Volunteering Abroad

Debate between Lord Collins of Highbury and Lord Wood of Anfield

Wednesday 30th October 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Wood of Anfield]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what plans they have to create new opportunities for young people to volunteer abroad.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Lord Collins of Highbury) (Lab)]

My Lords, we are exploring options to continue to support young people to volunteer and engage in active citizenship, alongside existing efforts to strengthen civic space. We will confirm our plans in due course. Currently, the FCDO supports volunteering through VSO’s active citizenship through inclusive volunteering and empowerment programme, ACTIVE. It supports vulnerable and marginalised people in 19 countries to shape their own communities, claim their rights to better public services and hold people in power accountable.

[Lord Wood of Anfield (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend for that Answer. He mentioned VSO. In February I had the privilege of being a political volunteer for VSO, seeing the extraordinary work that it does in Nepal with local staff and volunteers. VSO and other volunteering providers have been waiting to see whether the previous Government’s commitment to a restored international volunteering programme, first mooted in April 2023, will be picked up by our new Government. I appreciate that this may be early, but will that plan form the basis of this Government’s plans for a new programme, or will there be something different in the pipeline?

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

We will make a decision on youth volunteering in the coming months as Ministers and FCDO officials consider the advice, but the international development volunteering programme was designed as a new programme rather than as a resumption of the old International Citizen Service, so there is a process to go through regarding that.