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Volunteer opportunities await
Travel and adventures in supply management
Would you like to share your expertise in the field of purchasing and supply management, while having an adventure yourself? Do you like to travel? Are you ready to change your life?
If so, the Canadian Executive Service Organization/Service de assistance canadienne aux organismes, wants to talk with you about becoming a Volunteer Adviser (VA). Your travels might take you anywhere from the Philippines to Nunavut, Senegal to Serbia.
As a VA on assignment, your transportation, travel insurance and living expenses are covered by CESO. A not-for-profit development agency founded in 1967, CESO's mandate is to transfer Canadian technical and managerial expertise to developing nations, countries in transition in Central and Eastern Europe, and to Canadian Aboriginal communities.
Careful Selection
When a client asks for assistance, CESO draws on its roster of VAs to find the most appropriate person to answer each request from groups and businesses that seek mentorship, but cannot afford paid consultants.
Typically, a VA may spend four weeks to three months on an overseas assignment, helping a client find grassroots solutions to their problems. In Canada, they typically spend a week with Aboriginal clients, returning to offer ongoing mentoring assistance as needed.
The experience is a far cry from the luxuries of business travel, to which many may be accustomed. Instead, volunteers travel economy class, are housed in local accommodations and make their own meals or dine in neighborhood restaurants.
Rewarding Experiences
Still, many agree with Oshawa, Ontario-based VA Bill Larrett. He says: My involvement with CESO gives me 150% satisfaction and reward.
Bill joined CESO in 1994 and has traveled extensively as a volunteer with assignments in Russia, Estonia, Peru, Ecuador and Jamaica.
You can't cut the umbilical cord when you leave the industry, says Bill, now retired as former senior buyer with Zellers. We've got to keep up to date and give back what we've learned and achieved.
Pierre Deutsch of St. Lambert, Quebec, couldn't agree more. By sharing your lifetime of experience, you can help people help themselves. It's very rewarding to pass on skills to people who are eager to learn.
Pierre, a former vice-president of purchasing and materials management at Humpty Dumpty Foods Inc., Lachine, Quebec, has completed eight overseas assignments and another eight with Aboriginal clients.
Five of his assignments have taken him to Wroclaw, Poland, to assist a snack food producer increase production and improve the quality of crackers, bread sticks and pretzels.
To do that, Pierre concluded, the company had to improve its management techniques and processes. He provided a blueprint for improving packaging, production, marketing, budgeting, purchasing and negotiating with suppliers.
Quality And Savings
The icing on the cake, so to speak, came recently when Pierre's client contracted to supply a famed Kentucky fried chicken company with tortillas for its wrap sandwiches and created a joint venture with one of the world's largest chocolate companies to distribute its products in Poland.
The client has told CESO that Pierre's advice had improved the quality of our products and controlled production costs. The savings were passed on to workers' pay packets.
Bill and Pierre are just two of CESO's 3,400 volunteers, experienced and altruistic Canadian men and women who donate their time, talents and skills. Most CESO VAs are retired or semi-retired and the average age is about 62.
Getting On The List
Does all this sound interesting? Consider contacting CESO to learn more about becoming a Volunteer adviser. To be eligible for CESO assignments, you must first be accepted on the CESO roster. Although being on roster neither imposes nor guarantees assignments, it does ensure that you are considered for all appropriate assignments. You then have the opportunity to express interest or decline. In addition to funding from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC), CESO is supported by corporations, foundations and scores of individual Canadians.
For more information about becoming a VA, please contact Nicole Gold, Roster Manager, 700 Bay Street, Suite 700, Toronto, ON M5G 1Z6. Telephone 416-961-2376 Ext. 223. Fax: 416-961-1096. Email: ngold@ceso-saco.com
Quick Facts about CESO
CESO's mission is to promote and extend the economic growth of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples of Canada, developing nations and emerging market economies through the transfer of knowledge by Volunteer Advisers.
More than 1,500 assignments will be completed this year.
International programs are largely supported by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) while national ones receive primary funding from Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC).
CESO also receives funding from clients, multilateral agencies, Canadian corporations, interested individuals and foundations, plus scores of VAs.
Thousands of assignments have been completed in more than 40 countries, including Africa, Asia, the Americas, the Caribbean, Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union and Canada.
A 14-member board representative of Canada's Aboriginal, francophone/anglophone, corporate and volunteer communities governs CESO.
The web site is www.ceso-saco.com
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