Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) is crying out for IT professionals
to work on an increasing number of IT projects around the world,
writes Roisin Woolnough.
"We are very desperate for IT skills," says Lisa Stafford,
manager of the maths, science and IT team at VSO. "It has gone from
a very small number of placements a few years ago to a massive
demand for IT skills and it is still increasing."
IT is becoming increasingly important in developing countries to
help them overcome poverty. Stafford says VSO could easily place
over 50 people each year in IT roles - but it is not receiving the
volume of applications it needs. "We are probably meeting about 60%
of requests," she says.
Furthermore, Stafford thinks the requirement is actually a lot
higher than it appears because non-governmental organisations
(NGOs) know that VSO is struggling to meet demand and as a
consequence, many are not submitting as many project proposals as
are necessary.
Training is a big issue. VSO has a high demand for dedicated IT
trainers to teach people how to use and maintain IT equipment.
Volunteers who embark upon any kind of IT project invariably find
that training is a strong element of their job because people have
to be able to carry on their work once they have finished.
"One of the key things is to share your knowledge," explains Ian
Patten, senior consultant at management consultancy Charteris, who
spent two years running the IT operation for a children's charity
in Zimbawbe. "You have to make yourself redundant."
Patten's remit was to link up six separate offices from around
the country, creating a network, setting up local area networks and
e-mail. "I had to teach folk how to use it, maintain it, import the
kit, mend kit and look after databases," he says.
As well as training skills, there is a constant demand for
people with networking, database and systems analysis skills, says
Stafford. VSO particularly favours anyone with project management
experience because volunteers often find that they need to draw on
a far wider range of skills and experience than their initial job
description suggested. "We need people with strong IT skills and
project management experience - people who have experience of the
whole business," says Stafford.
Volunteers need to be flexible and adaptable, because they have
to understand how best to implement the IT to suit the needs of the
beneficaries. "You have to be sensitive to other people and the
community," she says. "You have to be able to think on your feet
and adapt to the situation."
Some IT professionals have been deterred from doing VSO work
because they are concerned about taking a two-year break - the
standard period of time for VSO placements - from their career in
case their skills become out of date. However, Stafford says there
is an increasing demand for people to work on projects of six to 12
months' duration.
VSO has also set up a scheme with a number of companies to
enable employees to take time out from their jobs to work on
projects. Launched in 1999, the VSO Business Partnerships scheme
aims to attract professionals with business skills, particularly
technical business skills, to work on short-term business
assignments.
Employers who sign up to the scheme agree to release staff for a
period of between three and 12 months. Employees receive a local
wage, accommodation, flights and basic living costs from VSO. Some
employers also offer to cover the employee's fixed costs back in
the UK, such as mortgage and pension payments.
Accenture, formerly Anderson Consulting, was one of the founding
members of the scheme and currently has five employees working on
Business Partnership projects, with another four signed up to
future projects.
Willie Jamieson, head of geographic services at Accenture,
thinks the scheme benefits both individuals and the corporation.
"Some people really enjoy their job, but come to a point in their
career when they want to travel and do something different for a
bit. Also, a lot of our people join us from university, are very
young and want to travel."
Jamieson says many of the skills required by Accenture are
similar to those required by VSO, such as project management,
finance management, business awareness and so on. He thinks that
those who have done VSO work bring back a greater understanding,
awareness and commitment to their job.
VSO enquiries team: 020-8780 7500; www.vso.org.uk