In 2017, VSO’s International Board recruited two Youth Advisers, young returned ICS volunteers with personal experience of VSO’s programming – Takyiwa Danso, 25 from the UK, and Felix Owino, 26, from Kenya – both returned volunteers with VSO ICS in Kenya.
Back in 1977, the board – or the VSO Council, as it was known then – did the same thing. VSO brought the then 25-year-old youth volunteer Steve Boley, back from four years’ volunteering in the Caribbean, to contribute his experiences of youth volunteering to its UK trustees.
Despite volunteering half a century apart, the idea of putting local people at the heart of their work, and creating a place for young voices remains the same.
On a rainy Tuesday, we brought Takyiwa and Steve together to find out a little bit more about why they volunteered at 25 – and what’s changed since ...
