Birth of the IVS movement
The international voluntary service movement was born in 1920 at a meeting at a school in Bilthoven, Netherlands, appropriately enough…
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CCIVS is born
After the Second World War many non-governmental agencies all over Europe began to be active in reconstruction and in bringing…
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Post War Reconstruction
and Peace Building.
“As a world coordination centre for the workcamp movement, CoCo came as a disappointment to some. They expected smooth professionals…
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The First Secretaries
For the first couple of years, the CoCo was run by several not very long term volunteers. The head of…
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Cold War, Independance and the Growth of Long Term “Development” Volunteer
“Creative chaos, best describes the state of our office during the early 1960s when Arthur Gillette and I were running…
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New Contacts between East and West, North and South
“We did just that, arguing that volunteer service should not be… a complement, a cheap addition to “proper” technical assistance…
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Campaign for Disarmament and against Racism.
“Today voluntary service is not just a desirable activity but it is an activity that is badly needed. It is…
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Expansion in Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe
The famous writer, Albert Camus, who was a supporter of SCI, commented on the volunteers: “A writer who wants to…
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2009 – 2019
At the turn of the 21st century, IVS had to adapt again to the new trends provoked still by the…
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2019 – 2023
The C-19 pandemic brought  volunteer exchange to a halt in 2020 and 2021, with a slight recovery in 2022. During 2020 many organisations…
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100 years of Service Civil International
The First World War, the so-called “war to end all wars” devastated Europe and much of the globe. Colonial powers shipped
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