History

The C-19 pandemic brought  volunteer exchange to a halt in 2020 and 2021, with a slight recovery in 2022. During 2020 many organisations experimented with online activities bringing together volunteers and IVS organisations from different parts of the world, whilst this activity provided a necessary connection in times where people could not meet physically, it […]

A Century of Issues, Integrity and Engagement Paul Winter Glastonbury 16 May 2020 The First World War, the so-called “war to end all wars” devastated Europe and much of the globe. Colonial powers shipped in battalions from their empires to join swathes of working-class lads from the “home” countries to die alongside them in the

At the turn of the 21st century, IVS had to adapt again to the new trends provoked still by the hegemonic and imperialistic approach of most industrialised nations which led to the new-born concept of terrorism and the creation of new stereotypes worldwide. In the 2000s, the direct effect of high-speed developing technology obliged IVS

The famous writer, Albert Camus, who was a supporter of SCI, commented on the volunteers: “A writer who wants to be a witness sometimes feels he is lonely…But you are demonstrating every day that men can meet each other, that dialogue is always possible and that loneliness does not exist.” From â€œBreaking down barriers 1945-76” “CCIVS is

“Today voluntary service is not just a desirable activity but it is an activity that is badly needed. It is needed more than ever before in the field of local and national development it is needed for North-South dialogue, South-South collaboration and regional cooperation. It is not only a subjective discovery but also an objective

“We did just that, arguing that volunteer service should not be… a complement, a cheap addition to “proper” technical assistance, but a constructive criticism of the weaknesses in “Aid” in the Third World.” Glyn Roberts In the 70s CCIVS’ members’ projects included new emphasis on health, education, ecology awareness and natural disaster prevention but CCIVS’

“Creative chaos, best describes the state of our office during the early 1960s when Arthur Gillette and I were running things. We had a constant coming and going of volunteer helpers and visitors, a dozen projects on the go at any one time, the duplicator spewing out tens of thousands of workcamps lists.” Glyn Roberts

For the first couple of years, the CoCo was run by several not very long term volunteers. The head of CoCo/CCIVS was not called Director until the time of Jean-Michel Bazinet (1964). In 1950 Willy Begert, who had been an experienced workcamp leader and International Secretary of SCI and written a book entitled “Organizing Voluntary Work-Camps”

“As a world coordination centre for the workcamp movement, CoCo came as a disappointment to some. They expected smooth professionals, diplomatic gravity, the comforts of high office, and they found none of it. Our Coordination Committee and its officers worked in the volunteer tradition with all the strengths and weaknesses that implied.” Glyn Roberts “Beware!

After the Second World War many non-governmental agencies all over Europe began to be active in reconstruction and in bringing relief to the many refugees forced to flee their homelands. For instance the Christian Movement for Peace (CMP) which had started in 1923 as a way to create reconciliation between French and German Christians adopted