Over a billion people across the world volunteer each year. Volunteers make a vital contribution to development progress all over the globe but their efforts must be properly supported to make sure their hard work and energy is harnessed in the most positive way. Creating a new Global Standard for Volunteering for Development will help ensure that their work is as responsible, effective and impactful as it can be.
VSO and the International Forum for Volunteering in Development were delighted to launch the Global Standard at the International Volunteer Cooperation Organisations’ Conference in Kigali, Rwanda in October 2019. The Standard was developed and produced by VSO on behalf of the Forum to ensure that volunteering is both responsible and impactful. The process involved contributions from organisations across the sector and consultations with hundreds of local, national and international volunteer involving organisations and development practitioners across the world.
The Standard is not simply a set of rules. It is a resource that can be taken up by any organisation working in the volunteering and development sectors. It is a tool that will strengthen outcomes and provide care and protection for volunteers, communities and individuals. It will ensure development programmes are designed with local communities and respond to their needs. Also that the proposed impact is identified beforehand and tracked throughout. As well as keeping community members and volunteers safe and free from harm it intends to ensure volunteers are fully prepared, trained and supported for their experience.
The Global Standard can be accessed from the Forums’ website.
Over the next year VSO will be working with volunteer involving organisations to validate the Standard by testing it in practice and gathering learnings to further refine it for a worldwide roll out in 2022.
This article was written by Pamela Woodburn, Major Partnerships Manager (Scotland) at VSO.