Membership Spotlight highlights the work of our member organisations and outline how other individuals and NGOs can support them. Below we shine the light on Befriending Networks, approaching International Day of Friendship or World Friendship Day, taking place on Sunday 30th July 2023. The awareness day campaigns to foster a culture of peace through friendship. Many years later, in 2011, the 30th July was declared as the International Day of Friendship by the General Assembly of United Nations.

Befriending Networks has been a member of Together since 2021, supporting children and young people befriending projects nationwide. On World Friendship Day, we’re partnering with Together to celebrate how befriending can build connections that support children and young people.  

Who we are?

Befriending Networks is a membership organisation that brings together befriending services from across the UK. As a national network, we are approaching a membership of nearly 400 organisations, with more than 140 of our members based in Scotland.

What we do

We support organisations to provide quality befriending services. We achieve this through our busy calendar of training and networking events. We also have a Quality Award which recognises quality and excellence in befriending. It is also our role to raise awareness of befriending and communicate the impact of befriending on individuals and communities. We bring the sector and our stakeholders together annually to deliver Befriending Week from 1^st-7^th November.

Befriending Week 2023

Throughout the year our core services are focused on supporting our membership with enquiries, networking events and topical training. We will shortly be turning our attention to Befriending Week where, in partnership with our membership, we raise the profile of befriending. We will have some excellent case studies of befriending to share, our members will host celebration events, and we will invite our membership and partners to join us at our annual conference on November 1^st.

Children and Young People Befriending

We host meet-ups for our members who provide befriending services to children and young people. The topics can be varied, but we always try to ensure that we are talking about rights and have kept our membership informed of developments around UNCRC incorporation. We also publish a monthly newsletter for this network.

Strategically we are involved in policy development and leadership related to social isolation and loneliness. We are struck by recent data from HBSC that 1 in 5 young people in Scotland report feeling lonely some or most of the time; this is felt most acutely by girls. We are committed to supporting the Scottish Government to fully realise the ambitions of Recovering Our Connection 2023-26 and want to ensure that the needs and experiences of children and young people are understood and met through the implementation of this plan.

World Friendship Day & Befriending

At Befriending Networks, we support our members to deliver high-quality befriending services that eradicate loneliness, promote wellbeing and ensure everyone feels valued knowing someone cares.

Befriending offers supportive, reliable relationships through volunteer befrienders to people who would otherwise be socially isolated.

Befriending Networks & Together

As a member of Together, we feel connected to other organisations passionate about children’s rights. We really value the accessible briefings that Together create, and we trust the team to act in the best interests of children nationally and internationally. Together have so much knowledge that they generously share with members and that is a great support to us.

Support Befriending Networks

Individuals and organisations interested in befriending can get involved with Befriending Networks in a few ways. We host fortnightly Q&A sessions that are free to attend and cover a broad range of themes. We can also welcome organisations into our membership and our membership services team are available to discuss the benefits of joining and the support we can offer. Finally, everyone is encouraged to connect with us online – particularly as we prepare for and deliver Befriending Week this November.

TwitterX: @befriendingnet
Facebook: Befriending Networks
LinkedIn: Befriending Networks

If Befriending Networks were an animal, what animal would it be and why?

We would be an Octopus!

An Octopus has three hearts – and we think that we have a whole heap of heart as a network, where we really care about befriending projects, about their befrienders, and their service users. The relationship between the three parts is essential to quality befriending.

Octopus have huge reach with their 8 arms (and we have 8 staff!), and we think that this is a good representation of our network – with members all over the UK (and the world!).

Get Involved with Together

• Are you a Together organisational member and would like to collaborate for a Membership Spotlight? Email: caitlin@togetherscotland.org.uk
• Would you like to find out further information about joining Together’s Membership? Find out further information by opening this hyperlink.
• Donate to our Kiltwalk and Skyline Fundraising Activities. We have Sponsorship packages available for organisations. To donate visit our JustGiving Page