CCIVS is an International Non Governmental Organisation (INGO) engaged in the field of International Voluntary Service (IVS). CCIVS' main focus is the quest to achieve 'change in the minds of men' by bringing together people of different backgrounds. It supports and develops projects based on the idea that working together on a concrete task is the most effective way of creating international friendship and understanding. The projects serve as a catalyst for dialogue as they provide an opportunity to work together according to each person's ability and to practice living together. In such situations national and international volunteers experience a new reality which can challenge their habits and convictions as well as those of the local community.
CCIVS is inter-disciplinary: its members are self-regulating and involved in a wide variety of types of activity.
With its Secretariat based at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, CCIVS has always worked closely with the UN organisation and complements UNESCO intellectual activity and goals in the fields of Education, Culture, Sciences and Communication through a hands-on, non-formal education approach transforming societies at the grassroots level.

CCIVS member organisations use national and international voluntary service projects in order to have an impact on the reality of a given local community. The projects can take place in any country of the globe. Volunteers usually work together with the local population. The work project is seen as a tool to achieve active solidarity, mutual and intercultural learning. The sharing of the every-day-life both with the local community as well as among the international volunteers (in the case of group projects) is an integral part of the learning experience.

CCIVS member organisations base their methodology on an approach of non-formal education. Voluntary service is seen as a tool for the transformation of volunteers and the people they work with, having an influence on their conscience and their way to actively construct the societies they live in. Volunteering is a way of living active citizenship with little means. Generally speaking the projects are open for any type of volunteers and do not require any specific professional skills. Many organisations continue to involve the volunteers in their activities upon their return or orient them towards other ways to continue living a way of life dedicated to international solidarity and sustainable development.

Team Profiles

Bogdan IMRE
CCIVS Interim Director

Bogdan Imre worked for 10 years as a youth worker and trainer at the European and international level. From 2001 to 2007, based in Romania, he was involved in European youth policy working with international youth governmental and non-governmental organisations such as Youth Action for Peace International, the European Commission or the Council of Europe. He extended his experience and expertise on youth-related issues while working for the People-to-People Exchange Department at the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) between 2007 and 2010, developing programmes and activities focused on non-formal education. In 2010 he was appointed as Programme Director at CCIVS. At the end of the 2012, he assumed as Interim Director.

Anne-Cecile ANTALIK
CCIVS Assistant WHV Coordinator

Anne-Cecile Antalik graduated in october 2012. After a first degree in Political Sociology at the University of Nanterre (France), she made a master in International and Cultural Project Management. During her studies she participated in an Erasmus programme in Spain and into international student meetings, which strengthed her involvement in international and intercultural youth exchanges. She is now in charge of WHV coordination at CCIVS in collaboration with Charlotte Beal.

Charlotte BEAL
CCIVS Assistant WHV Coordinator

Charlotte Beal graduated from a Master in Communication from the Universit? Catholique de Lille and the Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca in December 2012. She studied in France, in Italy and in Spain. She acquired experience in intercultural communication working for the French Theater in Rome in 2010, and for the worldwide French speaking radio RFI (Radio France Internationale) in 2011. She's now in charge of WHV Coordination in collaboration with Anne-Cecile Antalik. .