The road(s) to recovery? Discussion and conclusion

In this chapter we will summarise the key messages of the book, including a more fluid understanding of voluntary action, as an embodied practice and as a spectrum of participation (Eden Communities Report, 2021). The Eden Communities Report builds on the work of Mike Woolvin (Smith et al, 2010; Woolvin and Hardill, 2013), which we will develop further. With organisational finances and staff under severe strain, delivering blended services, forging new partnerships, voluntary action has changed but it remains very much ‘who we are’ and ‘what we do’, however with an urgent need for a new roadmap for a sustainable future, including the policy decisions needed to support recovery following the pandemic. The chapter will close by concluding that voluntary action has the potential to become richer and more responsive to the societal challenges ahead.