Note on terminology and abbreviations

Aside from governments and well-known international development organisations there are four categories of organisation to which frequent reference will be made:

Volunteer-sending Agencies (VSAs) are usually officially-sponsored bodies concerned with sending international Volunteer Development Workers (VDWs) to developing countries. UNV itself is a VSA, which promotes the exchange of international, national and community volunteers in a range of activities. For the most part, VSAs rely on international development workers in their operations, but there is growing inclusion of national and community volunteers.

Private Voluntary Organisations (PVOs) are the international Non-Governmental Organisations working for development. PVOs may or may not hire local personnel, but usually have international staff as well.

Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) will refer exclusively to the indigenous Non-Governmental Organisations in developing countries. NGOs may depend financially on external support, but usually have little recourse to international personnel.

Community-based organisations (CBOs) is used to signify the autonomous bodies formed by local communities themselves for their own development. CBOs rely essentially on their own communities' resources.

The term "volunteer" in the context of Volunteer Development Workers (VDWs) refers to people -both local and international - who wish to contribute on a non-commercial basis to solving development concerns. They offer their professional skills (managerial, organisational, technical) for terms of service which are often less than the regular market rate.