United Nations Association International Service

description of organisation

International Service is a UK-based international development charity established in 1953. We are a small charity with 8 core staff. We work with volunteers, partner organisations, and communities across the world to generate positive change, such as promoting positive attitudes towards people with disabilities, and working with people in poverty to earn a decent living. As an organisation we are accredited as a Living Wage employer, a Mindful Employer, and a Disability Confident Employer. We believe in lasting change, local solutions, human rights and putting people at the heart of everything we do.

We deliver development projects in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Malawi, Rwanda and Palestine and over our history have worked all over Asia, Africa, the Americas and Europe. Our work has a special focus on improving the lives of women and people with disabilities, as they are disproportionately at risk of disadvantage and marginalisation.

Our projects are developed in close collaboration with local partners, responding to the challenges and priorities identified by community members. We have seen that volunteers, both local and international, can contribute enormously to exciting new areas of work outside of a local partner’s core activities and are uniquely positioned to strengthen projects by engaging with community members and catalysing new ways of thinking.

We are now committed to taking part in the European Solidarity Corps to create opportunities for young people in the European neighbourhood, especially those with fewer opportunities, to take part in life-changing volunteering placements and make a positive difference in their host and home communities. We are already accredited as a sending organisation with one active project in delivery and a number more about to commence.