Our insights | VSO

In-depth explorations of how our unique volunteering for development approach works to empower communities to create lasting change.

Latest insights

VSO volunteer Rea Torres talks to ICS team leader Torom Justus and Nadja Attianeze Barreto SAP Marcomms volunteer at Buhimba Vocational Training College.

Volunteering together: Do we really know how it works?

by Matt Baillie Smith, Inge Boudewijn, Owen Boyle, Bianca Fadel, Philip Gibby, Katy Jenkins

VSO’s collaboration with the research team from Northumbria University sets out to interrogate how a blend of different types of volunteering approaches might create an impact.

A 'Big Sister' demonstrates how to make sanitary towels to a group of women

Nothing about us, without us

by Sosina Yirga Meheretu, Anne Kahuria

How youth platforms lead to more inclusive pandemic responses.

Little Sister Anjali Patel helping her nephews study at her home during the Covid 19 pandemic lockdown in Nepal

When school stops, learning must not

by Purna Shrestha, Jay Lal

Teaching the most marginalised.

Big sister showing hygiene kit

Pandemic deepens period poverty

by Geeta Pradhan

Nepal must tackle menstrual hygiene and taboos during the lockdown, or risk losing a generation of girls.

A woman punches the air and smiles in the street outside a row of buildings

Going above and beyond to support women entrepreneurs

Whether in the UK or Uganda, there’s growing evidence that the pressures of lockdown and the associated economic downturn will lead to a regression in women’s rights and gender equality.

A volunteer in a VSO T-shirt stands in front of a temporary learning centre in the Cox's Bazar refugee camp

COVID-19, poverty and inequality

Why we need the volunteering for development approach as a capability response.

A young girl sits outside with her mother and father, who are both wearing face masks, using a tablet to learn

Technology is an enabler, not a panacea. Here’s how we should use it.

by Philip Goodwin

The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to have a lasting legacy in terms of how we use technology to deliver development programs around the world.

Volunteers teaching a group of children about social distancing

Pandemic response must empower communities

by Ezekiel Esipisu, Donne Cameron, Philip Goodwin

COVID-19 is accelerating new approaches to do development differently

Philip Goodwin, VSO CEO

What role for charities amid the growth of the ‘informal sector’?

by Philip Goodwin

It’s vital to move beyond artificial divisions between the ‘formal’ and ‘informal’ sectors to a new spirit of active citizenship

An ICS volunteer in front of a blackboard

Engage youth successfully to drive change

by Natchawi Wadman, Scott Desmarais, Ann Karau

Accelerating and improving the quality of youth engagement is vital if we are to drastically reduce poverty.

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Volunteer Monica Atim sits outside with two teenage girls, a baby and a woman, discussing contraception

Volunteering for development

Our unique volunteering for development approach puts the most marginalised people first.

Women farmers tend their crops in Bangladesh | VSO

Our work

We fight poverty not by sending aid, but by working through volunteers and partners to create long-lasting change in some of the world’s poorest regions.

Fatima Zubairu and Fatima Al Hassan are pictured here with a thresher machine that strips the husks and stalks from soya beans.

Partnerships

At VSO, we believe progress is only possible when we work together.