The indispensable asset that allows MapAction to do its work comprises a pool of skilled and dedicated volunteers.

Most of our volunteers are “deployable” for overseas missions. We also have a support group, based in the UK. Volunteers give their time freely for field missions, training, and helping to keep the organisation running. They work alongside our Board of Trustees.

Most volunteers at the moment live and work in the UK, but MapAction also has sections in the Latin America/Caribbean region, and a new group in Germany.

Volunteers need to have strong skills using GIS software, achieved by working with these tools in their “day jobs”. MapAction gives them all the additional knowledge and skills they need to function effectively in a humanitarian emergency.

Training and maintaining the team is expensive for MapAction and this limits the size of the volunteer pool. Competition for volunteer places is tight: every year we have to turn down many keen and competent people. If you would like to be considered, please see our Support Us page.

Volunteer profile: Philip Moore

Like most MapAction volunteers, Philip is a skilled GIS professional. When not volunteering with MapAction, he works as a freelance cartographic consultant.

Since joining MapAction in 2006 Philip has deployed on three humanitarian missions, to Ghana, Pakistan (attached to UNJLC) and Mexico. Like all our volunteers, he also participates in monthly weekend training sessions.

Philip commented: “MapAction has given me the privilege of pursuing my passion for map-making within a fantastic team, for truly worthwhile and most immediate causes.”