Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether she has plans to introduce a volunteering scheme to help developing countries have insufficient staff to support a covid-19 response.

Official responses to COVID-19 are heavily reliant on a range of volunteers, who are devoting their time and skills both at home in the UK and in developing countries. The new DFID-funded Global Standard for Volunteering sets a useful benchmark for how volunteers can be deployed in a responsible, effective and safe way.

DFID’s Volunteering for Development (V4D) programme, delivered in partnership with Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO), is working through volunteers to directly respond to the pandemic in 18 developing countries.

V4D volunteers are working within national response efforts to: ensure continued access to education for girls and children living with disabilities; strengthen health systems; improve emergency coordination systems; share key advice in accessible ways; and, support micro enterprise for the extreme poor.