Together, these VSO entities make up the world’s largest non-governmental volunteer-sending development organization. CUSO-VSO will maintain an independent Board of Directors, and will sit on the VSO International Board as the second-largest member after the U.K. CUSO-VSO will take a leadership role in two of the Federation’s key programming areas – democratic governance & access to justice, and environment & natural resource management. Canadians will be able to apply for placements in any of VSO’s programs in 42 countries in all regions of the Global South.

CUSO & VSO have parallel histories;  they were both pioneers in the field of development and both have long believed in the ability of international volunteers to be agents of positive change.  The original impetus for the VSO and CUSO model of volunteering was the notion of filling the skills gap in “newly emerging” societies. As countries in the Global South gained their political independence, they needed to build up their infrastructure, especially in health and education. CUSO and VSO volunteers were a valuable resource in those early years.

Over time, both VSO and CUSO have moved toward a “capacity-building” model of volunteer cooperation. The organizations now work in collaboration with partner organizations in the Global South, placing volunteers who work in solidarity not service with those partners – and who provide expertise that is sustainable and enduring.

While the methods of the two organizations are not identical, both share a value of respect for local partners groups in the developing world, and a commitment to work with people at the grassroots of change.

These are challenging times for those involved in overseas development. The reality is particularly daunting for civil society organizations, which seek to achieve positive change in the face of constraints that range from security concerns to politics, from economic to ecological.

In Canada, CUSO-VSO will be in a position to play a leadership role in the development NGO sector. On a world scale, with the addition of CUSO, the VSO federation will become the world’s largest non-governmental volunteer-sending organization. Given that stature, it will have a strong and effective voice in the formation of development assistance policy at a global level.