General (9)
- Do you need to have Dutch nationality to be deployed through a Dutch organisation?
- Can an organisation apply for support via a PSO member organisation?
- Does PSO support projects in foreign countries?
- PSO focuses on capacity building in developing countries. What exactly is capacity building?
- What background do I need to have in order to be deployed by a PSO member organisation?
- How can I apply for a traineeship with an organisation in a developing country?
- Are there special opportunities for young people to work in a developing country?
- I'm interested in working in a developing country. Where do I apply? What would my legal status be in a foreign country?
- What is PSO?
Organisation (3)
No. Local experts or people from other regions may even be preferred.
Yes, but the chance that an application would be approved is not that high. PSO member organisations first check to see if they can find a local expert who can provide the technical assistance required. A western expert will only be recruited if there is no local expert available.
Applications for donations and sponsoring are submitted via our member organisations, but we don't support projects directly.
Capacity building is a process that aims to expand the opportunities for people, groups, organisations, institutions and the community in general. This means that they can carry out a number of core tasks themselves, e.g. solving problems, defining objectives and achieving these goals. They also gain better insight into their development needs and learn to handle these in a sustainable way. It means a structural strengthening of civil society organisations in developing countries.
Our development staff are traditionally active in the health care sector, economic resistance, social rebuilding, humanitarian aid, agriculture and education. But we are currently seeing a shift towards new professions, such as new media, ICT, economics and administrative law. There is often very little local expertise in these fields.
Every university has a 'foreign desk' where you can obtain more information about the opportunities for traineeship places and financing. Tip: check the university websites and click on the 'links' buttons. You'll often find addresses of international student associations. They know the route to take when applying for trainee places with organisations in developing countries.
The Ministry of foreign Affairs has published a booklet containing all the addresses of development organisations. You can order a copy via www.minbuza.nl or by calling +31-70-348 67 89.
The COS also has information available on how to find work in a developing country, where to start and which organisations to contact.
The website www.kennisnet.nl, the 'home page' for education, contains an international section with a number of opportunities for volunteer work and trainee places.
Take a look at Move Your World, Nuffic or Stichting IJU.
Yes. If you are between the ages of 20 and 30 then you can take part in the PSO Youth programme.
Deployment of development aid workers is arranged through one of PSO's member organisations. Ask them about opportunities for working with organisations in developing countries. The procedure is as follows. An organisation in a developing country applies to one of the PSO member organisations for support, e.g. input of a development worker. Our member organisation then draws up a project proposal, together with the foreign partner. This proposal is then submitted to PSO, and we check that it meets all the criteria. Knowledge transfer and strengthening the local organisation are particularly important aspects. If the proposal is approved then PSO funds the project. If PSO approves the input of a development worker then PSO ensures that you have a good legal status , i.e. comparable to that in the Netherlands. These aspects include insurances, social security, costs of preparing for the deployment and a monthly supplement to your salary. Our member organisations recruit and select development staff.
PSO is an umbrella organisation of Dutch organisations that are actively working in development cooperation. Our members strengthen non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in developing countries (known as capacity building). PSO funds these activities by its members, e.g. by deploying consultants and development workers, training local staff and by organising exchange projects.
PSO is active in 70 countries. Over half of the development staff deployed by PSO member organisations (55%) work in Africa, 20% in South and Central America, 17% in Asia and the Pacific region, and 8% in countries within Europe.
In the development cooperation world we have come to the conclusion over the past few years that many activities do not produce an optimum effect. This is primarily due to the fact that local organisations - which were responsible for implementing these projects - are not able to do this properly. They just didn't have the capacity. We have decided that we need to place more importance on the role that local organisations can play in protecting the interests of their own community and influencing the policy-makers. A flourishing NGO sector in developing countries is an important catalyst for sustainable development.
Organisations wishing to become PSO members must meet a number of criteria. They must be private Dutch organisations, non-profit, and be active in international cooperation and capacity building.