Freemount woman and returned VSO volunteer, Marian Broderick, has been honoured by Minister Joe Costello at the VSO’s 10th anniversary reception for her work in fighting global poverty as a volunteer overseas.
Leading international development organisation VSO, as part of its 10th anniversary, celebrated the work of its volunteers at an event in the Old House of Lords, Dublin 2. Since 2004, 250 Irish people from all walks of life volunteered overseas to help tackle global poverty.
Last year, VSO volun-teers helped train and mentor nearly 150,000 education professionals, 22,000 health profession-als and supported nearly one million people through its Making Markets Work for the Poor Project.
Nurse Marian Broderick, is one of VSO Ireland’s returned volunteers who worked in Vanuatu. Over the course of her place-ment, Marian worked as a HIV and STI nurse/health worker adviser. Marian’s work with education and health promotion were key to reducing STI rates and had a huge impact on the community.
In recognition of her work as a VSO volunteer, Marian received a certificate from Minister of State for Trade and Development, Joe Costello, who spoke about the importance of volunteering in Ireland’s development strategy.
VSO is urgently seeking more volunteers, particu-larly in the areas of health (doctors and nur-ses), education (teachers and principals) and community development to support its projects in the developing world. Volunteers must have a degree qualification and a minimum of five years post-qualification exper-ience. The volunteer placements last from six to 24 months, see photo on page 43.