Blog

Marie Moreau from Dublin, who has just returned from volunteering with VSO Ireland as an Inspection Advisor in Uganda, talks about her experience helping to improve and extend the country's education system.

Payment system reform by VSO volunteers means teachers can reliably access their hard-earned wages.

Volunteer Jo Doyne is based in western Rwanda, supporting teachers to provide appropriate teaching to children with special needs. She talks to us about her work with Ngwino Nawe, a special needs school.

Young people in the UK and in Zambia have exactly the same needs. The difference is that in Zambia they face poverty on a whole different scale

Sandy Hung, 28, left behind a high-powered role to volunteer with disadvantaged businesswomen in Iringa, Tanzania.

In Lindi, Tanzania, exam results are among the lowest in the country and many students drop out of school early. English teacher, Rebecca Ngovano, has been working alongside VSO volunteer Paul Jennings to try and change this.

"The confidence I have gained from this experience is something that will definitely help me"

"You have a role of inspiring and building confidence."

VSO volunteer researcher Pauline Faughan spent three months visiting schools interviewing teachers, pupils and community members on their attitudes to girls education.

"In these days of questioning the effectiveness of volunteering and international development, it is encouraging to learn that an individual can make a difference."

When Andrew Ashe volunteered as a teacher in Papua New Guinea in the 1980s, he can hardly have imagined that more than 30 years later, he’d be helping launch an innovative education project with VSO.

Education volunteer Ann reflects on her time working in Nepal on a project to promote girls' education.