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Migrant communities risk a lost generation of 'invisible children' as children miss out on early childhood development

09/04/2013 00:01:00

Early childhood care and education is not reaching Thailand's most marginalised children, despite significant improvements and a clear policy of Education for All, according to a new report from VSO Thailand/Myanmar. Children of migrant workers are particularly disadvantaged.


VSO celebrates the successful completion of over 15 years of commitment to the Sri Lankan mental health service

15/03/2013 15:30:00

An event held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, celebrated and wrapped up VSO's 15-year commitment and partnership with the Sri Lankan mental health service.


Celebrating 50 years of VSO Nepal

04/02/2013 10:00:00

VSO Nepal is busily preparing for its big 50th anniversary taking place next year. The team is organising an exciting range of events and projects to celebrate and raise awareness about VSO's life-changing work in the country.

VSO appoints Angela Salt as UK Director

14/11/2012 10:00:00

International development charity VSO today (14 November) announced the appointment of Angela Salt as VSO UK Director.

Landmark new policy to protect tens of thousands of women HIV carers across Zimbabwe

06/11/2012 09:30:00

A new health policy protecting the rights of community caregivers will help tens of thousands of women caring for people with HIV, Zimbabwe’s Deputy Prime Minister Ms Thokozani Khupe will say at a conference hosted by VSO today (Tuesday 6 November) in Pretoria, South Africa.


London UN development panel meeting: "People are tired of being told what they need" says VSO

31/10/2012 10:00:00

The High Level Panel advising the UN on the new post-2015 development framework, meeting in London this week (1 November) and co-chaired by David Cameron, must listen to and support people in poor countries who are already actively engaged in fighting poverty, rather than seeing them as passive beneficiaries, according to international development charity VSO.

VSO volunteer organises national competition for businesswomen in Tajikistan

12/10/2012 11:00:00

Farah-2012 was the first national competition in Tajikistan to find the best female entrepreneur. It involved women and organisations from all regions of Tajikistan and across a wide distribution of towns. Its great success was in creating networks of women and empowering women to improve and enhance their businesses.

Accenture and VSO give Entrepreneurship Award to shoemaker from Sierra Leone

01/10/2012 00:01:00

Accenture and VSO today announced that Umaro Kargo, a shoemaker from Makeni, Sierra Leone, is the winner of the Making Markets Work for the Poor: Entrepreneurship Award. The award, which honors an individual or group which demonstrates outstanding entrepreneurial spirit in the face of adversity, provides Mr. Kargo with $2,000 worth of in-kind support for business development training from VSO partners to help him build his business by accessing influential markets within West Africa.

“Moral obligation” to share skills overseas, says British doctor winning award for patient safety work in Ethiopia

28/09/2012 16:30:00

Dr Tom Bashford, 32, from London, last week won the Patient Safety Award from the Association of Anaesthetists of GB and Ireland, for his work promoting safe surgery while working as a VSO volunteer doctor in Ethiopia. He spoke today of a “moral obligation” to support developing countries with UK-trained medical professionals.

New 'EU Aid Volunteers' pilot scheme helps VSO rebuild South Sudan's health system

19/09/2012

VSO today (19 September) welcomed “EU Aid Volunteers”, a new European Commission initiative which will recruit 10,000 EU citizens to volunteer worldwide in humanitarian operations. The European Commission today set out its plans for the new initiative, which will provide a path for Europeans who want to offer practical help in countries where it is most urgently needed.


New partnership between UNV and VSO: Promoting volunteering to empower local communities in driving the development agenda

18/04/2012 00:01:00

A new partnership between the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme and VSO, announced today, will maximise the potential of volunteering to help citizens drive development forward themselves.

VSO partner petition persuades Tanzanian Government to make new commitments to farmers

26/03/2012 12:52:00

On 1 March 2012 VSO partner organisation ANSAF, along with a group of smallholder farmers and ordinary African citizens, marched to State House in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to deliver a petition signed by more than 16,000 African farmers and citizens.


Sierra Leone: ten years on from end of civil war, youth unemployment could threaten new unrest, warns VSO

17/01/2012 14:35:00

Ten years on from the end of civil war in Sierra Leone (18 January), mass youth unemployment poses a threat to the existing peace and stability in the country, international development charity VSO is warning.


VSO Bahaginan’s rescue efforts in Mindanao

03/01/2012 14:37:00

VSO Bahaginan is working directly with the Mindanao Emergency Response Network through the Ranaw Disaster Response and Rehabilitation Center to provide relief to thousands affected by Typhoon Washi. VSO Bahaginan is coordinating the distribution and purchase of relief goods and is planning medium and long-term interventions.

VSO Bahaginan and partner work to build new homes in Iligan

03/01/2012 12:55:00

VSO Bahaginan and Peacebuilders Community will explore a joint project with local NGO EcoWEB, to utilise the logs that were washed away by flash floods from upper villages of Iligan. The logs will be made into lumber and will be used to build new homes for some of the families that were left homeless by the flooding.


VSO underlines new global approach with appointments of International Board Trustees

05/12/2011 11:38:00

VSO underlined its new global focus with the appointment of a new Chair and six new trustees to its International Board.


VSO and Peace Corps Sign Agreement to Promote Volunteer Service

05/12/2011 11:32:00

Today VSO and the Peace Corps signed a partnership agreement at the United Nations headquarters in New York that will allow the organisations to share best practices and work more effectively in countries where volunteers serve. The event was organised by UN Volunteers as part of the 10th Anniversary of the International Year of Volunteers and International Volunteer Day.


The value of volunteering is not in the science but in the art of being human

05/12/2011 00:01:00

VSO policy director, Amanda Khozi Mukwashi reflects on the importance of volunteering.


VSO calls for commitment to democratic ownership of aid in response to Forum on Aid Effectiveness

02/12/2011 11:51:00

The international community must translate promises of broad-based, democratic ownership of aid into concrete commitment and action, says development charity VSO in response to the agreements reached at the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, South Korea on 1 December.

VSO China to launch second Volunteering Expo in Beijing

30/11/2011 14:00:00

Following on from the success of last year's expo, VSO China is once again working in partnership with several organisations (including the School of Social Development and Public Policy of Beijing Normal University and Huizeren) to celebrate volunteerism in China. This unique event will take place on 4-5 December at Beijing Normal University.


VSO partner employee nominated for Woman of the Year award

23/11/2011 10:30:00

Meena Paudel, Programme Coordinator from Nepal Disabled Women's Association – one of VSO Nepal's partner organisations from the participation and governance programme – has been selected along with two other finalists for Aosta’s ‘Woman of the Year’ awards.


“Jobs for the G20” message from Cannes ignores urgent need for jobs in world’s poorest countries, warns VSO

04/11/2011 16:35:00

The G20 is failing to tackle the jobs crisis facing millions of people in the world’s poorest countries with the same urgency as for people in G20 nations, warned development charity VSO today (Friday 4 November).


Response to UK Government’s UN Women funding announcement: “a failure of ambition”

06/07/2011 10:03:00

Leading organisations, VSO, Christian Aid and the WI have warned today that the UK Government’s announcement of £10 million in annual funding for UN Women represents a failure of ambition that was deeply disappointing for the billion women living in poverty around the world.


VSO response to UN Women’s ‘Progress of the World’s Women: In pursuit of justice’

06/07/2011 11:23:00

In Pursuit of Justice is a wake-up call to world leaders who are not providing equal legal rights to their female citizens. In many counties there are still too many gaps in the law, which leave women without adequate protection. For others, the laws are barely worth the paper they are written on because implementation is so weak, or justice systems actively discourage women from using them.


VSO Statement: Women and girls at heart of Obama and Cameron aid pledge

25/05/2011 15:41:00

VSO welcomes Prime Minister David Cameron and President Obama’s announcement that they plan to do more to prevent violence towards women, and to change the lives of the 1.2 billion poor people in the world today.

President Obama and UK Prime Minister Cameron announce partnership to strengthen volunteers’ fight against global poverty

25/05/2011 14:10:00

US President Barack Obama and UK Prime Minister David Cameron have today announced a partnership between two of the world’s leading volunteer organisations, VSO and the US Peace Corps.


NGOs raise concerns about proposed Cambodian law

08/04/2011 17:21:00

VSO has joined 61 other leading international non-government organisations to outline their concerns about a proposed new law that is to be adopted by the Cambodian Government.

State of emergency declared: VSO's Namibian volunteers on the front line

31/03/2011 10:27:00

Floods and storms are threatening the homes and work of VSO’s 54 international volunteers in Namibia.

VSO welcomes UN decision on women’s agency but calls on swift decisions to agree budget and mandate

16/09/2009 14:51:00

VSO welcomes the positive steps the UN General Assembly has taken in expressing unanimous support for the creation a UN women’s agency to be headed by a new Under Secretary-General (USG). 


Global Campaign for Education launch World Cup intiative

21/08/2009

VSO attended the launch of 1GOAL at Wembley Stadium, London in August. Marcel Desailly and footballers from across the world support the new campaign that aims to make Education for All a reality, by gathering signatures and increasing the pressure on global leaders to keep their promises.


VSO officially opens new programme office in Dushanbe, Tajikistan

24/06/2009 00:01:00

VSO officially opens its programme office in Tajikistan on 25 June 2009 following its official registration in Tajikistan last September. The British ambassador, His Excellency Mr. Trevor Moore, will host the official launch of VSO’s newest country programme. 


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