Your experience can help Pacific communities thrive long after you leave.
In 1962, Sir Edmund Hillary helped establish Volunteer Service Abroad Te Tūao Tāwāhi (VSA) with a simple idea: New Zealanders should share their skills with communities across the Pacific in ways that make a lasting difference.
More than 60
years later, that idea still holds – 2026, declared the International Year of Volunteers for Sustainable Development, is a significant milestone.
“2026 is an open invitation to New Zealanders,” says VSA Chief Executive Kate Wareham. “It is a year to look outward, share your skills, and stand alongside communities across the Pacific and Timor-Leste.”
Wareham emphasises that volunteering today is not about short-term fixes. “International development through volunteering is about partnership,” she says. “VSA volunteers work alongside locally led organisations to strengthen the priorities they have identified. It is powerful because it is built on trust, relationships and long-term capability building.”
Kate Wareham
That partnership model can look very different depending on the assignment.
For paediatric registrar Elaine Murphy, it meant six months in Tanna, Vanuatu, working in a small rural hospital alongside the Ministry of Health.
Murphy, who trained in Ireland and now works in Christchurch, had wanted to volunteer for years. “I just didn’t want to go too early and feel like I was in the way,” she says. After five years in paediatrics, she felt ready.
She joined VSA’s talent pool rather than applying for a specific role. Soon after, she was placed in Tanna.
When she arrived, the hospital was in the middle of a whooping cough outbreak. Tuberculosis and malnutrition were common, resources were limited, and two doctors were covering the entire hospital. Murphy became the only doctor focused specifically on children.
Her days were unpredictable – ward rounds, newborn care, emergency cases. But some of her most meaningful work involved building confidence within the nursing team.
“In some places, there’s still a culture where the doctor says something and you don’t challenge it,” she says. “Towards the end, the nurses told me they felt more confident speaking up and advocating for patients. That meant a lot.”
She also trained staff to use donated breathing support machines that had been sitting unused and helped develop clearer referral pathways for children needing surgery.
“It’s made me more interested in sustainable development and what that actually looks like,” she says. “You realise you don’t actually need all that much. It gives you perspective.”
Her advice to anyone considering volunteering? “Just go for it. The process is thorough, and you’re not committing to anything by expressing interest.”
For David Cramp, volunteering began at retirement.
After 20 years in the military and decades working as a commercial beekeeper in the UK, Spain and New Zealand, he was looking for a way to put his skills to use.
“You’ve got life skills and technical skills,” he says. “It makes sense to use them.”
Through VSA, he began working with partner organisations in Tonga to help establish structured beekeeping practices. Early efforts were derailed by the Covid-19 pandemic and the 2022 volcanic eruption, which wiped out hives and set progress back.
Beekeepers on Mauke, Cook Island
Still, the work continued.
Cramp helped support the creation of a beekeeping function within Tonga’s Ministry of Agriculture and trained local groups, including a women’s collective that is now successfully producing honey.
A breakthrough came when he identified why standard beekeeping methods weren’t working. Local bees had adapted differently to pests and climate conditions, meaning techniques used elsewhere simply didn’t apply.
“Once we understood how the bees had adapted, everything shifted,” he says. “People could finally make it work.”
For Cramp, the goal is always the same: pass on the skills so communities can continue independently. “It’s about making yourself redundant,” he says. “Otherwise it’s eternal aid.”
One hesitation people often raise is cost or safety. Wareham says those concerns are addressed from the outset.
“We want volunteering to be accessible and people taking on this work to be well supported,” says Wareham.
Instructing beekeepers Tonga
VSA covers flights, accommodation, insurance and a weekly living allowance, with in-country support from local teams. The organisation operates across nine Pacific countries and is supported by the New Zealand Government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
“People often ask if they are experienced enough or if it is safe,” she says. “The skills we seek are specialised – right now we’re looking for roles such as a Hiking Trails Design Mentor, a Childminding Centre Management Advisor and Nursing Mentors – and we operate in often remote, challenging places. Safety and security are paramount for us, and assignments are carefully designed with partners so volunteers are supported from start to finish, allowing them to focus on what really matters: sharing their skills and building meaningful partnerships.”
For many volunteers, the impact is mutual.
“Our volunteers return to Aotearoa with deeper cultural understanding and enduring connections,” she says. “Many tell us it has stretched them professionally, grown their confidence and reshaped how they see the world.”
As 2026 approaches, Wareham sees it as an opportunity for New Zealanders at different stages of life, from early career to retirement, to consider how their skills might travel.
“If you have ever thought about volunteering,” Wareham says, “this is your moment.”
To learn more, visit vsa.org.nz or take the volunteer quiz at vsa.org.nz/volunteer/take-the-quiz/
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