Volunteer Accountant Permjeet Brar, sends a New Year message to JustAccountancyJobs.com readers encouraging you to follow her lead to work with our partners Accounting for International Development. Permjeet responded to our email shot in 2010 regarding opportunities for accountants to volunteer overseas. She has been working closely with the staff at The Cambodian Acid Survivors Charity in Phnom Penh. Acid attacks are a pre-meditated form of violence that leaves survivors physically, socially and emotionally scarred. CASC was formed in March 2006 by its partner organization, the Children’s Surgical Centre (CSC) and is the only organization in Cambodia working with survivors of acid attacks using a holistic approach. For acid burn survivors CASC provides extensive support and skills training.
As the first AfID volunteer to work with CASC Permjeet’s main objective has been to conduct a detailed needs and capacity assessment of the organisation and its staff. This will form the basis of a more detailed and structured programme for other AfID volunteers visiting the organisation. Permjeet has also provided one to one coaching on all matters relating to the organisation’s finances and accounting including budget preparation and analysis, the review implementation of financial controls and internal and external (donor) reporting.
Accounting for International Development is a new social enterprise placing experienced accounting professionals as temporary volunteers with NGOs across Africa and Asia. After 10 long years in the city founder of AfiD Neil Jennings left his position as Regional Director for the international accountancy recruiter Robert Half International and went in search of that mythical ‘work-life balance’. Whilst he had been very successful and certainly very privileged he felt that his life had become just like Bill Murray’s in Groundhog Day – different day, same people and same old problems. Neil found a placement as overseas development director for a small Rwandan non-governmental organisation (NGO), set up by orphans and refugees of the 1994 war and genocide. He had always wanted to make a difference and felt where better to start than in Africa. While working closely with the Rwandans it became apparent that, while the NGO achieved amazing results with little or no resources, the survival of their activities hung desperately in the balance due to a lack of basic financial planning and management. After returning to the UK many skilled people mentioned to Jennings that they would love to volunteer abroad but couldn’t spare the time from their business or family commitments. This is what inspired him to create Accounting for International Development (AfID) – a new social enterprise placing experienced accounting professionals as temporary volunteers with NGOs across Africa and Asia. These assignments typically last from 2 to 12 weeks and form part of a long term coaching and mentoring programme. The programme is designed to build financial management and planning capacity within small grass root projects such as street child centres, health clinics, enterprise initiatives and rural cooperatives. AfiD hopes to make volunteering a realistic prospect for tenured professionals, either as part of a staff development programme or simply as part of their annual leave. For AfID’s partners in Africa and Asia it will provide access to a vast pool of talent. The idea is to champion best practice, accountability and encourage cooperation and a commitment to long-term sustainability.
