Declining interest among Irish people in voluntary service in the Third World has prompted the Agency for Personal Services Overseas into a major rethink of its role.
Among the options being considered by APSO is its abolition as a separate entity and absorption into Ireland Aid, the State's aid programme run by the Department of Foreign Affairs. However, the board, in a submission to the current review of Ireland Aid, opposes this option.
For almost 30 years, APSO has been sending Irish volunteers to work on aid projects or provide specialist skills in developing countries. Its current annual grant is £11.1 million. However, the economic boom has made it increasingly difficult to find qualified staff.
Meanwhile, the emphasis in aid projects has moved away from the traditional reliance on Western volunteers and toward the promotion of local skills. The board of APSO has recommended a significant change in the role and mandate of the organisation, as well as a change in its "cumbersome and dated" name to reflect new priorities.
According to the submission, APSO's mandate has remained unchanged since 1974 and needs to be "revisited and updated"..
"The board is satisfied that maintaining the status quo is not an option available to APSO and the agency is facing significant changes in its role and mandate in the very near future."
The board has identified three options for the organisation. The first, and the closest to the current arrangement, would see APSO become a specialised personnel agency free to recruit staff from all countries on behalf of itself, Ireland Aid and Irish aid agencies. APSO says its current mandate, which restricts postings to Irish people, is no longer appropriate under EU and equality legislation and has left the agency unable to respond appropriately to the needs of developing countries. In advance of any formal changes, the agency has already opened up its services to all European Economic Area citizens.
APSO says it has tried to evolve a more flexible response to these changing circumstances. "However, on each occasion the agency has hit the barrier of the mandate and has found it seeking to stretch its boundaries rather than being able to address the fundamental limitations."
The proposal for an all-embracing personnel agency is likely to be resisted by the main aid agencies, which cherish their independence.
A second option is for APSO to assume responsibility for Ireland Aid's £25 million support of aid agencies and other non-governmental bodies in developing countries.
The board of APSO says it favours an amalgam of the first two options, and comes out against the third option, that of absorption into the Department, because it would result in the loss of 27 years of expertise. However, it acknowledges that a unified organisation - as found in Denmark, the Netherlands and UK - offers the advantages of better integration of activities and greater consistency.
