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VSO - Sharing Skills, Changing Lives

Specialist Assignments

Volunteering with VSO has traditionally meant a one or two year commitment. However, our merger with beso back in April 2005 means that we’re now offering short-term volunteer roles. This is a great step forward, as it enables us to offer our partners overseas a more flexible and effective service.

Short-term opportunities are aimed at highly experienced professionals who can provide advice at senior levels. The assignments can last from 1 - 6 months, depending on the objectives of the placement and the different skills required. Our short-term volunteers have a wide range of specialist skills and they work in the same countries and on the same programmes as our long-term volunteers.

Short and long-term volunteers offer different but complementary approaches to sharing skills with our partners overseas. Long-term volunteers have time to immerse themselves into their new roles and communities. In contrast, short-term volunteers have to act as troubleshooters, hitting the ground running and achieving a lot in a short space of time. Both approaches are equally valuable. And both are instrumental in creating lasting change.

Because of the different nature of the placements, the criteria for becoming a short-term volunteer are different from those for long-term volunteers. You’ll need:

extensive relevant technical or professional experience in at least one specific field
a record of providing advice to others
up-to-date knowledge of current developments in your field of expertise
experience of adapting to new cultures and conditions
availability at short notice
basic IT skills
residency in the European Union and Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein
fluency in written and spoken English.

If you don’t meet the criteria for specialist assignments but you’re still keen to volunteer, find out more about standard placements or youth programmes.

If you do meet the criteria, you now need to:

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