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About Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA)

VITA is a private, nonprofit, international development organization incorporated in Virginia and registered as a private voluntary organization with USAID. The organization offers services in a variety of areas including information dissemination, the design and installation of specialized communications systems, preparation and publication of technical materials, disaster information coordination, and management of long-term development programs. VITA was founded on the premise that information is an essential part of improving the quality of life in developing countries. In 2003, VITA's original service, the Technical Inquiry Service, observed its 44th year of operation. During this time it has provided information to almost 300,000 individuals and groups, responding to their expressed needs. Importantly, those that have used and benefited from VITA's services represent the very groups that most development agencies have targeted as priorities -- the poor and disadvantaged.

VITA has an outstanding record of performance not just on contracts that it has carried out for USAID, but also for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the World Bank, the UNDP, and several private donors. In the 15 years alone, VITA has:

• implemented long-term projects aimed at private enterprise development and private sector strengthening;
• agricultural and rural rehabilitation;
• natural resource management; and
• technology transfer and information dissemination.

These programs have been implemented in a number of countries including Afghanistan, Belize, Benin, Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Chad, China, Guinea, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Indonesia, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Moldova, Morocco, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Thailand, Ukraine and Zambia.

International Voluntary Service Activities

VITA uses volunteers in a variety of ways: to respond to requests for technical information from developing countries, for brief in-country assignments in their specific area of expertise, as well as sources of knowledge and support in strategic planning. VITA Volunteers have already answered more than 300,000 requests for information from developing countries. They have also designed specialized communication systems to bridge the digital divide; provided valuable services in business development and microfinance; modernized factories; designed and installed water and sanitation systems; and responded to the computerization needs of local governments and ministries in the developing world. Volunteers are experienced professionals from a variety of disciplines including agriculture, business development and credit, energy, environment, food processing, housing, information and communication technologies, transportation and water and sanitation.