General information:

International Voluntary Service began in its modern form
in 1920. The idea was the result of a meeting of a group of Europeans following the First World War (1914-1918). They decided that they had to do something active to try to deal with both the dreadful effects of the war, and to find a way to remove the causes of conflict. Volunteers from former enemy countries were invited to rebuild a village in France, which had been the scene of some of the fiercest fighting. The international group of volunteers built houses and lived together in an international community.

After World War II, new organisations sprang up to help reconstruct Europe, both physically and in terms of bringing former enemy populations together.
These new organisations needed co-ordination. With the support of the recently established United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the Co-ordinating Committee for International Voluntary Service (CCIVS) was created in 1948.

Over the following 50 years, CCIVS expanded its membership from a West-European base to include youth movements in Eastern Europe and volunteer organisations in Africa, Asia, Arab Countries and Americas.

Testimonies on the origins:

Pierre Martin: a testimony

Malick M'Baye (International Civil Servant at UNESCO): a tribute to Pierre Martin

Arthur Gillette: a testimony