VSO Volunteer role: Women and Youth Enterprise Development Specialist – Talent Pool
VSO is the world’s leading independent international development organisation that works through volunteers to fight poverty in developing countries. Our high-impact approach brings people together to share skills, build capabilities, promote international understanding and action to change lives and make the world a fairer place.
Role overview
Working from home and at project location – In this role, you will spend some time providing part-time remote support (e.g. from your home) to VSO projects or partners, and also a set period working full-time in the project location and/or VSO office.
The Women and Youth Entrepreneurship Specialist will provide technical support and build capacity of national volunteers and key staff in close collaboration with county governments, CSOs, private sector, entrepreneurs, youth, national and international volunteers and community to deliver Women and Youth Entrepreneurship Projects.
Skills, qualifications and experience
• A bachelor’s degree in economics, business, Entrepreneurship, marketing, Social Science or related subject.
• Minimum 3 years in business management and Entrepreneurship experience in a large corporation.
• Experience of support to business organization
• Experience in micro, small & medium entrepreneur development.
Allowance
As a VSO volunteer, you will be sharing your skills with local communities on a full time basis. VSO will cover your travel, vaccinations, accommodation, and medical insurance costs, along with a local living allowance which will be paid in local currency. This allowance meets reasonable living expenses in country, but will not be enough to send money home. You will also receive some financial support to contribute to your on-going expenses at home.
Accommodation.
VSO works with some of the poorest communities in the world which means accommodation varies and will be basic.
Some background about VSO
Much has changed since VSO started 60 years ago. We’ve gone from being a UK charity to a truly global development organisation. In 2016/2017 alone, we worked with over 7,000 volunteers from all over the world and from all backgrounds to deliver services that had an impact on the lives of almost 2.6 million people in the 24 countries where we work. Our programmes focus on the areas of health, education and livelihoods, with an increasing emphasis on resilience building, social accountability, gender and social inclusion. We believe progress is only possible when we work together and that strong partnerships are crucial to delivering positive change. That’s why we work with over 500 partner organisations, from local and national governments, to businesses, NGOs, funders, charities and community groups. Currently, over 30% of our people are recruited from within the country in which they work, and we continue to grow the share of community and national volunteers involved in our programmes. We also send increasing numbers of volunteers from one developing country to another. However, our vision has remained the same; to build a world without poverty.
Your application and COVID-19
We are continually reviewing our ability to safely programme and implement projects during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many local restrictions are being implemented in several VSO locations, which impacts VSO’s existing programme delivery.
We will continue to follow the advice of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and national governments to protect the wellbeing and safety of all communities, employees and volunteers.
We’re continuing to build a talent pool of prospective professional volunteers so we can get back to supporting communities as soon as we’re able to.
If your application is shortlisted, a VSO hiring manager will be in touch to discuss the next steps and any changes to your placement and role.
You can read VSO’s COVID-19 statement and frequently asked questions about volunteering during the COVID-19 pandemic here.
If you’re interested in applying for this role, please download the job description for more information.
Please note that this advert is for a role we are expecting to become available in the near future once we have secured funding for the project. If you are interested in this, or similar positions, please express your interest by clicking on the ‘make an application’ button below.
VSO has zero tolerance of abuse and exploitation of vulnerable people. We expect all our employees/volunteers to ensure we protect children, young people and vulnerable adults from harm and abide by our safeguarding policy (PDF).
