Data for Advocacy Technical Volunteer

Job Description

Volunteer Role Description

Role Title
Data for Advocacy Technical Volunteer

Country/Project
ACTIVE Extension Project

Location
Remote. The role can be based in any VSO country, preferably where ACTIVE projects are being implemented in Asia or Africa.

Time Commitment
Working remotely from home with a flexible schedule, approximately 20–30 hours per month based on CSG needs.

Duration
3 months, until end of March 2026, with a possible extension until 31 December 2027.

Role Purpose
This volunteer role will provide remote support enabling VSO-affiliated Civil Society Groups (CSGs) to lead the hosting and promotion of the Data for Advocacy (D4A) Hub.
The volunteer will coordinate and foster collaboration to increase adoption and effective use of the D4A Hub by CSGs and grassroots groups.

Key Focus Areas
Support CSG leadership in hosting the D4A Hub.
Engage with CSGs to promote wider usage of the D4A Hub.

The role will work with the VSO ACTIVE project team and the Global Social Accountability Technical Lead to facilitate a CSG-led identification of a group with the capacity and interest to host the D4A Hub. It will also involve mobilising resources for activities related to the use of the Hub.

The volunteer will engage with all VSO-affiliated CSGs that have expressed interest to promote wider usage of the D4A Hub, strengthen their capacity, and enhance their leadership in using the Hub to carry out youth-led social accountability activities.

Safeguarding Level
Level 2
This post will have direct access or contact with children, or responsibility for the day-to-day management of those with direct access to children. A criminal background check (Enhanced DBS check for the UK or equivalent police check) will be obtained prior to the start date.

Introduction to VSO

VSO is the world’s leading international non-governmental organisation working through volunteers to create a fair world for everyone.

Our work centres on people who are left out by society, including those living in extreme poverty, with disability or illness, and those facing discrimination and violence because of gender, sexuality, or social status. These individuals are not passive beneficiaries but primary actors at the heart of our efforts. From their perspectives, we define issues, opportunities, and solutions that drive sustainable, locally led change.

Our Approach

VSO’s Volunteering for Development approach supports vulnerable and marginalised communities to achieve their rights and create lasting change. Rooted in addressing the fundamental causes of marginalisation and vulnerability, the approach is guided by three core pillars: social inclusion and gender, social accountability, and resilience. These guide our work in inclusive education, health, and resilient livelihoods.

The approach recognises the importance of relationships in building shared understanding, collective commitment, and action. With most volunteers being national, VSO builds blended teams of community, national, and international volunteers, uniting diverse perspectives and experiences to generate insight, innovation, and action. This fosters active citizenship worldwide and empowers people to lead change toward a fair world for all.

Project Background and Context

The ACTIVE Extension Project is a multi-country programme across 14 countries in Asia and Africa. It focuses on strengthening the capacity of Civil Society Groups by fostering volunteering and civic engagement, while improving the accountability capacity and practices of duty bearers and service providers. The project aims to make systems responsive to collective needs through volunteering for development interventions.

Volunteering acts as a collective catalyst, accompanying CSGs to build confidence, foster peer learning, and access tools and networks. Volunteers do not deliver services but enable locally led development by supporting CSGs to organise, collaborate, and advocate, centring their voice, pace, and leadership.

The Data for Advocacy Hub is a digital platform designed to facilitate youth-led monitoring of public services and broader civic engagement. It supports youth to collect, process, structure, and use data for advocacy on public service improvement. The Hub stores youth-generated data from health and education facilities across several countries and presents agreed recommendations and progress updates from interface meetings between youth, service providers, and policymakers. VSO seeks to extend local ownership of the Hub among CSGs and grassroots groups.

Role Outputs

Support VSO to facilitate a participatory, CSG-led capacity needs assessment with the identified hosting CSG.

Co-create a capacity strengthening plan with the hosting CSG, providing technical accompaniment to enable sustainable leadership of the Hub.

Support resource mobilisation by connecting CSGs with resource mobilisation volunteers and enabling mapping of potential local and global donors, IT partners, and fundraising opportunities.

Support the Global Technical Lead to expand Hub usage by engaging VSO-affiliated CSGs in Kenya and globally, co-creating capacity-building plans, facilitating peer learning, and sharing practices for youth-led social accountability.

Accompany CSGs to document and share regular monthly updates on progress toward agreed outputs.

Experience and Skills Required

Expertise in digital applications for data collection, aggregation, analysis, and presentation.

Experience with social accountability tools and participatory methods, including intersectionality scorecards, PETS, social audits, and citizen data generation, with the ability to adapt tools to diverse contexts.

Experience in CSG capacity strengthening and embedding rights-based, participatory accountability practices.

Experience in co-designing and contextualising technical resources to ensure accessibility for grassroots groups with varied literacy, digital access, and inclusion needs.

Strong facilitation, coaching, and mentoring skills, with the ability to work remotely and create safe, inclusive spaces where marginalised voices are heard and valued.

Ability to build trust and facilitate learning across diverse cultural, linguistic, and social contexts, including remote and hybrid settings.

Commitment to the Volunteering for Development approach, VSO’s mission and values, safeguarding policies, Code of Conduct, and VSO behavioural competencies.

Deadline: 16 Jan 2026

About the Organization

VSO is an international development charity that works through volunteers. Our vision is a world without poverty in which people work together to fulfil their potential. We bring people together to share skills, creativity and learning to build a fairer world. VSO welcomes volunteers from an ever increasing range of countries, backgrounds and ages. National agencies in Canada, Kenya, the Netherlands and the Philippines recruit volunteers from many different countries worldwide and this international approach allows us to combine and learn from a rich variety of perspectives. Tackling Disadvantage at "Grass Roots" Level Ours is a very individual "people to people" approach to development. Instead of sending food or money, we send women and men from a wide range of professions who want the chance to make a real difference in the fight against poverty. These volunteers work in partnership with colleagues and communities to share skills and learning and jointly achieve change. But we have to be realistic in our expectations. We commit to long-term development goals and long-term partnerships and focus on sustainable development rather than the short-term relief of certain problems. VSO also works to address the structural inequalities and barriers that prevent people from exercising their rights. We use our experience and our supporter networks to work for changes in policy and practice - rich and poor countries - that reduce disadvantage. VSO is by far the largest independent volunteer-sending agency in the world. Since 1958, we have sent out more than 29,000 volunteers to work in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, the Pacific region and, more latterly, Eastern Europe in response to requests from our overseas partners. At the moment we have around 1,500 people working in placements in these regions. Shared Partnerships, Shared Benefits You only have to talk to VSO volunteers to realise that they gain from their experience, personally or professionally, as much as they contribute. Many will enthuse how fascinating it was to explore a different culture at first hand. Others will point to the friendships they have made. But many will also tell you how their professional talents have been stretched, and how they have learnt new skills that will significantly enhance their career prospects on their return home. If ever it was true that "you get out what you put in", VSO is proof positive. This experience makes volunteers passionate in challenging misconceptions about developing countries. In the current climate, it is more urgent than ever that we work to achieve a global community where people of all cultures are seen as equal, learn from each other and share a common sense of rights and responsibilities as global citizens. VSO builds on this experience and passion to support a range of global education activity. To find out more about volunteering with or supporting VSO visit our website at www.vso.org.uk