Information:
The Voluntary Services Overseas is a development charity
from the UK that works through volunteers
in job placements. The VSO has been operating in The
Gambia since 1960 and its work presently focuses on
the areas of education,
disability
and sustainable livelihoods.
It sends qualified professionals in certain sectors
to spend several years working at local salaries in
key, identifiably useful projects in developing countries.
Disability:
The aim of the programme is to improve the lives of
all people with disabilities in urban and rural areas,
through empowerment and improved services.
Through working with Disabled People’s Organisations,
the 6,600 members of the 9 organisations are direct
beneficiaries of the programme. Of these, about 62%
are male and 38% female. Although the members of the
DPOs have been identified as the main beneficiaries,
this programme will hopefully have a direct or indirect
benefit for all people with disabilities in The Gambia.
Education:
The aim of the programme is to improve the quality of
inclusive primary education for all girls and boys for
core class subjects in rural areas.
The Education programme covers all regions in the Gambia
but there is specific focus given to Region 5 because
of VSO’s role in the implementation of the DFID funded
Basic Education Support for Poverty Reduction (BESPOR)
project.
The key beneficiaries are primary school children, serving
teachers and teacher trainees. The implementing partners
are Region 5, Gambia College, BESPOR team and Headquarter
Directorates at DoSE.
Livelihoods:
The aim of the programme is to ensure that disadvantaged
people in rural communities in The Gambia will gain
more income and food
security from their current activities.
 VSO
The Gambia (VSO TG) started working with grassroots
organisations in 1998. Since then it has learned that
there is a need to work closely with viable partners
who have good track records and are committed to addressing
the needs of disadvantaged people in rural communities.
Learning from previous development undertakings has
shown that in order to have an impact on the lives of
women, the elderly, youths and the disabled, it is important
to build the capacity of local non-governmental and
community based organisations (NGOs and CBOs) so that
they will be equipped to offer effective and efficient
services to these communities.
Disadvantaged people in the context of the Gambia are
women, the elderly, youths and disabled. Women form
the majority of those that are not literate – who do
not have access to land and are traditionally stereotyped
as “second best”. The elderly tend to be neglected by
projects and programmes whilst rural youths are disadvantaged
when compared to urban youths. There are few higher
learning institutions or job opportunities that result
in high rural-to-urban drift. People with disabilities
are not seen as productive members of their communities.
VSO UK
Headquarters
317 Putney Bridge Road
London,
SW15 2PN
United Kingdom
Main switchboard
+44 (0)20 8780 7200
Email:
enquiry@vso.org.uk |
