Several CCIVS member organisations are active in the field of conflict prevention, reconciliation and conflict transformation. Several organisations focus on the role of civil society organisations in conflict areas. Many of them are mainly involved in activities related to conflict prevention and reconciliation; others are obliged to function in a situation of conflict.
With the support of UNESCO’s Participation Programme and the UNESCO Youth Section CCIVS organised a number of seminars on the issue in the Democratic Republic of Congo (2001), Zimbabwe (2003) and Kenya (2004). The seminar in Kenya led to a number of follow up projects with the Nairobi Peace Initiative in 2005.
Since 2006 CCIVS has been reviewing its publication “Voluntary Service in Conflict areas”. In September 2007 a seminar was organised in Italy with the support of the European Commission in order to share the experiences in the field of organisations from Europe and other regions. The seminar developed and finalised several recommendations for volunteering and conflict.
Recommendations for international voluntary service projects in conflict and/or post conflict areas
Conflict transformation is a permanent feature of any voluntary service project since we consider that the notion of conflict forms part of every-day life and the ways to solve it at micro level are relevant for the macro level as well. For more information on conflict in “regular” workcamps please click here.
A new publication called “Conflict and volunteering” has finally been developed with the support of the European Youth Foundation in 2008. The publication relates to ways to deal constructively with conflict in a volunteer project. It focuses on conflicts inherent in the project itself (between participants, organisers, local communities etc) as well as on projects taking place in an area of conflict. Click here to download the document.
In July 2008 a seminar was organised in Armenia with the support of the European Youth Foundation called “Volunteering for a vision. How to take advantage and deepen the chances for intercultural learning and the transformation of conflicts related to international voluntary service projects.” Please click here for more information.
Volunteering for a vision, Armenia, July 2008
"Conflict and Communication", Italy, September 2007.
"Training of trainers in peace building and conflict transformation", Kenya, August 2005.
"The impact of voluntary service in conflict and post-conflict situations", Kenya, November 2004.
"Values and violence", Morocco, October 2004.
"Peace, reconciliation and reconstruction through voluntary service in regional cooperation", Zimbabwe, 2003.
"Peace and reconciliation through regional cooperation", DRC, September 2001 (in French).
