The UK Government has today (Saturday 25 June) announced a new
£27m partnership with the UK’s leading overseas volunteering
charity, VSO, to empower people living in low-income countries
across the Commonwealth and other countries to take control of
their futures.
The Active Citizenship Through Inclusive Volunteering &
Empowerment (ACTIVE) programme aims to reach 2.5 million people
across 18 countries by mobilising marginalised groups – including
women, young people and those with disabilities – to act on the
issues that are most important to them and their local
communities.
This funding will build on the volunteering for development model
to help strengthen locally led organisations and create a culture
of volunteerism, whilst building the capacity of the UK’s partner
countries, including Rwanda, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Eswatini,
Sierra Leone, Zambia, Tanzania, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Uganda and
Bangladesh to respond to the demands of their citizens.
It will include twinning partnerships between hospitals in the UK
and those in our partner countries to exchange skills and
learning, including on areas like childhood cancer and family
planning. Lewisham and Greenwich NHS trust and Rwanda’s Nyagatare
District Hospital are already working together, and further
partnerships are planned with hospitals across the UK.
Education partnerships will also be a cornerstone of the ACTIVE
programme, including the Numeracy for All project, which will
support teachers to make and use low - and no-cost - teaching
aids that encourage active and playful maths learning.
Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, Minister of State for South and
Central Asia, North Africa, UN and the Commonwealth, said:
The new ACTIVE programme will be a unique opportunity to use
British expertise through volunteering to support our partner
countries to take the lead in their own development.
By unleashing the potential of individuals and communities
through voluntary work, while supporting the best locally led
organisations to meet the priorities of the people and
communities they benefit, we can bring about lasting, inclusive
change.
I am delighted that the UK Government can take their partnership
with VSO to the next level through this exciting new programme.
The FCDO Minister for the Commonwealth announced the Partnership
for Change at a roundtable with Rwandan civil society whilst at
CHOGM in Kigali.
ACTIVE will build on the success of VSO’s FCDO funded (£70.5m)
Volunteering for Development programme, which ended in March
2022. Over the course of the five-year programme FCDO supported
over 350 local partner organisations and more than 6,500
volunteers in 24 countries, to improve access to health,
education and livelihood services for 5 million people.
Dr Philip Goodwin, CEO of VSO said:
Volunteering for development has helped to make the UK a global
leader and authority in quality and inclusive volunteering
practices that put volunteers and the most marginalised people at
the centre of the influencing change in their own lives
The ACTIVE grant will enable VSO to continue to support national
and community-based volunteers to be agents for change.
