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Fighting poverty through volunteering

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Fighting Poverty

How we do it

Faces at the window

Inclusive education

Making sure everyone gets the skills they need to live a fulfilled, dignified life. 

Over the past five years we have supported almost 3,500,000 children to access the quality education they deserve.
Mother and child in Tanzania | VSO

Healthy communities

Improving health services for all and empowering the most marginalised to exercise their right to quality care.

Over the past five years we have helped over 3,600,000 people access better healthcare.
Women suported by VSO water their crops in Zambia

Resilient livelihoods

Ensuring people have the skills and opportunities needed to support themselves and their families.

770,000 people have benefited from our work supporting livelihoods over the past five years.

Volunteering for Development

Cover of the Valuing Volunteering report

Valuing volunteering

Four volunteer researchers worked in four countries (the Philippines, Kenya, Nepal and Mozambique) used participatory action methods to determine the unique value of volunteering in international development.

Most previous studies focussed on the effect volunteering has on the volunteers themselves, there has been little documentation of the impact volunteering creates.

VSO has always believed that people are the best agents of change, and this research now provides evidence for volunteers’ unique contribution to reducing poverty.

Find out more about the research

People First

Our strategy, People First, sets out how we will increase our impact against marginalisation and poverty:

  • Extend and deepen our impact through our programmes
  • Mobilise global citizens to support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
  • Position volunteering as a powerful contribution to delivery of the SDGs

DOWNLOAD PEOPLE FIRST (PDF)

Where we work