 | |
| Founded | 1931 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Pierre Ceresole |
| Focus | Peace, volunteering |
| Headquarters | Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Website | ivsgb |
International Voluntary Service (IVS), formerly International Voluntary Service for Peace (IVSP), is the British branch of the Service Civil International (SCI). Founded in 1931, IVS promotes peace through volunteering, both in the United Kingdom and other countries.
SCI, of which IVS is a branch, was set up by Swiss engineer and pacifist Pierre Cérésole in the aftermath of World War I. It organised European workcamps in which volunteers from different countries came together to reconstruct war or disaster damaged sites in a spirit of peace. [1] : 6–12 In 1931 SCI sent a team of international volunteers to the Welsh colliery town of Brynmawr, which was hard-hit by unemployment. The Quakers, joined by student organisations, had started relief work in Brymawr in 1929. The SCI team of 37 international volunteers helped build a public park, including outdoor swimming pool and paddling pool, alongside British volunteers and local men and women, during the summer of 1931. [1] : 33-34 [2] That same year saw the foundation of the International Voluntary Service for Peace (IVSP), the British branch of SCI, with Cérésole as president and Jean Inebuit, a Swiss school-teacher working in Leeds, as secretary. The first annual general meeting (AGM) was held in Leeds in October 1934 and a constitution was approved at the AGM the following year. [1] : 45-47
During the Spanish Civil War, IVSP sent a team of volunteers to a farm at Puigcerdà, near the French frontier, to produce food for children's colonies in the area. The project had to close when the Spanish government ordered foreigners to leave the border area. [1] : 65-66 There were further projects in Britain in the 1930s, including the building of a football pitch and playground in Forge Side in South Wales, work on allotment gardens in Woodchurch, Merseyside, construction of a cesspit for the Cotswold Bruderhof and construction of a playground and garden in Gateshead-on-Tyne. Local unemployed people often worked alongside the volunteers on projects. [1] : 72-74 IVSP also helped in the conversion of houses into hostels for the Youth Hostels Association. [1] : 75-76 During the summer of 1939, IVSP volunteers worked on a Quaker-run project to convert Carclew House in Cornwall into a reception centre for refugees. [1] : 78-79
The outbreak of World War II in September 1939 made it impossible for IVSP to continue with international volunteering. Later that year the British government recognised IVSP work as an alternative to military service for conscientious objectors. [1] : 83-84 IVSP volunteers did planting for the Forestry Commission in Hawkshead, Kershope and Kielder Forest. The Forestry Commission paid the men's wages to IVSP who provided board and lodging and pocket money to the workers and used the surplus to fund more projects. [1] : 84-88 Other war-time projects included: aid to the Emergency Feeding Department in the borough of West Ham in east London; renovation of a hostel for war refugees in Market Rasen; a demolition service to clear bomb-damaged sites in Croydon and West Ham; and agricultural work in Whitehaven and Clows Top. [1] : 88-96 A youth service was established to run harvest and fruit-picking camps for young people, including refugees, under the age of 18. [1] : 96-98
In February 1944 IVSP, under the auspices of the Council of British Societies for Relief Abroad, sent a unit of 12 volunteers to Egypt to work in refugee camps, and in December 1944 the unit was sent to join relief efforts in Greece. [1] : 99-102 Another unit went to Italy and a third unit to Crete. [1] : 104-107 Teams were also sent to carry out relief work in The Netherlands and Germany from April 1945. [1] : 108-112
In the immediate aftermath of the war, British IVSP volunteers continued with demolition work in West Ham, worked on Youth Hostels, built a summer camp for boys at Great Bardfield, Essex, and carried out work for the National Trust clearing ground at Polesden Lacey in Surrey. The organisation gradually resumed its international character, with a mutual exchange of volunteers from other European countries. [1] : 113-114
In the late 1950s the organisation dropped the word "Peace" from its title in order to attract support from people who were not pacifists. Frank Judd, who was secretary general of the organisation from 1960 to 1966, had served in the Royal Air Force. [3] Under the leadership of Judd, IVS moved away from purely "pick and shovel peace making" and towards more social programmes, for example recruiting volunteers to work in general and psychiatric hospitals. [4] As well as camps in the UK, there were East-West camps in Socialist countries and longer-term work in developing countries. [5] In 1971 a new office was opened to run the IVS Overseas programmes; in 1990 IVS Overseas was renamed as Skillshare International and became a separate legal entity. In 2016 Skillshare International went into administration. [6]
In recent years IVS has been placing volunteers in projects run by partner organisations, such as the Camphill communities in Scotland and a meditation centre in Derby, rather than running their own workcamps. In 2017, IVS placed 75 volunteers on projects in the United Kingdom, while 37 volunteers went abroad. [7]
The mission of IVS is to "promote peace, justice and understanding through volunteering". [8] The original logo of the word Pax (Latin for Peace) written over a shovel and broken sword has been replaced with a dove on a blue background. The organisation is registered as a charity in England, Wales and Scotland and has its headquarters in Edinburgh. [9] The IVS archives have been deposited at the Hull History Centre [10]
The Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) is a relief service, and peace agency representing fifteen Mennonite, Brethren in Christ and Amish bodies in North America. The U.S. headquarters are located in Akron, Pennsylvania; the Canadian headquarters is located in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Islamic Relief Worldwide is a faith-inspired humanitarian and development agency which is working to support and empower the world's most vulnerable people.
The British Red Cross Society is the United Kingdom body of the worldwide neutral and impartial humanitarian network the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The society was formed in 1870, and is a registered charity with more than 17,200 volunteers and 3,400 staff. At the heart of their work is providing help to people in crisis, both in the UK and overseas. The Red Cross is committed to helping people without discrimination, regardless of their ethnic origin, nationality, political beliefs or religion. Queen Elizabeth II was the patron of the society until her death on 8 September 2022.
Service Civil International (SCI) is an international peace organisation, founded by Swiss pacifist Pierre Cérésole in the aftermath of World War I to foster understanding and a culture of peace between people from different countries. Since 1920 SCI has organised international volunteering projects in the form of workcamps and has expanded to have branches in 40 countries, as well as partner organisations who help run the projects.
The European Solidarity Corps (ESC), known until 2016 as European Voluntary Service (EVS), is an international volunteering program by the European Commission for young people to go individually or in teams to another country, usually from one European country to another, to work for a non-profit cause. Since 2017, the program also offers opportunities for European youth to get engaged as volunteers in their own communities.
The Brynmawr Experiment was an effort led by the visionary idealist Peter Scott to address issues of poverty and unemployment in Brynmawr, South Wales between 1929 and 1939. Initially a relief project response of the Quakers in South-East England, it grew first into an effort to set up small industries and finally an ambitious utopian subsistence agriculture project for unemployed workers.
The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) is the umbrella body for the voluntary and community sector in England. It is a registered charity. NCVO works to support the voluntary and community sector and to create an environment in which an independent civil society can flourish. NCVO has a membership of more than 14,000 voluntary organisations. These range from large national bodies to community groups, volunteer centres, and development agencies working at a local level.
Humanity First is an international charity that provides disaster relief and long term development assistance to vulnerable communities in 52 countries across 6 continents. The organisation is run by volunteers with diverse skillsets across the world and has access to thousands of extra volunteers worldwide. Volunteer staff in all areas often pay their own expenses to support the international projects.
The Central British Fund for World Jewish Relief, which operates under the name World Jewish Relief, is a British Jewish charitable organisation and is the main Jewish overseas aid organisation in the United Kingdom. World Jewish Relief was formed in 1933 as a support group to German Jews under Nazi rule and played a major role in organising the Kindertransport which rescued around 10,000 German and Austrian children from Nazi Europe. After the war, the organisation brought 732 child Holocaust survivors to Britain; the first 300 are known as The Windermere Children and collectively they are known as The Boys. Currently, World Jewish Relief functions as one of Britain's leading development organizations, working with Jewish and non-Jewish communities alike. World Jewish Relief operates programmes mainly in the former Soviet Union but also in Eastern Europe, Africa, and Asia.
The Action Reconciliation Service for Peace is a German peace organization founded to confront the legacy of Nazism.
International Voluntary Services,Inc. (IVS) was a private, non-profit corporation for benevolent, charitable, and educational purposes chartered under the laws of the District of Columbia in 1953 to place volunteers in international humanitarian and development projects. From its founding until its dissolution in 2002, IVS placed volunteers in 39 countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Its largest and longest programs were in South Vietnam, Laos, Algeria, and Bangladesh. Although the organization's roots were grounded in part in Christian pacifism, it operated on a nonsectarian basis, accepting volunteers regardless of their religious beliefs or nationality., Over its lifetime, the IVS program evolved from the placement of only American citizen volunteers to placement of internationally-recruited volunteers and then in later years to recruitment of local volunteers from within the country being assisted. Elements of the IVS program model have been adopted by the U.S. Peace Corps and many present day non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Sections below discuss the IVS program model, activities over time, and legacy.
Pierre Cérésole or Ceresole was a Swiss pacifist, remembered for founding the peace organisation Service Civil International (SCI) and the international workcamp movement.
International volunteering is when volunteers contribute their time to work for organisations or causes outside their home countries. International volunteering has a long association with international development, with the aim of bringing benefits to host communities.
The Bilthoven Meetings were a series of networking and capacity building meetings of pacifist activists after World War I in the town of Bilthoven in the Netherlands. The activists gathered under the name of Movement Towards a Christian International, which was later renamed to International Fellowship of Reconciliation. The meetings took place at the house of Kees Boeke, a Quaker missionary and pacifist.
Hélène Monastier was a Swiss peace activist and teacher in Lausanne.
Ralph Hegnauer was a Swiss peace activist.
A workcamp is international volunteering, where groups of volunteers from different countries work and live together as a team on a short-term basis and for a not-for-profit cause, usually for one to three weeks. Workcamps are considered one of the most important types of international volunteering programs. They were first introduced in 1920 as a way of bringing people together for increased international understanding and peace reconciliation efforts.
The Comité Suizo de Ayuda a los niños de España, better known as Ayuda Suiza, was a platform of Swiss non-governmental organizations, from diverse ideologies and tendencies, but working together to unify the Aid for children affected by the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). The original name of this platform was Schweizerisches Hilfskomitee für die Kinder Spaniens (SAS), in German, and Comité neutre de secours aux enfants d'Espagne, in French.
Rodolfo Olgiati was a Swiss educator and humanitarian activist.
Gerson Gu-Konu, also Gerson Konu, real name Kwadzo Gaglo Gù-Konu (1932–2006), was a peace and human rights activist and member of the Parliament of Togo.