Working with SHEWD, volunteers gain a wide range of skills, and because we are such a small NGO, you will enjoy hands-on experience. You will quickly learn how to solve problems in a creative manner, imagining ways in which to increase our effectiveness and establish new areas of work. You will gain an in-depth understanding of important issues surrounding women's empowerment and wider development concerns.
Your everyday work will familiarise you with project planning and implementation, which together demonstrate initiative and self-motivational skills.
You can feel assured that your efforts will make a real difference to the community. On a more personal level, volunteering with SHEWD can be a life-changing experience, memories from which will make you smile for many years to come!
Every volunteer is different. Different experiences, different expertise, different ideas and different personalities mean that each volunteer will contribute to SHEWD in their individual way.Volunteers are vital to our work through their ability to think creatively and to help the development of our grassroots organization in a variety of ways.Important areas of particular contribution by volunteers tend to be in networking with the West to raise awareness of our work and setting up trade links through which to sell our HIPKNIT products. Healthcare professionals are also highly valued as volunteers.
Working with both Krishna and the local communities, volunteers help to improve our existing projects and also to establish new ones. For example, a previous volunteer with medical training established two health posts in rural Lalitpur, while another produced a detailed proposal for our FairTrade tourism initiative, which will prove vital in providing us with a regular source of income. A typical week for a SHEWD volunteer might include some of the following activities
Meetings with Krishna to discuss current initiatives and future plans.
A trip to several Village Development Councils to assess our current work. This
involves understanding how the villagers view our work and discussing potential improvements with them.
Email contact with existing or prospective retailers in the West.
Individual work and research on your personal aims whilst working with SHEWD.For example, one current volunteer is working to establish SHEWD as a Scottish CharitableTrust. Previous volunteers have been instrumental to the creation of our website
