Organization

CVCS – Centro Volontari Cooperazione allo Sviluppo (Volunteers Center for Development Cooperation) is an non-governmental organization (NGO) registered in the National Register of the Third Sector (RUNTS) and in the list of Civil Society Organizations (CSO) established by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation – AICS.
In accordance with its Statute, it develops and implements co-development projects in different parts of the world, through the use of experts, collaborators and volunteers, and to propose parallel information, training and awareness initiatives on the local territory.
It collaborates with schools of all levels for the realization of Global Citizenship Education (ECG) activities through thematic paths, classroom workshops and teacher training courses.

It is a member of FOCSIV – Federation of International Voluntary Organizations of Christian inspiration, the largest Italian network of Christian organizations of international cooperation and volunteering.

It is a member of AOI – Association of Italian organizations of international cooperation and solidarity.

Since 2013 it has been a member of the Forum for Common Goods and the Solidarity Economy of Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, which aims to promote the culture of solidarity and sustainability in the development of the territory.

CVCS was established in Gorizia – Italy in 1980 thanks to the initiative of the Diocesan Missionary Center, then acquiring more and more autonomy and lay character, while continuing to recognize itself in the original values of Christian inspiration.
Over the years she has carried out projects mainly in Africa (Mali, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Togo, Kenya, Tanzania), but also in Latin America and Europe, with particular attention to the rural, health and social and work reintegration sectors of fragile categories (women, minors, young people, people with disabilities or mental illness).
CVCS has been permanently present in Burkina Faso since 1984. In 1991 it signed an agreement with the local government which provides for the integration of the activities carried out in the country with the planning of development priorities envisaged at government level.
In this context, it has long been committed to the implementation of environmental projects aimed at guaranteeing access to water and food for rural populations and at the same time promoting income-generating activities managed by women’s groups. Since 2018 it has been collaborating with local partners of great foresight, operating in the reception, care and social reintegration of people with mental illness.
Since 2016 it is also present again in the Ivory Coast, a country where in 1980 the experience in development cooperation began. Here it promotes projects that involve minors, young people and women in literacy and vocational training paths in an attempt to limit the risky and illusory migratory journeys.
It has been working in Bolivia since 1984, working with local partners. From 2003 to 2017 CVCS operated in the Department of La Paz with rural development projects. In recent years it has oriented its commitment to activities for the social and labor reintegration of minors and young people in conflict with the law.
CVCS in its path has extended its commitment also in Eastern Europe: in Romania it has carried out a project to combat alcoholism, in Kosovo it has collaborated in paths for interethnic reconciliation in the territory of Mitrovica, through the development of the dairy supply chain.