28 January 2008

International development charity VSO today lambasted the exclusion of international volunteering from the new report from The Commission on the Future of Volunteering.

VSO, which is 50 this year and has sent over 33,000 volunteers to share their skills overseas, is disappointed that this landmark report does not include one mention of international volunteering, and fails to recognise the contribution that international volunteers make both globally and on their return to the UK.

Judith Brodie, Director of VSO UK, said “International volunteers contribute significantly to social cohesion, skill development, and civic engagement in this country, as well as educating people in the UK on global issues. Their absence from this report is a huge omission. International volunteering needs to be seen as a vital, not separate, part of the UK’s volunteering landscape.

“Volunteering should be a part of our everyday lives as much as family, friends and work. But unless we have volunteering-friendly policies this will never happen. Businesses have cottoned-on to the benefits of employer-supported volunteering schemes, and ironically it’s the public and voluntary sectors that need to catch up.

“Government has a golden opportunity to start this cultural shift by developing a public sector volunteering scheme which encompasses international volunteering, and promoting incentives to volunteer, like formal sabbaticals which ensure job security, pension contributions and professional accreditation.”

Ends

For more media information about VSO please contact the VSO Media office on 020 8780 7410 / 07790 628733 or press@vso.org.uk

Note to editor:

VSO made a submission to the consultation process for the Commission on the Future of Volunteering.