National volunteering > Volunteer Placement Organisations (VPOs)

Support to set up or improve the effectiveness of volunteer programmes that place volunteers with other organisations.

VSO’s strategic plan Focus for Change considers ways to support national volunteer initiatives run by national organisations. National volunteer programmes should be developed and run by national organisations and this is central to VSO’s approach. By offering support in this way we can be confident that a national volunteer programme is something partner organisations genuinely see as valid, appropriate and worthwhile.

To date in most cases our support will be to provide technical expertise and seed funding to help get programmes started, for example:

• Ghana 

  
  VSO has supported the Ghana National Service Scheme (NSS) to set up a volunteer program designed to provide teaching capacity in secondary schools in disadvantaged communities. Over the past three years, VSO has provided support in the form of technical support and resources to help NSS recruit, select, train and support volunteer teachers on one-year placements. Now in its third year the NSS NVP placed over 1000 volunteer teachers this year.

• The Balkans

  
  VSO is working with United Nations Volunteers (UNV) to set up a regional volunteering programme for 7 Balkan countries, including former Yugoslav states and Albania. The RIVER SEE initiative involves building the capacity of 14 NGOs to develop and manage volunteer exchange programmes between the neighboring countries. VSO is also working with a network of partners in Bosnia & Herzegovina and Macedonia to provide volunteer management training across the region.