Volunteer abroad with Voluntary Service Overseas VSO

Bangladeshi farmer Tajnur Bugum surveys the damage to her crops.

1 degree of separation: how global warming is impacting the poorest people on the planet

Our earth and its weather systems are finely balanced. Even a small change has huge ramifications and it’s the planet’s poorest people who are shouldering the biggest burden.

UPDATE: Flooding in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Sierra Leone

Extreme rainfall has caused severe flooding in a number of countries. The people of Bangladesh, Nepal and Sierra Leone, where VSO work on a number of programmes, have been particularly affected.

No one should live in poverty and be denied choice and opportunity.

Our extraordinary volunteers live and work side by side with some of the poorest people to improve lives.

Volunteer roles for professionals

Medical and healthcare volunteer jobs

Use your medical expertise to improve the quality of services and systems across Africa and Asia.

Teacher teaches children the alphabet at Bal Mandir School in Nepal

Volunteer jobs in teaching and education

Help ensure that every child has access to a quality education.

Volunteer jobs in business, management and IT

Business and management professionals needed to support the development of sustainable businesses and livelihoods.

Volunteer videos

Sharing skills saves lives, in a country still living with the impact of Ebola

Dr Padma is a GP from London, who is volunteering at Makeni Regional Referral Hospital in Sierra Leone. In a country still reeling from Ebola, she tells us it's often skills, not supplies, that save lives.

Mary volunteered as an education specialist in Ghana, supporting children with disabilities gain access to school

Finding Ghana’s hidden children

Mary Loureth Carnable is a disability specialist volunteering with in Ghana. She's working to get vulnerable children such as girls and children with disabilities access to education.

Volunteer Paul has been working to make lessons more engaging

Education has to be the root of everything

Paul Jennings has been working as a teacher facilitator in one of the most deprived regions of Tanzania for the last 18 months. He’s supported teachers across 12 secondary schools to help them keep students engaged and attending school. As his placement comes to an end, he reflects on what he’s managed to achieve.

Volunteer blogs

Volunteers set up a street library to get kids reading

While volunteering in Lindi, Tanzania, Steve and Sue noticed that the children they worked with had no access to books. Together with the whole neighbourhood they came up with a new idea to get local children reading.

VSO health volunteer John Williams in Cambodia

Volunteering after retirement: John gives something back in Cambodia

John's lifelong ambition to volunteer abroad was realised at 60, when he was offered a three-month stint in Cambodia with VSO. The placement made use of his valuable experience from a career as a consultant obstetrician to improve the healthcare services in three hospitals in obstetrics and gynaecology. It was challenging but rewarding and John, now 71, accepted a second VSO position in the country the following year.

A day in the life of Rebecca Clark, education leadership advisor, Rwanda

Rebecca Clark, a Deputy Head Teacher from inner-city London, has swapped the concrete jungle for greener pastures. Now she trains Head Teachers in the leafy district of Rusizi, Rwanda, on a two year VSO placement.

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Sierra Leone mudslide appeal