Description of organisation

Maailmanvaihto - ICYE Finland is a non-profit NGO working in the field of international volunteering, more specifically organizing long-term volunteer work programs for young adults (18-30+ years). Maailmanvaihto is a member of the ICYE Federation (International Cultural Youth Exchange) together with 40 ICYE member organizations worldwide in Asia, Africa, North and South America, Oceania and Europe. The aim of the ICYE federation is to support global awareness and intercultural learning experiences for young people. Maailmanvaihto coordinates ICYE (International Cultural Youth Exchange) and ESC (European Solidarity Corps) volunteering activities. Annually, Maailmanvaihto sends abroad about 30 Finnish people, from which about 5 are ESC volunteers and about 25 ICYE volunteers. Additionally, we coordinate the incoming volunteer program for about 40 young volunteers coming to Finland every year. About half of the incoming volunteers are European ESC volunteers and the other half ICYE volunteers. The principles of Maailmanvaihto are: intercultural learning, active citizenship and global responsibility. In addition to coordinating the international volunteering, we actively promote the idea and learning impacts of international volunteering through different dissemination activities, for example through social media, our school visit program and other tools of visibility.