It's been a very long, very dark, very cold winter. Not the most fun time to be between jobs but I'm told it's through times like this that we grow (and catch up on episodes of Mad Men)... But seriously, applying for jobs has been a full time job in itself. It's time consuming, isolating and, at times, utterly demoralising. I had a couple of very close calls, getting through to the third rounds for Save the Children and Sightsavers, getting pipped to the post at the final hurdle for both. But just after Easter I got an interview at VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) to join the ICS (International Citizen Service) Hub as a Programme Development Manager and am now in my third week (-:
Having worked on the ICS programme at Restless Development, I was already familiar with it from a delivery agency perspective. I think I probably mentioned before that Restless Development is one of eight delivery agencies that form a consortium for the UK government's international youth volunteering programme where young volunteers from the UK work in teams with in-country volunteers from developing countries on development projects that relate to health, livelihoods, environment, education and civic participation. Funded by the Department for International Development (DFID), it aims to combine projects that work towards reducing global poverty with volunteer learning & development and long term active citizenship. My new role is based at the VSO ICS Hub (VSO is the lead ICS agency that is ultimately accountable to DFID) which has an overview programme delivery and programme quality function across the consortium.
I work within a team of four Programme Development Managers, each of whom work closely with two delivery agencies as well as leading a programme quality project and sector(s). My two agencies are VSO itself and Lattitude (which recently rebranded from Gap Activity Projects). My programme quality project is to raise the quality of volunteer learning & development across the consortium, and I also lead on the education and civic participation sector-focused work. So there's lots of variety and lots of new challenges which I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into over the coming weeks and months.
My first programme quality support visit will be to VSO's ICS programme in Tajikistan this June. For anyone who knows the Crowe family, the irony of this will be obvious. For anyone who doesn't, my eldest brother and his family have been living in Tajikistan for the last four years but just moved back to the UK last month! Although it's disappointing I won't be able to combine the trip with a visit to where they were living I'm nevertheless really looking forward to getting a better insight into VSO's programme there. It's a really interesting programme model, where as well as having UK volunteers working alongside Tajik volunteers, there are also some Afghan volunteers who will join the team for the three month programme. It's the only example of regional volunteer recruitment across the consortium (as far as I know) and an innovative way of including young people from Afghanistan who will then be supported to contribute to community development projects back home once their Tajik placement has finished. Anyway, more about that when I get back in July....
So it's only been a couple of weeks but here's ten random things I like about VSO already...
Having worked on the ICS programme at Restless Development, I was already familiar with it from a delivery agency perspective. I think I probably mentioned before that Restless Development is one of eight delivery agencies that form a consortium for the UK government's international youth volunteering programme where young volunteers from the UK work in teams with in-country volunteers from developing countries on development projects that relate to health, livelihoods, environment, education and civic participation. Funded by the Department for International Development (DFID), it aims to combine projects that work towards reducing global poverty with volunteer learning & development and long term active citizenship. My new role is based at the VSO ICS Hub (VSO is the lead ICS agency that is ultimately accountable to DFID) which has an overview programme delivery and programme quality function across the consortium.
I work within a team of four Programme Development Managers, each of whom work closely with two delivery agencies as well as leading a programme quality project and sector(s). My two agencies are VSO itself and Lattitude (which recently rebranded from Gap Activity Projects). My programme quality project is to raise the quality of volunteer learning & development across the consortium, and I also lead on the education and civic participation sector-focused work. So there's lots of variety and lots of new challenges which I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into over the coming weeks and months.
My first programme quality support visit will be to VSO's ICS programme in Tajikistan this June. For anyone who knows the Crowe family, the irony of this will be obvious. For anyone who doesn't, my eldest brother and his family have been living in Tajikistan for the last four years but just moved back to the UK last month! Although it's disappointing I won't be able to combine the trip with a visit to where they were living I'm nevertheless really looking forward to getting a better insight into VSO's programme there. It's a really interesting programme model, where as well as having UK volunteers working alongside Tajik volunteers, there are also some Afghan volunteers who will join the team for the three month programme. It's the only example of regional volunteer recruitment across the consortium (as far as I know) and an innovative way of including young people from Afghanistan who will then be supported to contribute to community development projects back home once their Tajik placement has finished. Anyway, more about that when I get back in July....
So it's only been a couple of weeks but here's ten random things I like about VSO already...
- The bike ride to work that avoids central London (currently based in Putney, we're moving to Kingston in July when my commute will also include passing by the deer in Richmond Park).
- Working in a team. My last few roles have been quite isolating at times so it's great to be able to bounce ideas around with the rest of the team, especially as the new kid on the block.
- Running along the river at lunchtime with "The Flying Daves", set up by three VSO staff all called Dave. They don't seem to discriminate against non-Daves.
- Proactive travel planning. So I'll have a better idea of where I'm going and when and can start to make social plans that don't involve cancelling at the last minute so I can hopefully be a better friend!
- Playing my first netball game in TEN years and beating Teenage Cancer Trust in the inter-charity league in a close match that finished 11-10. Mrs McGinty would be proud.
- Flexible working. As part of VSO's "Work Smarter" policy we're encouraged to work remotely as well as spending face to face time as a team.
- The bottomless pit of Fairtrade proper coffee in the kitchen.
- The long term contract. Consultancies no more.
- The 20% discount at the Nando's across the road. I kid you not.
- The people. Couldn't ask for a friendlier or more welcoming bunch.
