The CLARITY team with a group from HR services company Randstad, who are involved in the project’s business component, visiting GEWOMA as part of a monitoring and evaluation exercise.
Nicholaus Jackson

VSO and Randstad

 Sharing skills to fight poverty.

VSO and Randstad logo

Recruitment specialist Randstad has been supporting us to recruit and manage skilled volunteers since 2004.

Randstad provides us with access to their technology and corporate networks, and builds the capacity of our staff and local partners through employee volunteering, technical support, and pro bono services.

Randstad and VSO at a glance

250+

Over 250 Randstad employees have volunteered with us since our partnership began.

31

Volunteers have represented 31 countries.

7,000

In the last three years alone, 79 Randstad volunteers have reached 7,000 people.

22,500+

In total, Randstad volunteers have contributed over 22,500 days of work.

A strategic partnership 

When we look for partnerships it is not just about giving money and then the company does something with it, we really want to cooperate... What VSO does is make a tangible benefit to society through the output of people which is what we do, every day.
Jacques van den Broek
CEO, Randstad

Since 2016, the focus of our partnership has shifted primarily to improving the employability of marginalised people, in close alignment with Randstad’s core business.

Randstad volunteers have worked extensively across our livelihoods programmes in East Africa, improving people's ability to earn a decent living by:

  • providing training in employability and entrepreneurship skills,
  • offering career guidance,
  • supporting people to develop soft skills,
  • providing business development coaching.

Volunteers also create linkages with local businesses to develop internship opportunities, and establish job-matching systems to help people into employment.

Participants can then put their newly-developed skills into practice in vocational training institutes, hubs and business incubators - so improving their longer-term employment and income-generating prospects.

Supporting young entrepreneurs

Besides enhancing young people’s chances to access wage employment, our projects support youth-led micro enterprises, and encourage young people to start their own businesses and become self-employed.

Dutch Randstad volunteers Daisy Spangenberg and Kim Van Nijnatten with Rakhil Saleh Kombo, a gender and youth worker, and Wahdat Suleiman Ali, an accountant, at the Zanzi Jobs fair.
VSO/Sophie Tremblay
Randstad industry link volunteers with local professionals at the Zanzi Jobs fair, Tanzania.

We don't only offer business plan training and coaching, but also start-up capital: for example, a young woman training to be a tailor could be given a sewing machine to help her start her own business. She will be coached along the way by Randstad employees.

In 2019, 1,495 young people benefited from training in entrepreneurship and soft skills, and 679 gained valuable work experience by undertaking an internship.

The future of Randstad and VSO

Randstad is now a key partner in our resilient livelihoods work, particularly in developing our Future of Work agenda, and co-presenting with us in global forums.

Over the next 15 years, we can continue to collaborate to play a key role in addressing the UN's Sustainable Development Goal 8: "promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all".

By combining our resources and expertise, we can work to ensure that young people in Africa and Asia can access decent jobs and secure resilient livelihoods.

When I look back over what we have achieved over the last 15 years, it is a really inspiring thing to look at... I think that Randstad with its expertise and its brand coming together with VSO with its expertise and brand... creates really exciting possibilities to help those who are the most poor and marginalised.

Phillip Goodwin
CEO, VSO