Your safety overseas
A VESL volunteer's health and safety overseas is our number one priority.
All of VESL's staff, trustees and coordinators have experience of living, working or volunteering in Asia. We also have full time back-up and support staff working alongside volunteers throughout the programme.
VESL looks to recruit volunteers who want to a challenge. There are of course certain inherent risks involved with volunteering, but it is our priority to prepare volunteers and give advice as to how to avoid adverse situations. VESL has well established contingency plans to deal with any emergencies. Should it prove necessary, volunteers will be evacuated from the area or country they are in.
All the projects are vetted and risk-assessed. We also take advice directly from the Foreign and Commonwealth office on the safety of the areas in which we work. Prospective volunteers should be aware that Sri Lanka in particular has specific security issues and that Foreign Office advice may change; project placement is therefore also subject to change based on the FCO's advice. We closely monitor the security situation at all times, even during periods while projects are not active in a particular area we feel it is essential that we have a clear picture of the situation past and present.
VESL takes out comprehensive insurance for all volunteers and a copy of our 'Ensuring volunteers are safe' policy can be emailed to you on request.
Support overseas
VESL is aware of the support volunteers require overseas to ensure that they have the best time possible on their projects. During the summer programmes, VESL employs full time coordinators who work alongside projects and are on call twenty four hours a day in case of an emergency. In India and Sri Lanka, VESL has several resident representatives who help ensure the smooth running of our programmes. In the UK, VESL programme managers and trustees are in regular contact with coordinators, representatives and with volunteers and are available to speak to volunteers' relatives if needs be.
Training
VESL runs a comprehensive training programme for all volunteers. The course is run by experienced VESL staff, guest speakers and past volunteers, who can give detailed information about the projects. The courses are designed to give you an opportunity to meet the other VESL volunteers and your project partner, as well as learn knowledge and skills that will be useful to your placement. The training programme is of no additional cost to our volunteers.
The Teaching Pack
Thanks to a grant from Lifecycle fundraising, VESL has developed a teaching pack to help volunteers in their teaching projects. The pack has been developed over three years, drawing on experience from past volunteers and VESL staff to make it a really useful and unique tool for volunteers.