Belinda to volunteer over in South Sudan
BELINDA BRUMMER from Bray will go to South Sudan at the end of January on a Voluntary Service Overseas ( VSO) placement.
A new country, South Sudan came into existence in 2011 following an independence referendum.
Originally from South Africa, Belinda who moved to Ireland over 10 years ago will start work as a Human Resources Management Advisor at the Yei Teacher Training College in south west Sudan.
Despite working in human resources management for the past 12 years, Belinda has considerable experience in education having previously worked as a primary school teacher in South Africa.
This placement perfectly marries all of Belinda’s experience in human resources and education.
As South Sudan has only recently emerged as an independent state, many of the basic human resource systems that we are used to in Ireland are not available in their education institutions.
Belinda will perform a needs assessment of the entire organisation and provide recommendations on best practice. In addition, she will be responsible for training local staff in HR practices ensuring that her impact will remain long after she leaves.
Belinda’s work is about supporting the best possible teacher training education programmes so that when they start work in schools, the local teachers will provide children with high quality education which has been proven to enable people escape poverty
‘It will give me a chance to give something back and make a truly lasting difference,’ said Belinda. ‘ The way VSO operates puts people at the heart of fighting poverty and ensures that local communities are given the skills needed to lift themselves out of poverty. It’s a daunting yet exciting challenge.’
Belinda wants to thank all of her friends who supported her recent fundraising walk for VSO Ireland. They walked for over 14.5km along the Wicklow coast and raised nearly €700.
‘Volunteers like Belinda help us achieve our ultimate aim of ending poverty. They share their skills and transform lives and communities across Africa and Asia. More volunteers are always needed so please get in touch,’ said VSO Ireland Head of Programmes, Deirdre Finlay.
VSO is an international development organisation that works through volunteers fighting poverty and the causes of it. It recruits experienced volunteers for one to two year placements in Africa and Asia.
All related costs are covered by VSO. For more information call (01) 6401060 or visit vso. ie where details of upcoming events are available.