About Us: VSO
VSO has been operating successful volunteering opportunities for over 50 years and are delighted to be offering new programmes under the Government’s International Citizen Service scheme.
Our success is due to the model of putting young people at the centre of efforts to combat poverty and inequality, by giving them a chance to join other young people to work on important projects in developing countries. Young people make up a significant proportion of the world population and they have the skills and the energy to make a real difference. Our programmes are all designed to harness the skills and energy that young people have, and to use it in an effective and useful way.
Our models are flexible and led by local community needs - but all of them are based on the belief that bringing people from different contexts and backgrounds to learn, work and live together is a powerful tool for achieving change. We agree that some of this can be done at a distance; the internet, social networking, phone calls, books, films are all ways of experiencing difference. However we know from experience that nothing matches the impact of actually living and working together in a community.
VSO ICS is an ongoing experience: Volunteering isn’t just about the experience during the months of the placement itself, our volunteers tell us that the ongoing impact of the programme ranges from the jobs they chose and the decisions they make, to how they handle an argument!
It’s not just the volunteers themselves who benefit. ICS impacts on all of the people who come into contact with our teams from host homes to work colleagues to the wider community.
ICS is a powerful combination of living, working and learning in new and challenging environments.
