Embargoed until 00:01 20 March 2008
VSO celebrates 50th Anniversary: Leeds resident in first ever group to volunteer in Sarawak for the international development charity
VSO, the world’s leading development organisation, begins the countdown this week to its 50th anniversary on Sunday, by celebrating the contribution volunteers from Leeds have made worldwide.
Local resident Graham Platt was in the very first group to travel to the developing state of Sarawak, Malaysia, in 1958 to volunteer. Like those he travelled with, Graham was young, enthusiastic and keen to offer his skills and services to the community.
Since the first volunteers, 239 Leeds residents have volunteered in 49 countries in the 50 years since VSO was set up, from China to Cameroon, Sri Lanka to South Africa, Poland to Papua New Guinea. During that time, the type of person volunteering has changed greatly. From the original ‘gap year’ students of the 1950s to highly experienced volunteers today with an average age of 41, VSO volunteers’ skills have progressed from a keenness to do something worthwhile to a much more strategic emphasis on tangible, transferable professional skills. Indeed, Leeds’ volunteers have shared skills and experience right across the globe from occupations as diverse as communications officer, palliative care nurse, accounts lecturer, ecotourism advisor, English teacher trainer, physiotherapist, fundraising support officer, and youth leader.
Leeds residents, along with volunteers from an increasing number of countries, have done much to help VSO meet changing global needs across the last five decades:
- 1950s – First volunteers from Leeds in 1958 embark on volunteering adventure, including a group visit to Sarawak, Malaysia.
- 1960s: VSO works with victims of leprosy and supports countries preparing for decolonisation.
- 1970s: VSO focuses more on professional skills as it places its last school leaver overseas.
- 1980s: The average age of a VSO volunteer rises to 28 and 1,125 volunteers are overseas.
- 1990s: VSO is invited to help rebuild the destroyed education system in Rwanda, post genocide and at the end of the decade launches VSO Business Partnerships, enabling companies to release staff for placements of between three months and two years.
- 2000s: VSO begins recruiting volunteers from Kenya, Uganda, India and the Philippines in recognition that people living in developing countries also have skills and experience to share and a right to participate in volunteering.
Jonathan Dimbleby, President of VSO said:
"I've been involved with VSO for many years. What is essential, and what I've seen time and time again, is the on the ground partnership and genuine sharing of skills. The impact on the individuals and organisations with whom we work is far greater and far more sustained than you might imagine of a charity of VSO's size. Relationships are forged that endure. Relationships that are extremely useful in both countries.
There is no question that people who do VSO find it a life changing experience, as anyone who has done VSO will testify. Whether they belong to an earlier generation when volunteering was done in a much more simple way, or whether they are high fliers from business or public sector doing a short term placement today, they are hugely affected by it and it changes their world perspective. They may have been sympathetic before, but after volunteering they see the country they volunteered in as part of a set of greater challenges globally. They become ambassadors for internationalism and this could not be more important than now, amongst the backdrop of global challenges we face."
Richard Wong, 34, volunteered with VSO in Nepal for two years between 2005 and 2007.
“Before volunteering with VSO I was a project manager with a building society for four years,” says Mr Wong. “For all of that time I was interested in working with the voluntary sector – amongst other things I took part in an awareness raising campaign for Save the Children in my spare time. I greatly enjoyed my time in Nepal and returned to the UK determined to change the course of my career. I now work for CND and Mencap as well as studying for an MA in International Development.”
VSO is supported by an active local group in Leeds which raises money and awareness for the charity, and brings volunteers past and present together with supporters. The group ensures volunteers can continue to find ways to change the world and their community when they are back in the UK.
To find out more about volunteering with VSO go to: www.vso.org.uk or call 020 8780 7500
ENDS.
For more information, footage and stills or to set up an interview with a returned volunteer please contact George Ames, 020 7403 2230, george@forster.co.uk
Notes to Editors
- VSO is the world's leading independent international development organisation working through skilled volunteers around the world.
- www.vso.org.uk
- For Leeds’ volunteering footprint over the last 50 years and case studies see separate sheet.
- Archive broadcast quality footage and stills are available of VSO through the ages.
