Volunteering in the south

Vacancies for volunteering in the South

Because we are a fairly small organisation, the number of people that can be accommodated each year is limited.

What are the needs of VSF?

Receiving volunteers/students can be a stimulating but also time-consuming activity for our people in the field. Therefore it is especially rewarding if the visit presents an added advantage for the project and its beneficiaries, as well as to the volunteer (the well-known win-win situation). How?

• Conducting applied research/study relevant for the project. Research opportunities will be determined by the projects and/or local partners and will be posted on the VSFB website as well as being circulated at appropriate universities, institutes.
• For the purpose of development education. Raising awareness in Europe is part of the mission of VSFB. Your visit will be planned in view of this and after you visit you will give presentations of your experience to certain audiences.
• To give direct administrative or other support to the project. You will need to possess a certain expertise and it needs to answer to a real need.

Conditions

• To be able to realize the above objectives a thorough preparation of your visit is necessary. This preparation needs to take place in consultation with the project coordinator in Brussels, the field responsible and the supervisor (in case of a study).
• For a study, research or support visit the length of your stay is minimum 1 month. After your mission you are expected to prepare a report on the results/findings and your experiences.
• To be able to validate your visit a presentation to the students (or another audience) will provide VSFB and its partners with more visibility.
• Possibly: to write an article for the VSF info to share you experiences with an even wider public.

Volunteer Profile

• To identify him/herself with the vision and mission of VSFB.
• Able to take initiative in a responsible manner, within the mission of VSF.
• Good communicator and willing to learn
• Cultural openness
• Be able to work autonomously
• Fluent English or French ;
• Be realistic
• Able to work with Word and PPT

Last but not least !

VSFB cannot provide any financial support to volunteers which means that all the travel and subsistence costs need to be borne by the volunteer him/herself .