When people think of international volunteering they often assume it is limited to construction, teaching or care work – activities that require no specialist skills or experience.

While this is often the case, volunteer organisations are increasingly recognising the diverse skills that volunteers can offer and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has just launched a new programme for professionals that hopes to harness their expertise.

Although professionals have often considered volunteering abroad and helping others, for many there has always been an inherent “challenge to match one’s experience and skills with the right need or cause, particularly if you’re better with calculators than you are with, say, a hammer.”

USAID’s new programme aims to make it easier for professionals to volunteer in places where their skills can really make a difference. “Volunteers want to take advantage of their own unique professional talents, such as finance, marketing, law, human resources and project management.”

USAID has asked IBM to collaborate with CDC Development Solutions to create what are essentially corporate versions of the Peace Corps, with the hope that large companies will increase their efforts to support international volunteerism.

Read the full article from the Huffington Post.

Is your company looking to promote corporate volunteering? Contact us and find out about our group volunteering programmes.