Our Objective:
Ka hono a Te Tūao Tāwāhi i ngā tūao pūkenga ki ngā whakahaere me ngā hapori i te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa me tua atu, hei tautoko i ngā wawata kua tautuhia ā-rohe, ā, kia tutuki ai te panoni toitū.
Volunteer Services Abroad (VSA) connects volunteers with organisations and communities in the Pacific and beyond to support locally identified aspirations and achieve sustainable change.
We are New Zealand's largest and most experienced volunteering agency working in international development, placing over 100 volunteers each year. For the last twenty years the VSA has been operating our Univol programme, a volunteering programme with assignments specifically designed with recent graduates in mind. Each assignment represents an amazing opportunity to develop your skills in enhancing and supporting capability and capacity uplift.
For all of our volunteers deployed in country, the VSA provides standard support package that includes international flights at start and end of assignment, in-country accommodation, living allowance to support basic living costs, comprehensive pre-departure preparation through a through recruitment and onboarding process, health and travel insurance as well as ongoing mentoring and support throughout the assignment.
As this assignment is a part of our Univol programme, it is one of ten assignments we will be aiming to deploy to in early 2027. This assignment will be focussed on working across a youth programme seeking ways to support and enhance youth development in Santo, Vanuatu.
Our Partner and Assignment Summary:
For this assignment we have partnered specifically with Wan Smol bag Luganville (WSBL), formerly known as the Northern Care Youth Centre (NCYC). The team have been operating in the region since 2002 but have recently moved to a new location in Sarakata. WSBL have around 1000 youth registering each year and they are involved with a number of different activities depending on the skill set and experience of the available tutors.
The team in country are keen to have new skills and fresh perspectives brought in to help support the management team of WSBL in a number of key areas namely around increasing enrolment numbers of youth in the centre, growing class attendance, improving the efficiency of the centre, data collection, and reporting to donors. This assignment will build on work of previous Univol assignments as the VSA has a strong and longstanding connection with the team at WSBL.
A UniVol volunteer on this assignment would be deployed in 2027 to help bring new energy and ideas to help the team come up with novel and creative ways to engage youth in WSBL programming. The skills the UniVol brings with them will be utilised to train the current tutors who will then be able to run these classes by themselves after the end of the assignment. This would go towards diversifying the number of classes on offer.
About Vanuatu:
Vanuatu is a volcanic archipelago of 86 islands, where traditional lifestyles exist alongside modern tourism. With over 100 different indigenous languages, Vanuatu has one of the highest language densities of anywhere in the world. The population is predominantly Melanesian, with strong cultural traditions and a largely Christian society. Vanuatu is also one of our longest standing programme countries, the VSA and our volunteers have had a presence in country going back as far as 1965.
In terms of the economy of Vanuatu it is built around the agricultural sector, with approximately 80% of the population working in this space. Key exports are copra, kava, and beef. In terms of location this assignment would largely be based in and around Luganville in Santo, one of the key population centres the VSA operates for all of our assignments including the Univol programme. The Vanuatu programme also has a Programme manager and Programme Coordinator based in country to support volunteers over the course of their assignment.
Skills we are seeking:
We believe that for a volunteer to succeed on this assignment they would need a number of key skills. First and foremost outstanding communication skills, both in the ability to connect with their target audience but also someone who can pick up languages quickly. Willingness to learn Bislama would be key to a volunteer having a positive experience on assignment. Proven experience finding creative solutions and managing resources tactically would also be key skills a volunteer would need on this assignment. Ideally we would also look to see experience facilitating or leading small workshops either in an academic setting or through personal hobbies and interests.
All VSA assignments are focused on building capability and capacity in country, but they also represent an opportunity for our volunteers to enhance and demonstrate a number of their skills including communication, stakeholder engagement, leadership development, project management, resilience, mentoring and innovation. The Univol programme is also a fairly exclusive one as we only have eleven assignments. Combining these factors could easily be leveraged to assist a volunteer in starting out a career in a number of fields including youth development.
Application Instructions:
If this opportunity is of interest, please apply through the link below. If you have any questions about this assignment or the Univol programme as a whole you are more than welcome to check in with the Recruitment team via email at volunteer@vsa.org.nz.
Please note applications will be closing in early August 2026, so get any applications or queries in prior to that as the team will be assessing applications and queries as they arrive.
Ka hono a Te Tūao Tāwāhi i ngā tūao pūkenga ki ngā whakahaere me ngā hapori i te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa me tua atu, hei tautoko i ngā wawata kua tautuhia ā-rohe, ā, kia tutuki ai te panoni toitū.
Volunteer Services Abroad (VSA) connects volunteers with organisations and communities in the Pacific and beyond to support locally identified aspirations and achieve sustainable change.
We are New Zealand's largest and most experienced volunteering agency working in international development, placing over 100 volunteers each year. For the last twenty years the VSA has been operating our Univol programme, a volunteering programme with assignments specifically designed with recent graduates in mind. Each assignment represents an amazing opportunity to develop your skills in enhancing and supporting capability and capacity uplift.
For all of our volunteers deployed in country, the VSA provides standard support package that includes international flights at start and end of assignment, in-country accommodation, living allowance to support basic living costs, comprehensive pre-departure preparation through a through recruitment and onboarding process, health and travel insurance as well as ongoing mentoring and support throughout the assignment.
As this assignment is a part of our Univol programme, it is one of ten assignments we will be aiming to deploy to in early 2027. This assignment will be focussed on working across a youth programme seeking ways to support and enhance youth development in Santo, Vanuatu.
Our Partner and Assignment Summary:
For this assignment we have partnered specifically with Wan Smol bag Luganville (WSBL), formerly known as the Northern Care Youth Centre (NCYC). The team have been operating in the region since 2002 but have recently moved to a new location in Sarakata. WSBL have around 1000 youth registering each year and they are involved with a number of different activities depending on the skill set and experience of the available tutors.
The team in country are keen to have new skills and fresh perspectives brought in to help support the management team of WSBL in a number of key areas namely around increasing enrolment numbers of youth in the centre, growing class attendance, improving the efficiency of the centre, data collection, and reporting to donors. This assignment will build on work of previous Univol assignments as the VSA has a strong and longstanding connection with the team at WSBL.
A UniVol volunteer on this assignment would be deployed in 2027 to help bring new energy and ideas to help the team come up with novel and creative ways to engage youth in WSBL programming. The skills the UniVol brings with them will be utilised to train the current tutors who will then be able to run these classes by themselves after the end of the assignment. This would go towards diversifying the number of classes on offer.
About Vanuatu:
Vanuatu is a volcanic archipelago of 86 islands, where traditional lifestyles exist alongside modern tourism. With over 100 different indigenous languages, Vanuatu has one of the highest language densities of anywhere in the world. The population is predominantly Melanesian, with strong cultural traditions and a largely Christian society. Vanuatu is also one of our longest standing programme countries, the VSA and our volunteers have had a presence in country going back as far as 1965.
In terms of the economy of Vanuatu it is built around the agricultural sector, with approximately 80% of the population working in this space. Key exports are copra, kava, and beef. In terms of location this assignment would largely be based in and around Luganville in Santo, one of the key population centres the VSA operates for all of our assignments including the Univol programme. The Vanuatu programme also has a Programme manager and Programme Coordinator based in country to support volunteers over the course of their assignment.
Skills we are seeking:
We believe that for a volunteer to succeed on this assignment they would need a number of key skills. First and foremost outstanding communication skills, both in the ability to connect with their target audience but also someone who can pick up languages quickly. Willingness to learn Bislama would be key to a volunteer having a positive experience on assignment. Proven experience finding creative solutions and managing resources tactically would also be key skills a volunteer would need on this assignment. Ideally we would also look to see experience facilitating or leading small workshops either in an academic setting or through personal hobbies and interests.
All VSA assignments are focused on building capability and capacity in country, but they also represent an opportunity for our volunteers to enhance and demonstrate a number of their skills including communication, stakeholder engagement, leadership development, project management, resilience, mentoring and innovation. The Univol programme is also a fairly exclusive one as we only have eleven assignments. Combining these factors could easily be leveraged to assist a volunteer in starting out a career in a number of fields including youth development.
Application Instructions:
If this opportunity is of interest, please apply through the link below. If you have any questions about this assignment or the Univol programme as a whole you are more than welcome to check in with the Recruitment team via email at volunteer@vsa.org.nz.
Please note applications will be closing in early August 2026, so get any applications or queries in prior to that as the team will be assessing applications and queries as they arrive.
We are looking for a volunteer with:
- Leap into a new cultural experience volunteering in Vanuatu
- Become part of an international development programme built for graduates
- VSA covers costs associated with travel, accommodation and basic living costs
VSA covers flights, accommodation, insurance and some expenses. A living allowance is also provided.
Does volunteering with one of the largest and most experienced agency in international development interest you?