International volunteering

We place international volunteers with our partner organisations in Africa and Asia. They provide support to our partners and their local communities in a wide range of roles in the health, education, environment, economic empowerment and sport for development sectors.

Caragh trained occupational therapists in Tanzania It's not a case of one size fits all... Our placements vary to meet our partners' needs, and our international volunteers include long-term development workers, short-term consultants, medical students and football coaches. In March 2011, we launched a new volunteering programme for 18-22 year olds as part of the government's International Citizen Service initiative.

Three online volunteers have provided remote support to our partner organisations in Tanzania and five consultants from our corporate partner Tribal Group have completed secondments in Southern Africa, East Africa and Asia.

Quick stats about our international volunteering programme

In 2009-10, 113 Skillshare development workers supported our partners in Africa and Asia.
In 2009-10, 71% of our development worker placements were in Southern Africa, 13% in East Africa, 14% in Asia and 2% elsewhere.
In 2009-10, 43% of our development workers were from the majority world - Africa, Asia and South America. 57% were from Europe, North America or Australia.
The average age of our development workers is 39.
In 2009-10, 94% of Skillshare placements were the traditional two-year model. 3% were short-term placements and 3% were online placements. Placements vary depending on the needs of our partner organisations and the type of placement.

More figures...

We received 510 applications in 2009-10.
In 2009-10, 51% of our development workers were female.
In 2009-10, eight children accompanied their development worker parents.
In March 2010, we had six couples on placements - where both are development workers, or a development worker is accompanied by their partner/spouse.

Some of the placements we recruited development workers for in 2010:

Programme Co-ordinator for an anti-trafficking network in Nepal
Communication and Publications Officer for a gender-based violence organisation in Nepal
Advocacy Advisor for a child protection organisation in Mozambique
Music Coach for a youth performing arts project in Tanzania
Advocacy & Research Officer for a peace building organisation in Kenya
Occupational Therapist for the Ministry of Health in Lesotho
Clinical Psychologist for a mental health hospital in Tanzania
Resource Mobilisation Advisor for a women's and children's charity in Uganda
Programme Management Advisor for an environmental charity in Tanzania
Technical & Marketing Advisor to a non-timber forest produce programme in India

Find out more

Skillshare International