Accenture

VSO and Accenture have worked together for over a decade, combining the unique strengths of each organisation to achieve a shared vision.

Employee volunteering: the VSO-Accenture partnership began in 1999 with the launch of VSO’s employee volunteering scheme. It was established to meet the growing demand for business and management professionals in developing countries.

We have placed over 150 Accenture employees from around the world with partner organisations. It has produced substantial benefits to the developing communities who gain access to crucial business skills and to Accenture and its global staff.

Making Markets Work for the Poor (MMW4P) is a five-year project funded by the Accenture Foundation. It aims to give poor and marginalised people more access to markets and give them opportunities to earn a more secure income. VSO partners on the project are implementing market development programmes in Tanzania, Malawi, Cambodia, Nigeria and Guyana.

The five flagship programmes act as regional learning hubs, by bringing VSO partners, staff and volunteers together from across the regions to share their experiences and what they’ve learnt about market-based approaches. They also promote innovation and development through regional workshops and partner exchanges for other secure livelihoods programmes within the region.

Learn more about our partnership with Accenture (PDF).

Through Accenture’s Skills to Succeed programme the company has committed to equipping 250,000 people around the world with the skills to get a job or build a business by 2015.

We are working with Accenture to meet this commitment through our MMW4P skills-building, which so far has reached over 40,000 men, women and young people.

Accenture employees are also contributing to this goal by volunteering in livelihoods placements and taking part in VSO’s challenge events.

All funds raised through the treks are invested into VSO’s livelihoods projects and with each trek we aim to reach a further 5,000 of the world’s most disadvantaged people.