SIW Internationale Vrijwilligersprojecten

SIW is a volunteer exchange organisation. The aims of the organisation are to enhance cultural exchange, to stimulate personal growth, development of young (and not so young) people and to do work that is useful for society. SIW exists since 1953. In that same year, a big part of the South-West of Holland was flooded. A lot of foreign people wanted to volunteer and SIW was set up to coordinate these volunteers. Nowadays, SIW organises approximately 10 work camps of 2 weeks in the Netherlands every summer. Dutch volunteers who are trained by SIW coordinate the projects. About 200 young people from around the world participate in these projects. An important aspect of these work camps is intercultural learning. All work camp participants are living and working in a typical Dutch environment. Furthermore, they will also be interacting with the local Dutch community at several occasions. Some of these projects have been Youth in Action projects. SIW annually sends 250 volunteers to short as well as long term projects around the world. These people are prepared and trained by SIW and also the evaluation meetings are organised by SIW. SIW is a foundation run by 70 volunteers.. In the past years, SIW started sending long term volunteers, within the EVS program, to organisations all over Europe. Furthermore, SIW coordinates the EVS application for a host organisation in the north of the Netherlands, where they host two volunteers every year. This insures a real exchange. SIW has a broad connection in the international voluntary movement. SIW is a full member of Alliance, a European platform for national voluntary service organisations, and CCIVS, a global platform for national voluntary service organisations. Furthermore, SIW is a partner of international volunteer organisations such as SCI (Service Civil International).