VSA a Year in Review 2020
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A world with thriving communities Highlights of our work in the Pacific and beyond July 1 2019 – June 30 2020 Volunteer Service Abroad Connecting people – transforming lives 1 A world with thriving communities We believe in Manaakitanga, we believe our work must celebrate our values Commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi Respectful partnerships Working and learning together Cross-cultural understanding Volunteer Service Abroad Te Tu-ao Ta-wa-hi Patron: Her Excellency the Right Honourable Dame Patsy Reddy GNZM QSO DStJ Fairness, social justice and self-determination President: Dr Simon Mark. Council Chair: Hōne McGregor Council members: Kirikaiahi Mahutariki (Deputy Chair), John Bowis, The power of volunteering Deidre Brookes, Kirsty Burnett, Peter Elmsly, Tarita Hutchinson, Evan Mayson, Jose Luis Sousa-Santos, Dana MacDiarmid, Simon Trotter Chief Executive Officer: Stephen Goodman MNZM Volunteer Service Abroad Te Tūao Tāwāhi Inc is a registered charity (CC36739) under the Charities Act 2005. Cover photo: VSA volunteer, Rolf Huber, at a business coaching meeting in ‘Eua, Tonga at the local wood carvers’ facility. Alipate - master wood carver (left) and Rolf (right). Back photo: Cyclone Harold damage in Vanuatu. Photo: Trevor Johnston 2 3 A world with thriving communities How we work 6 We are examining Letter from Council Chair and 8 Chief Executive Officer innovative, practical and positive ways of engaging Organisational highlights 10 and working with Pacific communities and see this Changing hearts and minds 12 time as an opportunity to Sustainable beekeeping in Tonga 14 do things differently where we can. Eye care in Vanuatu 17 Stephen Goodman On the path to change in Bougainville 18 Countries we work in 22 Finances 34 Our Partners 35 How we work images (from left): 1 - Papua New Guinea. Photo: Johannes Gambo. 2 - Lauren Griffin learning how to weave the ‘ie toga (fine mat) with the women’s committee. 3 - Dahyoung Kim’s last school visit at the national college. 4 - Mary Tuhaika, Lewis Johnson (VSA), Eddien Delay and Di Paki at the Honiara City Council Youth Desk with Childfund New Zealand explaining their role in Honiara during Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand The Hon. Winston Peters’ official delegation to the Solomon Islands. 4 5 From local need to lasting change How we work VSA brings together extraordinary Kiwis to share their skills and work alongside people in the wider Pacific region to create a fairer future for all, and work alongside communities in the Returned volunteers join Pacific and beyond to achieve what’s our alumni association Volunteers get involved important to them. and share their in their communities Lasting change experiences with schools outside of their The partner organisation is and community groups in assignment too. able to continue to work New Zealand. from a stronger foundation, On assignment providing more opportunities Volunteers normally live in the for the community long after community and work alongside the volunteer is gone. VSA recruits a their colleague towards their great volunteer. organisation’s goals. We work with the organisation to design our assignment. Local need One of our partner organisations identifies a need for support. 6 7 Kia ora koutou katoa, The 2019/20 year was certainly a and efforts as we worked to get them on assignments for some time. Even will respond and work to address year of two halves! While VSA’s back to New Zealand. We are also when borders do eventually reopen, these needs in the future. mahi across our programmes was extremely grateful for the outstanding there will be other considerations to We are examining innovative, progressing as planned during the support of MFAT, VolunteerCare take into account and so we do not practical and positive ways of first part of the year, from February Medical, VolunteerCare Insurance, see an immediate return to anything engaging and working with Pacific 2020 everything changed as we, and Orbit Travel. Without the support like the number of assignments we communities and see this time as like the rest of the world, faced an of these partners, we could not have previously delivered. an opportunity to do things differently unprecedented situation due to managed the repatriation of volunteers Some of our recently repatriated where we can. We are focussing COVID-19. as effectively as we did. Ngā mihi. volunteers have been able to continue on new ways of delivering what we Up until the pandemic struck, our We would also like to acknowledge aspects of their assignments remotely can and preparing for the future. overall assignment numbers were and thank all the VSA staff who from New Zealand by e-volunteering, After almost 60 years of supporting tracking well. We had delivered 162 worked incredibly hard and often very or working volunteer assignments across all long hours in difficult and at times on-line. We are programmes, which was 80% of our quite stressful circumstances to get working on ways ‘Ko te pae tawhiti whāia kia tata, annual plan. Beyond the actual everyone back to Aotearoa safely. to further embed ko te pae tata whakamaua kia tina’ number of assignments, we had A great effort by all. e-volunteering notable successes with partner as a more Seek out the distant horizons, while organisations in some key areas such Planning for VSA’s future permanent future cherishing those achievements at hand. as education; and water, sanitation For the first time in VSA’s history, option to support and health (WASH). We also put in our partner organisations. we now find ourselves with no place our first assignments with volunteers (with the exception of one Over recent months we have had to communities and transforming lives in key new partners; The Fred Hollows in Cambodia) in the field, and we do adapt quickly and plan for a range of the Pacific and beyond, VSA remains Foundation NZ (within the National not know how long this situation will scenarios in the short, medium and completely committed to our work Eye Clinic in Port Vila, Vanuatu), continue. We also do not know exactly long-term, including working closely and we will be returning to our partner Live & Learn, and UNICEF. how the international volunteering for with MFAT to put in place an interim communities and organisations as As the COVID-19 situation developed development landscape will change as partnership and funding arrangement soon as we can. we began to repatriate VSA volunteers a result of the pandemic, only that it to cover the 12 months of the 2020/21 to New Zealand – eventually returning will most likely be different and require financial year while we progress an the majority of our volunteers, new and innovative approaches. operating review and develop future accompanying partners and staff to delivery models. While some Pacific nations are free of New Zealand before borders closed. COVID-19, we anticipate that border This will involve working through the We would like to thank all our restrictions are likely to continue and implications of COVID-19 for Pacific Hōne McGregor Stephen Goodman Council Chair Chief Executive Officer volunteers for their flexibility, patience, we may be unable to send volunteers development needs, and how VSA 8 9 Organisational highlights Despite the impact of COVID–19, VSA managed to deliver: VSA volunteers carried out 162 883 VSA assignments days of formal training supported their own partner organisations plus another 457 organisations People mentored 994 men 2133 1139 women People trained 2880 men 6446 3566 women 10 11 Changing hearts and minds Alison Tu’i’onetoa worked for “Creating an educational the Ministry of Education in Vanuatu to improve the delivery of environment where the inclusive education (IE) service everyone is appreciated.” within the Ministry and in schools. Alison also helped deliver an “There was a lot of implementation identification package to support a work needed and the five women baseline disability data survey which with IE qualifications in the country included differentiating disabilities struggled to know where to start. and strategies which can help in Together we were able to begin the classroom. realistic progress at grassroots level with great support from Alison needed to raise awareness of principals and teachers,” said Alison. being inclusive while considering the individual needs of every child that Alison visited schools to support comes to school, especially those teachers, as well as families with disabilities. who needed encouragement and support to allow their “I saw groups of teachers who children to go to school. She also were excited to learn and could shared information about disabilities see them visibly changing their Photo: Alison Tu’i’onetoa and useful strategies for teachers hearts and minds about the need to and families. provide for the educational needs of every individual student. “I attended workshops where wider discussions about IE took place “It’s fantastic to see children VSA volunteers carried out and about how concepts such who had dropped out of school as social inclusion, gender and or never attended now going to child protection come under school. The families believe in their the wider umbrella of inclusion children’s right to be part of the and social citizenship – creating school community and slowly we will 6345 help the teachers to deliver a quality an educational environment where days of capacity everyone is appreciated.” education at whatever level the child needs and can manage.” development 12 13 Sustainable beekeeping in Tonga Beekeeper David Cramp was in Tonga agricultural practices could help for seven weeks before returning Tonga adapt to rising sea levels. to New Zealand due to COVID-19. David sees a future tourist and Over that time, working with local cruise ship market in Tonga for well non-profit rganisation Ohai Inc and packaged hive products like lip beekeeper Lopeti, David laid the balm, mead and of course honey.