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Media releases > New 'Find a Volunteer' service from VSO
VSO, the international development charity that works through volunteers, is opening up its volunteering expertise to other charities in the international development sector by launching its new Find a Volunteer service. The service means other charities can now benefit from VSO's 50 years of experience of recruiting, matching, training and supporting volunteers overseas.
Find a Volunteer has evolved from VSO's merger with short-term volunteering agency beso in April 2005. The service is able to draw on a database of 3,700 skilled volunteers who are available to support NGOs and charities with international development programmes for assignments lasting from a few weeks to a few months.
Through the new service VSO will ensure that volunteers' professional and personal skills are thoroughly assessed and the best match to the assignment is achieved. VSO can also providing training and briefing for volunteers. In order to recover the costs of running the service, VSO has two levels of fees for small and large organisations ranging from £600 up to £1,600.
Find a Volunteer can provide professionals with a wide range of skills and experience including strategic and project management, finance, IT, engineering, social development, health and education. One third of volunteers have over ten years experience of international working, and their average age is 56.
Michael Shann, VSO Find a Volunteer Manager says:
"VSO is world renowned for its expertise in volunteering, and its thorough recruitment and assessment methods. Find a Volunteer is a way for VSO to make that expertise available to other international development NGOs with a significant base in the UK, Ireland or Netherlands, enabling them to support their programmes with highly skilled and experienced professionals. Through Find a Volunteer the long term impact volunteers have on poverty can be expanded to many other organisations and communities in the developing world."
International children's charity Plan UK was the first organisation to make use of the Find a Volunteer service. Through VSO, Plan found an experienced broadcast professional, Gloria Wood, to undertake an assignment to assess the radio station MODCAR in Sierra Leone, which is funded by Plan. Gloria's assignment was two weeks long and involved assessing the sustainability of the station, along with its technical assets and production. Her evaluation will lead to further volunteer placements and local jobs. Sharon Goulds, Plan's Head of Communications says:
"Find a Volunteer enabled us to carry out a valuable piece of work that will inform our work in Sierra Leone for the next two years. Had we not been able to use Find a Volunteer the assessment may have proved far more expensive."
For more information visit the website www.findavolunteer.orgEditors' Notes
For further information please contact the Press Office at VSO.
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