VSO an Alternative for Queer Couples Who Want to Serve Overseas?

“It’s the British equivalent of Peace Corps”. That’s the shorthand answer I have often resorted to when my more long-winded description (“VSO is an international development agency that sends qualified and professional volunteers to work in developing countries etc. etc.”) has evoked only polite smiles and confused looks from the people I am talking to.

The shorthand version works of course – everybody knows the Peace Corps – and in many ways it’s accurate because VSO and Peace Corps have much in common. But – as you will see below – there are some pretty substantial differences as well. So, I truly appreciate the invitation to tell a fuller story of VSO, which I have known for more than 20 years, and particularly to share my experience of the organization from my perspective as a lesbian volunteer and overseas staff person for VSO.

First the basics: VSO (which stands for Voluntary Service Overseas, though the acronym is used more than the full name) is one of the largest international volunteer-sending agencies in the world. Since its establishment in 1958, VSO has sent more than 30,000 volunteers overseas, and currently has around 2,000 skilled professionals working in 40 countries, primarily in Africa and Asia.

Volunteer placements are for at least two years, and VSO recruits professionals with experience in a wide range of fields (see box). VSO volunteers receive a local allowance, accommodation, airfare, health care, pre-departure training, language and cultural training in-country and support from in-country VSO program staff. You are not going to get rich with VSO, but you shouldn’t be out of pocket!

VSO and Peace Corps
The similarities between Peace Corps and VSO are clear, and it is not unusual for Peace Corps and VSO volunteers to find themselves in similar placements. I learnt this very quickly when I started doing outreach a few years ago to around 300 other VSO RVs (Returned Volunteers) living in the U.S. Over 100 responded to my letter to them, and a large number of those revealed that they ended up in the U.S. because they had met and married their Peace Corps colleague!

But there are also some important ways in which VSO is not the British Peace Corps. Although it was started in the UK, and still has its Head Office in London, VSO is not an exclusively British organization, and is open to recruiting volunteers of many different nationalities. In fact VSO now has recruitment offices in UK, the Netherlands, Kenya, India, the Philippines and Canada, which handles recruitment of Canadian and U.S. volunteers. In the Bay Area, this has meant that when the local Peace Corps office receives applications from non-U.S. citizens, they have begun to refer them over to VSO.

Also, although VSO receives a good portion of its budget from government grants from the UK, Canada and other countries, it is an independent non-profit organization with no religious or political affiliation, and is not a government agency. For me, this was a valuable distinction: once I arrived at my placement, I was not seen as representing a country or even an organization, I was just representing myself. One of my favorite moments as Field Director in Zimbabwe – and one that I experienced many times – came when I visited a VSO volunteer and when I announced to the volunteer’s colleagues that “I was here from VSO”, they replied “What’s VSO?”
This sense of being seen as “the colleague or co-worker” rather than “the volunteer” is helped, I believe, by the fact that the employers that receive VSO volunteers are expected to contribute to the costs - by providing the volunteer’s allowance and/or accommodation for example. This means that the organizations have to think carefully about whether they need a volunteer and what skills they are looking for, and that they have a real stake in the volunteer’s success and effectiveness.

VSO also tends to look for volunteers with very specific qualifications and experience related to the particular posting for which they are recruiting. This is reflected in the level of professional experience that VSO looks for - the general rule is that VSO volunteers have at least two years’ work experience in their field, but many bring much more. Most VSO volunteers are in their thirties and forties, and around 20 percent are 50 and over. The average age of VSO volunteers is currently 38.

VSO’s approach to placement of LGBT volunteers
VSO’s priority in recruitment is to identify volunteers with the right skills and experience for the job, without discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender expression or relationship status. I personally appreciate that VSO has always placed high value on inclusivity in its recruitment process and handles applications from LGBT volunteers using exactly the same procedures as for all volunteers. VSO volunteers are not asked to disclose their sexual orientation or relationship status during the application or selection process but they are encouraged to discuss concerns or questions with VSO staff. Volunteers in relationships – including same sex couples – are encouraged to be honest and open during the placement process so that they can receive adequate information about the conditions of their country of placement, and the challenges that they may face.

When program officers discuss placements with overseas offices, the relationship status of volunteers will only be discussed with the volunteer’s permission. Once again, this is strongly encouraged, because program offices can provide essential country-specific resources for LGBT volunteers, for example, as well as advice on cultural norms and local laws. If the security or safety of a lesbian or gay volunteer may be threatened in-country, program offices may advise against placing the volunteer in that country. In most cases, though, VSO’s priority is to ensure that volunteers have the information that they need to make their own informed decision about accepting or rejecting a placement.

Once volunteers have been placed, LGBT volunteers also have the possibility of being connected with lesbian and gay VSO RVs. Also, their briefing materials, trainings and in-country orientations include country-specific information about laws, cultural norms, sex and relationships, including case studies based on volunteers’ experiences. The result of all this is that VSO has been able to welcome and place many LGBT volunteers.

Same-sex couples and VSO
VSO also welcomes applications from same-sex couples and treats those applications in the same way that any other applications from couples are handled. However, placement of couples is more complex. Firstly, both partners in the couple can only be placed as VSO volunteers if one employer requests two volunteers in the same location at the same time, and if the two requests match the particular couple’s skills and qualifications – which tends to be pretty rare. More usually, what happens is that one member of the couple is placed as a volunteer and the other is treated as a non-volunteering partner. VSO does not cover any of the costs for the non-volunteering partner, but will include the partner in the assessment day, and in the pre-departure and in-country training courses.

Secondly, VSO also emphasizes strongly the need for same sex couples to exercise discretion and caution given the fact that, as they put it in a recent email to applicants: “it is an unfortunate fact that homosexuality is illegal in many of the countries that VSO works in, and widely misunderstood in practically all of them”.
This brings me to my experience as the Program Director for VSO Zimbabwe, where I lived with my partner, Cory, who is from the U.S. We were able to live pretty openly as an “out” couple within the VSO circle and I believe that we were also able to be a resource and support to many of the lesbian and gay volunteers working in Zimbabwe at that time. As for our relationship with Zimbabwean friends and colleagues, I would say that we all applied the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy years before the phrase was invented. We never talked about ourselves as a couple – and certainly never used the words lesbian or homosexual – but didn’t find ourselves going to elaborate lengths to hide our relationship either. When we got together socially with colleagues, Cory and I would always be invited together; when I was out of town, Cory would be teased about how much she was missing me. In all kinds of ways, our relationship was subtly acknowledged, even while certain words were never spoken. Many of the lesbian and gay volunteers I spoke to, including couples working in rural areas said the same – they did not flaunt their relationship and challenge colleagues and friends to “accept” it, but they also did not have to go to great lengths to hide it either.

Which brings me to my final point: I appreciate that VSO is inclusive of LGBT volunteers, not just for the volunteers’ sake, but for VSO’s sake too. It is my experience that LGBT people are particularly well suited to VSO or Peace Corps placements. Many of the skills and characteristics that make good volunteers – the ability to read people, to adapt to new circumstances, to know instinctively when to speak out and when to step back, to respect difference – are characteristics that LGBT people have had ample opportunity to hone through practice!

• health and social work professionals: such as doctors and nurses, all sorts of medical technicians, community workers, and people experienced working with children and people with disabilities, and those who have experience with HIV/AIDS education and prevention programs.

• business and management professionals: such as people with experience in small business, finance, management and organizational development.

• education professionals: such as teachers with TEFL skills, science and math, curriculum developers, and school administrators.

• engineering, technical and natural resources professionals: such as civil engineers, water and sanitation professionals, those with plumbing and electrical skills, environmental professionals, vocational instructors, and agricultural professionals.

Paula Morris was a VSO English Teacher in Surabaya, Indonesia from 1983 to 1985, VSO Field Officer in Jakarta, Indonesia from 1985 to 1987, and Field Director for VSO Zimbabwe from 1987 to 1990. She is now a consultant to foundations and non-profit organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she also conducts occasional “Meet VSO” information evenings for prospective VSO volunteers. She can be reached at info@vsousa.org.