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Media releases > British Asian management skills needed
Management skills of British Asians urgently required for VSO placements(5 October 2005)
British Asians with management skills are urgently required by VSO for volunteer placements overseas, according to research from the international charity.
Demand for management skills has doubled since 2000 and there is a shortage of British Asians applying with management experience. But the quality of the management applications from British Asians is high, with 80% of applications succeeding in securing a VSO management placement in 2004/2005.
Neera Dhingra from VSO comments:
We have an urgent demand for more applications from people with management experience and are particularly keen to recruit volunteers from minority ethnic backgrounds.
Developing countries desperately require volunteers with management skills to help deliver effective services in areas as vital as education and healthcare.
The development charity is seeking managers from minority ethnic communities to use their skills in countries as diverse as Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ethiopia or Malawi.
If you have management skills, you can make a real difference to the lives of some of the most poor and disadvantaged communities in Africa and Asia.
As a VSO management volunteer, you will work with your colleagues overseas, contributing to vital development goals in areas like education, HIV and AIDS and maternal healthcare.
Take the case of 37-year-old Niraj Saraf. He worked as an internal management consultant at Credit Suisse before applying for a VSO placement as an organizational development adviser for a non-governmental organization in Sarajevo in 2004.
They were a young organization and I advised on areas such as strategic planning, marketing and website redevelopment.
Niraj believes that VSO gives him the chance to develop his skills and experience.
The great thing about VSO is that it gives you the opportunity to try things that you might not do in a professional environment. I got to use more of my MBA through VSO than two-and-a-half years in the city.
It’s not your job title that’s important but the experience that you can bring to the placement. Management skills are found across many professions. You could be a head teacher, a management consultant, running your own business or managing a department in an NHS trust.
You’ll have to have a degree and at least two years’ experience in the following areas: Team leadership; change management; strategic planning; staff development; monitoring and evaluation; management and administration system development; project management.
You will need to be aged between 20 and 75 to qualify for our standard volunteer programme.
Editor's notes- To arrange interviews with British Asian VSO management volunteers, please contact Neera Dhingra in the VSO Press Office.
- VSO is an international development charity that works through volunteers. At any one time around 1,500 experienced professionals are sharing their skills with local colleagues in some of the world’s poorest communities, working together to find realistic solutions to the problems they face.
- For more information on why VSO needs managers and volunteer case studies visit www.vso.org.uk/managers
- The British Asian Community generates around 10% of the country’s GDP despite making up only 2.5% of the population, according to research published by the Institute of Asian Professionals.
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