GVI named Best Volunteering Organisation 2011

Global Vision International (GVI) has been named the Best Volunteering Organisation 2011 at the Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards.

The firm, which specialises in organising voluntary work abroad, places 3,500 gap year volunteers each year in 40 countries and teaches over 10,000 people each year across six continents.

GVI – a Year Out Group member - impressed the panel of judges with "the scale of its impacts on the ground" during the last 12 months.

"For GVI, the proof of their work is in the performance of their students - in Guatemala their students were in the top five per cent nationally examined in 2011," the judges explained.

"This proves that well-placed skilled volunteers can have genuine impacts."

The judges also praised GVI – which has offices in the UK, the US and Australia - for raising £400,000 for charitable projects in 2011 alone.

Volunteers from around the world, and from a variety of age groups, participate in GVI gap year activities. According to the firm, volunteers range in age from 18 to 70+, emphasising the wide appeal of voluntary work abroad.

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