AfID offers every type of accountant, from anywhere in the world the opportunity to use their skills to support a broad range of non-profit organisations globally. Volunteer assignments of between 2 weeks and 12 months, &/or longer permanent placements, form part of our ongoing strategy to build the financial management capacity of charities in over 50 countries.
AfID have now arranged assignments for over 1000 accountants from over 50 countries, providing over 250,000 hours of one to one support to more than 500 non-profit partners.
Our partners, which are a blend of international NGOs and grassroot community based organisations such as street child centres, hospitals, micro-finance organisations, conservation projects, women’s empowerment programmes and schools, are all doing amazing work to tackle extreme poverty and inequality in their communities but due to their limited resources are unable to access vital accounting and financial management training.
The main focus of all AfID assignments is to develop and enhance the skills, confidence and potential of local people, enabling the organisations to ultimately have the financial management capacity they need to deliver more effective and sustainable programmes to their many beneficiaries, whilst maintain good relations with their donors. Our volunteers could be budgeting with a street child centre in Kampala (Uganda), coaching a hospital bookkeeper in Kigali (Rwanda) or financial reporting for a primary school in Kathmandu (Nepal).
The income AfID receive enables us to offer our capacity building services to the vast majority of our partners, who are local, grassroots community organisations or start-up social enterprises, completely free of charge. Our financial independence means both we and our volunteers can discuss and advise on difficult issues in an open and honest way; establishing a very high level of trust - in a way that no donor organisation could. We are able to work independently and impartially with otherwise neglected organisations; tailoring programmes of support to meet their needs.
Remote pro-bono Technical Assistance
During the COVID-19 pandemic we will not be organising onsite face to face assignments, we are arranging remote technical support whereby experienced finance & accounting professionals can support non-profits via email, telephone and video conferencing. This also means we can now provide remote support to organisations globally and offer volunteer roles to professionals unable to travel. This will remain a service after the pandemic. If you are keen to become a Remote Volunteer or you are an organisation that would welcome this type of support please email volunteers@afid.org.uk
