FAQs

VSO is a 65 year old organization rooted in the power of volunteering to deliver positive, sustainable change. Our original name, Voluntary Services Overseas, reflects our commitment to the impact of the individual.

We put people first and empower them to be in the driving seat of their own development. Our volunteers work in collaboration with marginalized communities in every aspect of project design, delivery and evaluation, enabling the world's poorest communities to take charge of their own change.

VSO USA is the North American arm of our global movement to unlock the power of people across the globe. Since our founding, VSO USA has played a unique role in the broader VSO International network. We lead the organization’s engagement with North American-based donors and development partners to help marginalized groups create sustain.

No, VSO is not a volunteer sending agency nor is it an arm of the UK government. VSO is a global organization whose mission is to create a fair world for everyone through the power of volunteering.  At VSO we harness the skills and expertise of volunteers to deliver long -lasting change. We not only bring new programs to these communities, we work with existing systems with multiple people across all levels of community. Over 90% of our volunteers are based locally in the communities we serve.

VSO and Peace Corps have in the past worked together as strategic partners with the aim of building a lasting legacy of local volunteerism in the countries where they have worked and both Peace Corps and VSO volunteers have a history of collaborating on specific community interventions. 

However, today VSO’s programs seek to deliver sector-wide change in education, health and livelihoods. We deliver at scale and are driven by national and community volunteers with 90% of our volunteers coming from the countries and communities in which we work. We see this as an investment in local capability that delivers sustainable, long-term change. 

VSO has pioneered locally-led development and supports a localization approach rooted in providing our partners with increased capacity and ownership of solutions.

We put the primary actors we work with and support at the center of our programs and see them as leading their own development and our work. We also take a systems approach to change, ensuring our solutions are as integrated as the problems we solve.

We seek to promote active citizenship through volunteering and look to cede power to local actors and promote local voice in decision-making. 

VSO invests in supporting local communities, organizations, and institutions to promote the systems level change needed to ensure lasting impact. We see the challenges of marginalization and vulnerability as rooted in issues of social inclusion and gender, social accountability and resilience.

By focusing on these three areas as cross-cutting themes across all our programs, we tackle the root causes of poverty and ensure the sustainability of our interventions. Local stakeholders and institutions are included at all stages of our project design, delivery and evaluation building the ownership and capability of local actors.

Government Agencies: VSO USA works with government agencies such as USAID and GAC to receive funding, and deliver high quality programming. 

Foundations: Private foundations such as IKEA Foundation work with us to align their annual giving to reflect their values. 

Individual Donors: We welcome grassroots donations at our international site, which you can visit here: https://www.vsointernational.org/get-involved/support-us 

Volunteers: On the ground volunteers power our work in over 20 countries. You can learn more about volunteering by visiting our international site: https://www.vsointernational.org/volunteering 
 
Learn more about our partners by visiting the partnerships page of our website
 

We welcome individual support through volunteering or grassroots donations on our international site: https://www.vsointernational.org/volunteering

VSO works in over 20 countries across Africa and Asia. Our active projects are in countries where help is needed most to advance our goals of sustainability and local governance to tackle issues like climate change, inclusive education, and improving health outcomes.