Irish Aid

Irish Aid is the Irish Government’s programme for overseas development. The programme is managed by the Development Co-operation Division of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Irish Aid has been a funding partner of VSO Ireland since 2004. In 2013 VSO Ireland and Irish Aid piloted a new strategic partnership which focuses on leveraging the skills and experience of VSO volunteers to contribute to development outcomes in Ethiopia, Uganda and Zambia.

As part of our Improving Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health project in Ethiopia, VSO volunteers are working to improve the standard of care for mothers and newborns in target hospitals, aiming to reduce neonatal deaths by 25%.

While in northern Uganda, volunteers involved in our Evaluating and Improving the Quality of Primary Education project are helping to improve the standard of teaching practice and inspection in primary schools by training over 500 teachers by the end of 2015.

Volunteers in northern Zambia are supporting provincial and local government offices to become more responsive to the needs of their communities.