CUSO and VSO agree to legally binding “Letter of Intent” to merge

CUSO and VSO are pleased to inform you that the Boards of Directors of CUSO, VSO Canada and VSO International, and CUSO’s Annual General Meeting, have signed a Letter of Intent that brings CUSO and VSO Canada a major step closer to a formal merger.

The Letter of Intent is a legally binding document, which indicates the willingness of each party to merge the two Canadian-based organisations. When the merger process is complete, CUSO and VSO Canada will become one entity in Canada, and will be the North American member of the international VSO Federation. The Federation’s secretariat and headquarters are in London, England, and the members organizations are based in the Philippines, Kenya, the Netherlands, the U.K. and Canada. Organisations in Ireland and India are expected to join the VSO Federation shortly.

The new, merged North American organization will be called CUSO-VSO. It will continue the work that both CUSO and VSO Canada have been doing for many years. That work aims to fight poverty and promote social justice, by mobilising human and financial resources through volunteer recruitment, program development, public engagement and related activities.

CUSO-VSO will also continue to be an active partner with other Canadian volunteer cooperation agencies in all the joint initiatives we are undertaking together.

“We believe this merger offers great opportunities for all involved to broaden the scope of our work, increase its effectiveness and achieve greater impact.” said Mary Stuart Executive, Director VSO Canada and Jean-Marc Mangin, Executive Director, CUSO.