Blog

Rem Dieng, 26, was born with polio. It affects the way she walks – and her chances of getting work. Now a volunteer on VSO’s International Citizen Service (ICS) programme, she’s using her story to inspire youth club members to continue into higher education and better job prospects. 

A billion people in the world are volunteers. A new UN report rightly recognises their vital role combatting the growing global threat of natural and man-made disasters, writes VSO’s Chief Executive Philip Goodwin. 

In Cambodia, rice farmers are struggling with growing costs and stagnant markets. They are taking out loans to cope in the difficult months and when they cannot repay them they're forced to migrate towards cities or overseas in search of work, leaving behind children and aged parents to care for the rice fields.

This week we received one of our proudest accolades to date– to be named the UK’s most diverse charity in terms of senior leadership.

As the world has changed, VSO has changed with it. To date over 76,000 people have volunteered with VSO. Watch this video showing six decades of fighting poverty in under a minute.

60 years ago VSO set out to fight poverty globally. Today, the work of volunteers means there is much to celebrate in Nigeria. VSO CEO Philip Goodwin joins in.

Gerieke Zandberg, a paediatric nurse from the Netherlands, is working to save babies’ lives at Gulu Hospital in Uganda.

VSO and Mondelēz International, one of the world’s largest confectionary companies, are equipping women farmers with training and support to start their own business enterprises. Two women share the story of how Cocoa Life has given them more independence.

As new revelations about abuse and harassment within our sector come to light, we at VSO have also been reflecting on what ‘zero tolerance’ means to us as an organisation.

As Chief Executive of an international development organisation, recent reports on sexual abuse and exploitation carried out by employees at aid organisations have been incredibly difficult to read and watch.  They have left me feeling appalled and at times disillusioned.

VSO-led research, as part of the One Community One Family (OCOF) project, reveals the difficulties of everyday life for many girls and women in Nepal - but also shines a light on the changing attitudes of the younger generation.

In 1956 David Hoggett volunteered alongside the founder of VSO, assissting Hungarian refugees. His brother Christopher remembers VSO in his Will.