£1500 Development Grant For Former Volunteers

Young people who’ve completed a six month ProjectScotland volunteer placement can now apply for a Personal Development Fund of up to £1500 to help them take their next career step. ProjectScotland is the revolutionary volunteering organisation which matches young Scots to full-time community work. Some of the first ProjectScotland volunteers have already taken advantage of the Fund. Helen Armstrong (23) spent her six month ProjectScotland placement at Canongate Youth Project in Edinburgh. The experience underlined her resolve to become a teacher.

Helen said: “I wanted to go to Ghana as a teaching assistant but couldn’t afford it until I heard about the ProjectScotland Personal Development Fund. It helped towards my air fare, visa and insurance.

“I wanted to volunteer in Scotland in the first instance – the way I thought about it was ‘charity begins at home’. It worked out really well because I was able to take the skills I learnt as a ProjectScotland volunteer at Canongate Youth Project to Ghana. The confidence I gained in working with young people in an informal setting was invaluable when I went out to Africa, where I was thrown in at the deep end – taking the next step and teaching in a more formal classroom setting.”

Helen has now returned to Scotland. In August she is starting her Post Graduate Diploma in Teaching at Jordanhill. She says her volunteering experiences have been invaluable in terms of what she has gained personally as well as the impact it has on others.  So much so, she plans to continue volunteering on a part time basis throughout her life.

Volunteers can apply for the ProjectScotland Personal Development Fund (PDF) to help start up a new business, move onto further training, continue volunteering or something completely different.

Kate Mavor, ProjectScotland chief executive explains:
“We’ve set up the ProjectScotland Development Fund to help ‘open doors’ for and reward the young people who’ve completed their placements and who want to build on their experience and take on the next challenge.

“These young people have invested their time in volunteering. This Fund allows us to reciprocate by investing in their futures – enhancing their chances of success in their chosen path.”

ProjectScotland works with a variety of organisations including Forestry Commission, Capability Scotland and Impact Arts.