FAQs

The international volunteering programme currently recruits Kenyan and Ugandan professionals to share their skills and knowledge in:

• business, management and IT

• community and social development

• health

• HIV and AIDS

• technical and natural resource management.

Yes, we accept applications from married individuals or those who are in a relationship. However, we urge you to think very carefully about the consequences of your decision - emotionally and financially.

We require the applicant's husband/wife or long-time partner who would be left behind to fill out and submit a Partner’s Checklist, or if necessary undergo an interview. We do this to find out if the decision has been well thought through by both the applicant and partner.

We also want to ensure that applicants are made aware of potential communication and separation issues if they go on to become volunteers, so they will be better equipped to handle such issues later on.

You can bring your partner to your placement as a non-volunteering partner, as long as your non-volunteering partner can cover his/her own expenses. Being a charity organisation with limited resources, we cannot offer financial support to accompanying partners of VSO volunteers.

We also welcome applications from couples wanting to volunteer, but they may have very limited options in terms of placement and may have to wait a longer time before we can post them overseas. VSO responds to demand from overseas partners, and many of them request for only one volunteer. It is unusual, although not impossible, for one employer to request for two volunteers in the same location, and even less likely that those two requests will match a particular couple's skills.

Below is a summary of the application and selection process:

The VSO application form: Applicants must complete the VSO application form. You can download the form as a Word document and email the completed form to vsojitolee@vsojitolee.org. Alternatively you can post a completed application form to our office in Nairobi or Kampala.

VSO Jitolee volunteer programme advisers (VPA) assess all applications based on the qualifications and experience indicated in the submitted VSO application forms. Therefore, the more comprehensive and accurate your data is in your application, the better.

Preliminary interview: If the application is successful, the applicant will be contacted to attend a preliminary interview, which takes about 20 to 30 minutes. The purpose of the interview is to verify that the applicant’s personal and professional data is as indicated in the application and to ask for additional information if necessary.  It is also a chance for applicants to ask questions about VSO.

After the interview, VSO Jitolee will decide if you qualify to proceed to the next stage of the selection process, the assessment day (AD). Those who are not short listed for the AD will receive an email informing them of the outcome of the interview.

Assessment day: Shortlisted candidates are invited to attend a one-day assessment day, usually in our Nairobi or Uganda office. Prior to the AD, candidates will receive AD information and guidelines, and required documentation and forms such as partner's checklist, personal and professional references, and police clearance.  These forms should be promptly submitted to VSO Jitolee on, or before, the AD. The results from your AD will be put on hold until VSO Jitolee receives all required documents.

The VSO application and selection process does take a while, and we recommend that applicants use such time to reflect on their commitment to become a VSO volunteer. We also ask you to bear with us, and would really appreciate it if you could consider the duration process and wait for our next communication before you follow up on your application.

It is important that you examine how serious you are about volunteering with VSO and how ready you are to embark on what could be a life-changing journey. It may help to talk to people who lived or worked in another developing country, but you should also recognise that each person's experience is different.

If you know individuals who have volunteered with VSO, you may want to get in touch with them to learn more about the volunteer experience. You can also read about life-changing stories of VSO volunteers.

• Matching process: Selected volunteers go through a process of being matched to a suitable placement. The Volunteer Placement Adviser (VPA) will discuss with you available placements, timescales and other personal requirements. Due to the nature of VSO’s work, there may be occasional delays in departure and possibly frustrations brought on by factors outside our control. In such cases, we will do everything we can to resolve such problems, so please bear with us.

• Placement offers: We offer volunteers a placement that would best suit their qualifications and experience. We send your CV to the VSO programme office overseas and to the organisation requesting the volunteer. They then decide if the volunteers' qualifications and experience meet their requirements and are appropriate to the needs of the requesting organisation.

• Learning needs assessment: Once a volunteer has accepted a placement and the requesting organisation has accepted the volunteer, the VPA and the volunteer will then review the volunteer's learning needs and jointly decide how you can best prepare for your placement. This may mean having to take up additional training courses or short immersion programs, apart from the required VSO pre-departure trainings. VSO Jitolee shoulders the costs for these identified additional trainings.
  

VSO volunteers recruited from Kenya and Uganda are posted to work alongside partner organisations in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. Kenyan volunteers, however, cannot be posted in Kenya while Ugandan volunteers cannot be posted in Uganda.

It really depends on where there is a request for someone with your background and qualifications. If there are many requests for a volunteer with your skills, we will be able to show you several placement options. In some cases, you may have few placements to choose from, maybe even just one. But we will never force you to accept a placement that you do not want. If you choose not to take the placement offer now, you would have to wait until a new request for a volunteer of your skills comes along. We will not take rejection of placement offer against you, but your reasons for such would have to be valid. 

As you undergo the matching process, we will show you a placement document that will provide you with:

• details about the local organisation: its staff, management and structure, and its programme, resources and needs

• the rationale and objectives of the volunteer placement: the volunteer's responsibilities, what you are expected to accomplish over the duration of your assignment, and the professional qualifications as well as personal qualities needed to perform the job

• terms and conditions of work, access to professional support

• expected accommodation, although in some cases, volunteers are given the chance to look for accommodation that would suit them upon their arrival

• other requirements such as language or if specified, motorbike skills. Language training is provided overseas, while motorbike training happens pre-departure and in the country of assignment

• description of the town or village: socio-economic profile and aspects of local culture; the postal system and facilities for health, recreation, market, worship, travel, and communications; opportunities for social interaction

• possible sources of information, including current or previous volunteers in the region or from the same sector.

Eventually, volunteers will be provided with additional information about the country, the local VSO programme, bits of advice from other volunteers in the country, websites they could check out for additional research, and email addresses of former volunteers, among many others.

There is no easy answer to this – it really varies. Sometimes, the period between selection and departure can be as short as two months. In some cases, however, it can take up to a full year. The length of period depends on whether there is a request for someone with your qualifications.

As much as possible, we plan for and anticipate volunteer requests. But situations can change and volunteer requests may be withdrawn for a variety of reasons. Do not hand in your resignation unless we advise you that it is the right time to do so. A month before departure, we have to ascertain that the placement has been confirmed, your work permit is in order, your visa approved, and other important considerations. 

On the average, it takes between four months and a year from applying to VSO to arriving in your placement. Not only do we have to secure funding for placements, but applications are also often considered on the basis of anticipated future need. Only occasionally do we recruit for specific and immediate volunteer request. This approach means that we are able to respond more quickly when the request does come through from overseas.

Most volunteers appreciate this time as it allows them to consider the practicalities and give them the opportunity to address many of the issues that arise from going overseas. In addition, it gives the applicants the time to think further about their commitment and allows them to find out more about the VSO experience.

Selected volunteers, once they have probable VSO placements, are required to attend pre-departure training courses:

• Preparing for Change (PfC): The first of the two VSO pre-departure training courses will explore a range of issues involved in moving to a new environment overseas. The PfC is a four-day stay-in course, given to all selected volunteers, preferably those with probable volunteer assignments already.

• Wider Role of Volunteers (WRV): WRV discusses practical tools and skills that will prove useful to volunteers in their placements. It is a five-day stay-in course given to selected volunteers who have been accepted to volunteer placements and are certain to depart soon.

• Medical clearance: Selected volunteers undergo a thorough medical examination, to be conducted by VSO Jitolee’s medical adviser in Nairobi. Usually, volunteers are advised to take the medical exam when they have been matched and accepted to probable placements.

• Police clearance/certificate of good conduct: Police clearance is also required for all volunteers, especially those whose placements are with children, the disabled, and other vulnerable groups.

• Motorcycle driving course: Some volunteers are required to undergo motorcycle training. If required in their placement, the volunteer takes a 5- to 10-day motorcycle safety-driving course at the Honda Driving Academy. The costs for training as well as transportation, lodging and board will be covered by VSO.

• Skill-focused orientation/training: Individual trainings, such as immersion in an HIV and AIDS project or fundraising activity, can be proposed if the volunteer considers such training as useful to his/her future assignment. Volunteers are also encouraged to do a self-briefing to meet gaps identified in the learning needs assessment.

• In-country training (ICT): All VSO volunteers undergo an ICT upon arrival in their country of placement. The ICT ordinarily runs for about two weeks to more than a month in some countries. This usually includes local language training, if deemed necessary.
  

VSO Jitolee will be responsible for liaising with the concerned VSO programme offices overseas, who will then apply for a visa or work permit with the relevant authorities in your country of placement. In cases where there is an embassy or a consulate of that country in Nairobi or Kampala, the volunteer may be required to personally appear before the embassy or consulate.

Volunteers are responsible for obtaining their own genuine passports (valid for at least two years), along with other documents or certificates that may be required to facilitate the processing of necessary travel permits. Health professionals, for instance, are required to have their licences renewed, prior to departure, to make sure they are valid throughout the duration of their assignments.

Volunteers receive an allowance based on a daily rate designed to meet reasonable costs incurred, so that they are not out-of-pocket, as a result of volunteering. Aside from the allowance, VSO provides a range of benefits to support you before, during and after your volunteer placement.

The volunteer allowance consists of two parts:

• An in-country funded allowance that is the same on a daily basis for all volunteers working in the same country or region. The allowance is based on a shopping-basket indicator of local prices or the local government salary structure.

• A home-country funded allowance that is the same on a daily basis for volunteers no matter where they are recruited. For Kenyan and Ugandan volunteers, this is given in the form of a pre-departure allowance, quarterly allowances during service, and a coming home allowance upon completion of placement.   

Volunteer allowances are sufficient to allow you to:

• have a healthy diet

• dress appropriately

• live comfortably in a modest way.

VSO volunteers cannot expect to save enough to send home on a regular basis. If you have any outstanding debts or are supporting dependents, you may want to reconsider if this is the right time for you to volunteer.

Again, this varies across placements and countries. We normally ask the local organisation to provide the volunteer’s accommodation. It could be a house of your own, or you may have to share with a local colleague or another VSO volunteer.

Not all houses will have electricity (eg where electricity is not available in the village where you are staying), but we always try to ensure that there is a source of water nearby and provide a water filter. We also provide a small fund to enable volunteers to purchase basic household supplies.

If you have a two-year placement, then yes, you can. For every year, volunteers are entitled to a four-week paid leave. However, VSO will not cover your travel, thus you will have to pay for the airfare yourself.

Yes, many volunteers extend beyond their initial duration of service. However, the request for extension is initiated by the local organisation, which determines whether they need the volunteer to stay on in order to complete the job or extend its benefits and impact. The VSO programme office overseas then evaluates the situation, and a decision is reached by consulting all parties involved.

Many returned volunteers also re-volunteer and this is acceptable as well. If you really enjoyed the volunteering experience, we could examine other options, such as taking a volunteer placement in the same country or elsewhere. 

There are also a few volunteers who come home earlier than planned for either personal or placement-related reasons. VSO Jitolee tries its best to avoid such cases through rigorous selection and pre-departure procedures.