Founder Caitlin Kelley came up with the idea for AVC while volunteering in Tanzania. She noticed that it took most of her fellow volunteers and her the majority of their stay in Tanzania to adjust to the enormous cultural differences which severely hindered any real progress.
During the same trip, Caitlin met many motivated locals who, with degrees in community development and social work and possessing cultural fluency, were more qualified to work for these same NGOs and yet were unable to find a job. So with the help of partner Jafari Msaki, she decided to create an organization to fill that gap.