About Us
VE Global (VE) recruits, trains and organizes international volunteers to achieve our mission of fostering the positive development of children at social risk in Chile. VE has successfully integrated nearly 450 full-time volunteers from more than 35 countries into our network of six local social service organizations including children’s shelters, community centers and schools in the most vulnerable neighborhoods of Santiago.
VE volunteers can have a truly transformational experience working with the children in our community. The work our volunteers do and the relationships they create develop valuable skills that serve them long after they leave VE. Our volunteers are more than just an extra set of hands at the organizations we serve—they actively and positively change the way that hundreds of children experience the world.
With an average on-the-ground presence of 15 full-time volunteers and two dedicated staff members, VE provides more than 40,000 hours of volunteer support each year and serves more than 200 children daily. Through this work, VE strives to contribute to a brighter future both for the children it serves and the volunteers that work with them, a goal achieved by training volunteers to become educators and role models that serve children both now and into the future.
VE Supports the SDGs
1. Poverty is cyclical. Both of VE’s programs work to intervene in the cycle by providing children with the emotional support and resources needed to establish self-esteem and realize their full potential. When children receive this type of support they are less likely to fall into poverty.
3. Every month from March to November VE hosts Liga de Deportes with the children to get them active and to spread messages about health and well-being. Every Liga is themed around a different topic, such as how to be a good friends or how to protect the environment. Aside from Liga, the talleres volunteers lead in the hogares often center around topics regarding health and well being.
4. Through the Life Skills Program adolescents receive classes on various topics from how to manage finances to how to successfully interview for jobs. Volunteers also lead two main educational initiatives: Vamos a Leer and English in Motion.
5. VE creates space where people of all genders are included and treated equally. Much of what volunteers do is build self esteem in the kids they work with on a daily basis and this includes teaching them to love and respect themselves and others regardless of gender. Even within our organization we are an equal opportunity organization where we accept volunteers and staff regardless of background.
10. Currently Chile has the highest income inequality in the world! This makes our work more critical as we equip children at social risk with tools to help them succeed educationally and professionally.
11. For change to be sustainable it must be at least partly initiated by the community itself. VE thus works both with government ministries and local organizations, both private and non profit, to implement our programs. Most food and resources such as space or supplies is donated to us by the community.
16. Our work seeks to enhance the effectiveness and quality of Santiago’s system of hogares. We also prioritize preparing our volunteers to be alert and informed on how to properly handle and report various situations they may encounter with the children.
17. We work with more than 37 different partners and supporters to implement our programs. We also regularly monitor the success of our work both with the children and also in regards to our volunteer’s experience in order to make necessary changes to enhance the quality of our work.
VE Global is guided by a set of principles that our entire community follows to ensure we are able to help the children we serve here in Chile.
Vision
We envision a global community that ensures equality of opportunity for all children.
Mission
We foster the development of children at social risk in Chile by training and empowering volunteers to serve as positive role models, educators and advocates of social justice.
To achieve our mission, we:
Create and implement engaging education and recreation programs for children.
Develop leadership and mentoring skills in volunteers throughout their intensive, long-term service commitment.
Collaborate with child service organizations by providing complementary programming and support, introducing children to new opportunities, and garnering resources and social capital.
Motivate a global network of former volunteers to engage their local communities in support of social justice for children.
Values
Community: We build a pro-active, socially-minded global family through respect, support and inclusion.
Empowerment:We create opportunities for all within our community to learn, grow and challenge themselves. We provide tools and knowledge to foster skills and maximize potential.
Positivity: We cultivate change with foresight, optimism and encouragement.
Responsibility: We manage our resources efficiently to ensure sustainable social impact.
Integrity:We believe in the sincerity, honesty and power of our words and actions.
