THE ASSOCIATION OF SERVICE CIVIL INTERNATIONAL IVZW

descrição da organização

The Association of Service Civil International (SCI) is one of the world's largest international voluntary service organisations dedicated to promoting a culture of peace and fostering participation through the organisation and coordination of voluntary projects all over the world.
SCI’s vision is a world of peace, social justice and sustainable development, where all people live together with mutual respect and without recourse to any form of violence to solve conflict. SCI’s mission is to promote a culture of peace by organising international volunteering projects with local and global impact. SCI is open to all. It was one of the first volunteering organizations to divest itself of all political or religious affiliations in its work of promoting peace and intercultural understanding through practical action. Throughout the years SCI has made a major contribution to the development of the main forms of volunteering. Year after year, the organization enables thousands of volunteers to participate in community projects.
SCI has been organising international voluntary projects since 1920, in Europe and worldwide. We organise short-term voluntary projects (workcamps) as well as mid-term and long-term volunteering exchanges. The aim of these exchanges is always to provide young people with an opportunity to experience working and living abroad, learning about another culture, exchanging ideas, increasing language skills, and practical skills depending on the project the youngsters work in. These projects have demonstrated to be an effective way of helping to break down barriers and prejudice between people of different backgrounds and to promote a culture of peace and intercultural understanding. Every year thousands of volunteers work on international voluntary projects organised in many countries all around the world by SCI’s members and partner organisations.
The projects can be very varied in terms of topics, from working with refugees and migrants to environmental protection, anti-racism and gender equality, among others. We also believe that empowering people to become more skilled and aware volunteers, activists and citizens is extremely important, so we organise training courses, seminars, workshops, events and other activities, both in person and online. European Solidarity Projects are part of our regular activities and SCI has been a coordinating and hosting organization of various EVS and ESC volunteers since the programme's creation participating and championing as part of the original pilot group for the first EVS projects.
The SCI movement consists of 41 branches and more than 90 partner organisations all around the world. The Association of Service Civil International, based in Belgium, is the International Secretariat of the SCI movement, and its role is to coordinate and support the efforts of the branches and partners in terms of institutional knowledge and decision making, internal and external communication, project management, financial sustainability and other common matters. The highest decision-making body of the SCI movement is the International Committee Meeting (ICM), our general assembly consisting of delegates of all SCI branches. The decisions taken by ICM are democratically voted upon and binding to SCI members. The International Executive Committee (IEC) is the international board of SCI, also democratically elected at ICM, responsible for its management and making sure that any decision agreed upon by ICM is accomplished. They have the responsibility and duty to make decisions between ICMs, monitoring SCI’s progress in its strategic plan and overseeing the international budget. The International Secretariat operatively supports carrying out ICM and IEC decisions.
SCI’s activities are open and inclusive to all individuals who share the aims and objectives of the Movement, without regard to gender, color, religion, nationality, social status or political views, or any other possible grounds for discrimination. People of all ages can participate in our activities, although for many international activities we require volunteers to be 18 years or older. By participating in a workcamp, a long-term volunteering or a training course, they are exposed to different cultures and concepts that will allow them to become aware and engaged citizens and activists for peace. For the majority, our workcamp volunteers are students and workers between 18 and 35 years old. Local organisations and communities are also a target group of our activities, as our volunteers work in projects that aim to contribute to the well-being of a community. Our activities have a broad range, so that we work with different people and communities, from migrant and refugee people, to children from a disadvantaged background, LGBTQ+ groups, environmental organisations, and more. The common factor is that the local organisation and project work towards the implementation of our values, mission and vision.

Volunteering project