, it needs to be clear where the peer support program fits within the management structure. The accountability requirements of the program to the governing body need to be documented, e.g. Does the coordinator answer to a supervisor, steering committee, management committee or board? How much autonomy does the coordinator have? How often should the coordinator report? There is a risk that the coordinator can feel isolated, so a small advisory committee can be most valuable. Often the program is reliant on the governing body for funding, so communication needs to be open, regular and strategic.



5.3 Policies

Clearly the policies and processes of the program need to be consistent with those of the governing body. The policies need to be non-discriminatory and recognise the varying health needs of the volunteers and peers.

It is likely that your program will need policies to address the following:



5.4 Position descriptions

Position descriptions help to minimise role confusion and the occurrence of unrealistic expectations. Whether paid or not, there needs to be a position description for the coordinator. The role of the volunteer needs to be clearly defined including, for example, that the volunteer is not a counsellor and does not give medical advice. Incorporated into these position descriptions should be reference to ongoing development and support of the coordinator and the volunteers.

Note of caution: There has been litigation in other countries where persons placed in a volunteer role could demonstrate that they were being asked to carry out duties which could have been carried out by paid employees and where the organisation had resources to pay. For this reason Vision Australia has moved away from specific terms such as job description and position description, and instead uses the term Peer Volunteer Assignment clearly designating it as a volunteer role.



5.5 Procedures

As the organisation matures, you may find it useful to prepare procedures for key tasks and activities. Procedures ensure that information about the best way of working can be passed from one person to another. This applies to the activities of the coordinator and to activities of volunteers. Procedures need to be documented and stored so that they are readily accessible to participants and management. The procedures need to be non-discriminatory and accommodate the varying health needs of the participants.


5.6 Financial arrangements

To support and sustain the program, try to obtain reliable, long-term sources of funding from the governing body and/or external sources. Increasingly the value of peer support programs is being recognised by organisations and as a result there has been the appointment of a coordinator on a salary; in addition, depending on the size of the program, administrative support is also sometimes funded.

The coordinator needs a budget to cover expenses such as stationery, travel, communication costs and training expenses. You may need to consider a policy regarding covering the costs incurred by the volunteers e.g. telephone calls. Special arrangements may need to apply to people who live in rural areas. For online programs there may be costs associated with setting up a website and for ongoing maintenance to ensure it remains up to date.

If your program is not part of a broader organisation, you will also need to consider governance issues related to finance such as ATO requirements, requirements for financial auditing and state-based requirements for fundraising permits.



5.7 Financial arrangements

You need to establish a system to define the collection, management and storage of records. Records which are typically kept are:

Please refer to Section 5 for information regarding the types of data which can be collected for the purpose of program evaluation.

Key factors for successful monitoring and supporting of the program are:

  • Are responsibilities for governance of the program clearly documented and understood?
  • Have the required policies been documented and understood?
  • Are the policies consistent with those of the wider organisation?
  • Have all relevant procedures been documented and understood?
  • Does the program have an advisory group to assist with the ongoing development of the program?
  • Are the accountability requirements of the staff and volunteers well defined?
  • Have all regulatory and financial compliance requirements been identified and met?
  • Are your management practices ethical and non-discriminatory?
  • Is there a process for managing grievances?
  • Are there adequate resources to enable the program to continue to operate?
  • Does the coordinator have sufficient financial resources to manage the program?
  • Is the system of reimbursement of volunteer expenses working smoothly?
  • Is there an effective system to collect and store records?
  • Are you making good use of technology (eg. data control, communication tools) to support your program?
  • Are the values underpinning your program regularly re-visited?
The Chronic Illness Alliance would like to thank the Ian Potter Foundation for their support of this website and the Peer Support Network. Without their generosity neither the website or the establishment of the Network would have been possible.