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 organisations to change their approach. As internet became the tool to communicate and to exchange, everything moved ‘faster’ and volunteers found it easy to identify volunteering opportunities without the involvement of any IVS organisations. This forced IVS organisations to reconsider their role and to find new ways of working and responding to contemporary world problems.
In order to reinforce its global coordinator role, CCIVS proposed a new approach for the IVS movement through the creation of the White paper for International Voluntary Service (2011-2021), this followed by an internal re-organisation of its Executive Committee (EC), as its previous regional vice presidencies were transformed according to the major thematic missions, while attributing the role of regional referents to members of the EC of the region in question. The global activities implemented by CCIVS and IVS networks that lead to an increased engagement of member organisations and partners was the second important support tool that was set in place. The role of the Global Meeting, as the third main supporting tool, became even more important in ensuring the participation and commitment of as many IVS organisations and networks as possible. The new thematic areas proposed by CCIVS are: Peace and Human Rights, Environment and Sustainability, Poverty Eradication and Health Promotion, Cultural Heritage and Diversity, Social Inclusion and Active Participation. The support measures focus on Finances, Capacity Building and Human Resources, Networking and International Representation, Public Relations, and Impact and Recognition.A series of programmes, campaigns and capacity building actions were developed to focus on these areas.
During the last 8 years CCIVS has been developing Impact Assessment tools working closely with Universities and tool testing with the member organisations and sister networks. In 2016 CCIVS started projects focusing on quality improvement of the network implementing organisational management trainings in 4 regions of the world, as the project continues through 2019 the objective is to create a long tern training programme which focuses on the specific needs of the members.
CCIVS maintained its engagement in UNESCO and its office space in the UNESCO HQ. In 2009 the World Heritage Volunteers Initiative was created in collaboration with the World Heritage Centre of UNESCO, celebrating its 10th year in 2018. CCIVS engages with different sectors of UNESCO including Social and Human Sciences, the Man and Biosphere Programme and the Education sector. Communication is maintained with the members states, and their participation is encouraged in CCIVS Stakeholder events.
CCIVS continued its participation in the NGO-UNESCO Liaison Committee, promoting IVS and Youth engagement, in the past CCIVS had always been active on the board level holding Presidency on several occasions. In 2014 CCIVS was elected once more to the board and took on the role of Vice President for Youth and Public Relations from 2016-2018.
2018 marked the 70 years of CCIVS, this opened with a stakeholder event on the occasion of the official founding date on the 23 April celebrated in the UNESCO HQ and under its patronage, it closed with the CCIVS General Conference and General Assembly in November. Keynote speakers in the two events included Dr Mechtild Rössler, Director of the World Heritage Centre and Mr Eric Falt former Assistant Director General of UNESCO and current Regional Director at UNESCO New Delhi Office.
As we move become a more cooperative movement, the 2018 GA validated the proposal to start to work on a new strategic plan for the CCIVS (2021-2026) taking into account the current challenges facing IVS and the need to adapt and move forward in face of these. The actions of CCIVS were reformulated in order to respond better to the needs of the network today and focus on Advocacy and Networking, Capacity Building and Training, UN Cooperation projects and Impact Measurement and Quality Improvement and the Campaigns; Raising Peace and IVS for Climate Justice. It was also commonly agreed that as the IVS movement contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals we would promote these in all of our projects.