1. With a Special thanks to….
The University of Glasgow Students’ Representative
Council
Contact Us:
Student Volunteers Abroad (SVA)
c/o. University of Glasgow SRC
The John McIntyre Building
Glasgow
G12 8QQ
Email: info@studentvolunteersabroad.org
Website: www.studentvolunteersabroad.org
SVA is a Registered Charity (SC 030081)
Student Volunteering Overseas Partnership
ANNUAL SVOP CONFERENCENCE 2016
HOSTED BY STUDENT VOLUNTEERS ABROAD (SVA)
Saturday 13th February 2016: 09:00 - 16:00
Sunday 14th February 2016: 10:30 - 16:30
The John McIntyre Building
University of Glasgow

2. What is SVOP?
SVOP (Student Volunteering Overseas Partnership) is a
partnership of student-led international volunteering
organisations from around the UK who meet annually to
share their knowledge and experience in the aim of
improving their work.
SVOP involves an annual conference which provides a
chance for board and committee members working on
student-led overseas volunteering projects to meet
together to share ideas, gain skills and at times hear from
experts in international development. SVOP acts as a forum
to discuss how to tackle the practical challenges of running
an overseas volunteering project as well as considering the
theoretical and ethical dimensions of the work being done.
List of SVOP 2016 Attendees
Student Volunteers Abroad (SVA)
Strathclyde International Development (SID)
Edinburgh Global Partnerships (EGP)
Bristol Volunteers for Development Abroad (BVDA)
Project Nepal (Imperial)
Prayog Education
Thank you all for coming!

3. Guest Speakers
Luna Carmona
Let's design social media that drives real change.
An explanation of how to create networks, empower your organisation and improve your
online communicative skills.
Dr Margaret Sutherland (GCID)
A senior lecturer in Inclusive Education at the University of Glasgow, Director of the
Scottish Network for Able Pupils and Deputy Director of the Centre for Research and
Development in Adult and Lifelong Learning, University of Glasgow.
She has 34 years teaching experience in mainstream primary schools, behaviour support
and latterly in higher education. Her research interests include inclusive education, gifted
education and education in developing countries. She is the education link for the Glasgow
Centre for International Development (GCID) and has been involved in GCID since its
inception in 2006.
Sue Kinn (DFID)
She started off as a laboratory-based cell biologist, followed by a short spell as a computer
analyst/programmer. She has 15 years’ experience working in public health and health
services research, during which time she ran a research programme at a Government
funded research unit, based in Glasgow.
Sue moved to the UK Department for International Development in 2004 and is currently
the team leader for the health research team. She manages a team of advisers and
programme managers, with a research portfolio covering communicable diseases, health
systems strengthening, reproductive, maternal, child and new born health and non-
communicable diseases, with a budget of over £80 million in 2015/16.
Research funded by the Department ranges from the development of new drugs and
vaccines for neglected diseases, developing and testing new interventions, operations
research aimed at finding the most effective ways to deliver interventions, research to
understand the context in which interventions are introduced and systematic reviews of
the literature.
Who are SVA?
Student Volunteers Abroad is a student run charity active
at the University of Glasgow. We have three main aims;
to work with local organisations on sustainable projects
for the relief of poverty; to promote awareness and
education, amongst students, of the social and
environmental issues that affect the developing world;
and to promote cultural links and encourage cultural
exchange. We have been a Registered Scottish Charity
since 2000 (SC030081).
We currently work with NGO’s in Indonesia, Kenya,
Uganda and Malawi. We have previously held projects in
many other countries such as South Africa, Nepal, and
Cambodia. SVA sends approximately 25 University of
Glasgow students abroad every summer.

4. 9.00 – 9.10 (Room 201)
What is SVOP? - SVA
9.10 – 9.30 (Room 201)
SPEAKER: Ameer Ibrahim (UoG Students’ Representative Council)
9.30 – 10.00 (Room 201)
SPEAKER: Ben Wilson – What opportunities volunteering can open up for you?
10.00 – 10.30 (Room 201)
Networking
- Find your equivalent
- What do you want to get out of this weekend?
10.30 – 11.30 (Room 201)
Project Selection – EGP
- What to look for when finding a new project?
- How best to find and choose a new project?
- What is important in a partner organisation?
10.30 – 11.30 (Room 208)
Recruitment – SID
- How can we best recruit and select volunteers?
- What to look for in a potential volunteer?
- How do we measure the strengths of potential
volunteers?
- How to consider the potential group dynamics?
11.30 – 12.30 (Room 201)
Sustainability of Projects – SVA
- What do we currently do to make sure our projects
are sustainable?
- How can we make our projects more sustainable in
the future?
11.30 – 12.30 (Room 208)
Monitoring and Evaluation – ODA
- Why is M&E important?
- How do we measure the impact of a project?
- How can volunteers contribute to M&E?
- What are different methods of M&E?
- How can we make sure the method we are using is
effective?
12.30 – 1.30
LUNCH
1.30 – 2.00 (Room 201)
SVA led Workshop
2.00 – 3.00 (Room 201)
SPEAKER: Luna Carmona (Xchange Scotland)
3.00 – 4.00 (Room 201)
Volunteer Behaviour – BVDA
- What do we expect from our volunteers?
- What problems have we experienced in the past?
- How do we learn from these problems and prevent
them from occurring again?
3.00 – 4.00 (Room 208)
Publicity and Marketing – SVA
- How to best market our projects?
- How to target the best volunteers?
- How to raise awareness of our society on campus?
Saturday 13th February
Arrive at 10.30am
11.00 – 12.00 (Williams Room)
SPEAKER: Sue Kinn (Team Leader for Human Development Research, DFID)
12.00 – 1.00 (Williams Room)
Fundraising – SVA
- What are the best methods of fundraising?
- How can our organisations fundraise as a
committee?
12.00 – 1.00 (Gilchrist Room)
Different models of Student-led Volunteering
Projects – Project Nepal (Imperial)
- What types of models are there and what do
different organisations use?
- Pros and cons of the different models
1.00– 2.00 (Williams Room)
SPEAKER: Margaret Sutherland (Glasgow Centre for International Development)
2.00 – 3.00
LUNCH
3.00 – 4.00 (Williams Room)
Training – Prayog
- How can we best prepare our volunteers before they
leave?
- What is important to include in preparatory training?
- What do other organisations do for training?
- Is training from external sources worthwhile?
3.00 – 4.00 (Gilchrist Room)
Risk Management – SVA
- How can we adequately assess the risks of our
projects?
- How can we best support our volunteers from the
UK?
- What preparations do we have in place if anything
should go wrong?
- How can we strengthen our communication
protocol and ensure it is followed?
4.00 – 4.30 (Williams Room)
How to make SVOP better?
- How should we develop SVOP communication?
- How can we ensure institutional memory of the conference continues?
- Who is hosting next year?
Sunday 14th February