National volunteering
VSO International provides support for the promotion and development of local and national volunteering. Through this work, we aim to promote active citizenship and empower people to understand, affect and own the development of their own communities.
What is national volunteering?
National volunteering is simply people volunteering within their own country. International volunteer-sending organisations increasingly agree that national volunteering is a powerful tool, which reflects a more contemporary approach to volunteering.
We believe that people working together out of community responsibility and shared commitment is a powerful force that can make a major contribution to reducing poverty and promoting development. National volunteers work in many areas, from health to education, and all help to strengthen civil society through community participation and voluntary action.
Our national volunteering work
Although VSO International has supported national volunteering activities for a number of years, it officially became part of our strategic approach in 2002. We do not run national volunteering programmes; rather we use our expertise to support partners to run their own successful volunteering schemes.
We support more than 100 national volunteering partners in over 20 countries. Our support focuses on working with agencies to develop existing volunteer management processes, and supporting partners to research and develop new programmes that use national volunteering in an innovative way to deliver sustainable development.
Find out about national volunteering in:
VSO Bahaginan (the Philippines)
CUSO-VSO (North America)
VSO Jitolee (Kenya)
