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The VOLUNTEER VOICE Issue 6 July 2007
Volunteers for Prosperity Website - Connecting Highly Skilled Americans to International Voluntary Opportunities
The VfP website, www.volunteersforprosperity.gov, is a key resource for American professionals wishing to volunteer overseas. The website also promotes the good work of VfP partners, U.S.-based nonprofits and businesses, that deploy and manage skilled American volunteers in the developing world.
When you visit the VfP website, the following functions help prospective volunteers and VfP partners alike:
- Match Your Skill to a Sector: Lets you browse through categories such as economic growth, education, and information technology, among others, and find VfP partners that utilize skilled American volunteers in overseas assignments.
- Volunteer Stories: Inspiring accounts of American professionals' volunteer service in local communities in the developing world.
- Partners Corner: An on-line information exchange forum to provide VfP partner organizations opportunities to share insights on managing volunteer programs.
- USA Freedom Corps Volunteer Network, Find an International Volunteer Opportunity: A search engine that links to a database of specific international voluntary opportunities.
- Where VfP Partners Work: A global map of volunteer destinations.
If you are an American professional who would like to volunteer overseas for a short-term, flexible service assignment, please take a moment to visit the VfP website!
VfP MISSION: Volunteers for Prosperity promotes the energy and idealism of the United States through support of international voluntary service by highly skilled American professionals to advance the global health and prosperity goals of the U.S. Government
New Office Highlights Commitment to Volunteer Service
An office of Coordinator for Volunteer Service was recently established at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to strengthen the agency's management of volunteer programs sponsored or supported by USAID.
Jack Hawkins, director of the Office of Volunteers for Prosperity has been designated the Coordinator for Volunteer Service. His additional responsibilities include coordination with USAID's Farmer-to-Farmer program and the Volunteers for Economic Growth Alliance (VEGA). Learn more...
VfP Volunteer Receives Presidential Award
President George W. Bush presented Kay Hiramine with the President's Volunteer Service Award on May 10, 2007, at a White House ceremony honoring Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Mr. Hiramine is the CEO of Humanitarian International Services Group (HISG), a U.S.-based NGO, that is a partner with Volunteers for Prosperity. HISG "helps to find and to mobilize resources to meet humanitarian needs around the world, and to respond to disasters and emergencies. In 2006, HISG's activities involved more than 60 nations and 120 projects worldwide, and sent over $8 million in donated humanitarian assistance." [Source: White House News Release 5/10/07] Learn more...
Upcoming Events
- The National Conference on Volunteering and Service, July 16-18, 2007, Philadelphia, PA. The theme of this year's conference is "The Power of We". For more information visit: http://www.volunteeringandservice.org/
- Sixth White House Summit of the Americas, July 9, 2007, Washington, DC
Welcome New VfP Partners
During the past several months, many U.S.-based nonprofits have become VfP partners. Please join the VfP Office in welcoming the organizations below to the VfP partner network.
To view a complete list of VfP partners to date, please click here.
Volunteer Profile: Chen Li, IT Specialist
Chen Li (middle) shares his IT skills with local Afghans in Kabul.Chen Li is an information technology (IT) professional based in Olympia, Washington. His area of expertise is in the field of geographic information systems (GIS). He has over 10 years experience working with GIS firm, ESRI. Using his vacation time, he spent three weeks in April 2007 as a volunteer through GIS Corps (see profile below) to share his IT skills on a local project in Afghanistan.
Chen's volunteer mission in Kabul provided him a great opportunity to work with a team of 10 staff members from the Afghanistan Information Management Services (AIMS). AIMS has been supporting a project and activity tracking system database at the USAID mission in Afghanistan. Chen provided training for GIS database management and Web Map application development. At the end of his three week assignment, Chen and his team of GIS professionals and computer programmers designed a web mapping application for the mission's tracking system database.
Reflecting on his volunteer service in Afghanistan, Chen remarked that it was a truly memorable experience because he made a difference by helping the local Afghans he trained learn new IT skills. "They were smart, hard working, and enthusiastic to learn a new technology; they made my volunteer work more meaningful. Thank you GISCorps for giving me this opportunity."
VfP Partner Spotlight: GISCorps
New partner GISCorps, founded in October 2003, coordinates volunteer based Geographic Information System (GIS) services to local communities worldwide. GISCorps volunteers are experts in a variety of geospatial technology related fields including GIS database design, spatial modeling, web based interactive mapping applications, GIS training, and GPS data collection. The average duration of a volunteer assignment is two weeks.
GISCorps volunteer services support environmental analysis, economic development, local capacity enhancement, health and education among others.
While GISCorps does not sponsor projects directly, it refers volunteers to host agencies. For more information about the GISCorps model, please visit: http://www.giscorps.org/GC_policies.php.
[Source: About GISCorps, VfP Partner Highlight]
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Volunteers for Prosperity was established by Executive Order in September 2003. VfP works through leading U.S. non-profits and businesses to deploy highly skilled American professionals in volunteer opportunities that support the global health and prosperity goals of the U.S. Government. For more information visit: www.volunteersforprosperity.gov.