Solidarités Jeunesses would like to propose a project on how voluntary projects impact the perception and representations one's have and thus on stereotypes that arise from it.Volunteering projects offer the opportunity to discover new cultures and habits through local organisations, consequently by living the daily life of the people, participating to a project serving the local communities and meeting different organisations answering local needs (environment, construction, social, etc).At the same time, volunteering offers learning opportunities while contributing to meaningful actions during the protection of cultural diversity and the improvement of living conditions.However to experience those projects led on the field by us, voluntary organisations, in many countries in the world, and to allow a change in the volunteers' perceptions of those countries, there is a need for an upstream work in terms of communication in order to increase the number of volunteers going to participate to voluntary project and consequently, supporting the implementation of projects. A great number of the young people are attracted by IVS and eager to contribute to this kind of actions. Despite this, the IVS movement are recording a dramatic decrease in the number of volunteers exchanged especially towards African countries.→ What are the causes of this phenomenon?→ Does the multiplications of other types of volunteering affect us?The will with this project is to identify key elements of our projects in order to communicate better on them for a higher recognition.For this project, we've decided to focus on the projects implemented by our partner organisations in Africa.Indeed too many times, we've noticed that the first words that come to the mind of people when thinking of Africa are: hunger, wars, poverty and refugees. The volunteers still come up with the idea that Africa needs “help”. Through the use of several methods and tools, this project aims at changing this perception and to support our partner organisations in the implementation of their projects.The objectives of the project is to:-To improve the perception of Africa and to develop a critical thinking dealing with mass media, in order to better communicate on IVS projects-To deconstruct stereotypesThose two objectives will lead us to our main one which is:-To increase the number of volunteers exchanged

The White Paper for International Voluntary Service (2011-2021) draws the strategic objectives for Cultural Heritage and Diversity with the vision to ‘Preserving, protecting, and promoting cultural heritage and diversity through International Voluntary Service activities in order to foster mutual understanding and respect within the global community’. With the Strategic objectives to create:A. A global community where mutual understanding and respect are brought by active citizens that preserve protect and promote cultural heritage and diversityB. Develop and expand cooperation between organisations, institutions and government bodies in the field of Cultural Heritage and DiversityC. Raise awareness about the impact of IVS in cultural heritage and diversity issuesHeritage has been an important element of local communities where IVS organisations have set up projects since 1920 (1st workcamp). Throughout the years organisations, mainly in Europe, have developed cooperation with various stakeholders, involving young and adult volunteers in the protection, preservation and valorisation of our tangible and intangible heritage. This topic has been taken until recent years in other regions of the world demonstrating the value of non-formal learning as the IVS educational approach to disseminate the values and expertise developed at the inter-governmental level to a large public and in particular to young people, based on a dynamic dialogue between the different stakeholders.The aim of this project is to work towards the strategic objectives of the White Paper and to promote the work of IVS organisations and NFL, whilst valorising local customs and the diversity of these.The world is under an increasing threat from globalisation and extremism; these two factors contribute to the breaking down of cultural norms, traditions and the destruction and loss of heritage sites. This project will celebrate both tangible and intangible heritage and to revel in the diversity of this heritage. The applicant organisations propose actions which focus on food, culture, language, cultural and natural sites indigenous traditions …. etc. The aim is to be as diverse as possible and to show the richness of this diversity and to include local people as educators, emphasizing the bottom up approach of IVS and the work in local communities and with young people with fewer opportunities.The partners are grassroots IVS organisations from Africa, Asia and Europe for a 24 month project The different actions include:• Research, analysis and preparation phase (September 2016)• Stakeholders Forum (October 2016)• Capacity building trainings on Volunteer and Heritage Management ( April/May 2017)• Local Awareness Raising Actions (June 2017 – December 2017) • Global Communication Campaign (January 2017 – March 2018) • Final evaluation and dissemination meeting (April 2018)• Finalisation of the Impact measurement results and publication (April-August 2018)

#Evolve aims to enable exchange, develop new cooperation between CCIVS members and external stakeholders through an International Conference and by starting the Long Term Training programme for the IVS network by providing two trainings the ‘ABC of NGO Finances’ and ‘Communication and Marketing’ , following these we will ensure the replication of the project in Local Training Hubs based in the local communities where the 26 partners are based. It will produce 2 Open Source Toolkits on the theme of the Trainings. #Evolve is built upon the CBY KA2 - STEPS project which made an analysis of the training needs of IVS organisations, the ‘State of the Art of IVS’ was the publication issue from this project, it highlights the following; 1. organisational development is a top priority for IVS organisations, 2. The need to address the decreasing numbers of volunteers. As such #Evolve will promote networking (encouraging exchange – developing partnerships, sharing of ideas; meeting with stakeholders) and capacity building in Finances and Communication and Marketing in order to meet the needs highlighted. In face of declining numbers of volunteers #Evolve offers a space to build new partnerships, to further develop local actions and to develop key competencies to strengthen organisational structure. The Conference offers- visibility/networking/learning, the Training – new skills peer-to peer support with the trainings taking place in strategic countries with more expert members, the Local Training Hubs – multiplication with local communities improving access for 1500 young people with low basic skills and thus promoting social inclusion. The Results will include Open Source Toolkits on the themes of the Trainings and Reports.