Each year, hundreds of people undertake rewarding placements as volunteers in developing countries. Volunteers say they return to their own country equipped with invaluable professional experience, a wealth of memories, and a whole new perspective on life.
Accenture was a founding partner of VSO’s Business Partnership Scheme in 1999. Through the scheme Accenture enable their employees to take on strategic and developmental assignments with VSO’s partner organisations in developing countries, whilst on a leave of absence from the company. Volunteer roles are designed to share the skills, expertise and resources of the volunteer with the local organisation to make a lasting change to some of the world’s poorest communities.
Volunteer placements offer opportunities to enhance leadership, communication and creative skills and broaden experience through working in a development context. As a volunteer you will live and work in a local community, getting a true understanding of their needs and enabling you to make a real impact.
Tristan Haddow, a Manager in Accenture UK, undertook a placement in Cambodia for 6 months in 2006/7. Tristan was an Organisational Adviser for PSP, a health organisation producing a quarterly educational magazine for health workers across the country. Tristan provided coaching, mentoring and skills training, improved the operational efficiency of the organisation and supported the creation of a long-term strategic mission. Having embedded new structures and procedures into the organisation the publication is now reaching 99% of the 20,000 health workers in the country, most of which have limited access to other sources of reliable health information. Tristan has continued to offer on-going support to PSP’s Director since his return to the UK.
Tristan says of his time in Cambodia:
“The opportunity to share my skills in the developing world whilst maintaining my career path was extremely rewarding. It enabled me to fulfil a desire to contribute what I could to a resource poor community without deserting my employment at home, and Accenture gained the skills I enriched through the experience.”
