Mission

Inter-Cultural Youth Exchange (ICYE UK) is an ethical international volunteering charity, established in 1993 to work in the field of intercultural learning and youth development.We believe in a world where the sharing of cultures and ideas is embraced, celebrated and lived and we work in partnership with an international network of locally managed ICYE organisations, the ICYE Federation, to provide supported international volunteer opportunities that directly benefit local communities.As part of the ICYE Federation, our volunteers can share ideas through a reciprocal cultural exchange, which encourages intercultural learning and personal development. Our programme is designed to ensure that every volunteer experiences a true cultural immersion, so that they might learn about the values and identity of their host culture through their volunteering programme, helping to promote peace and cultural understanding.Our unique approach to international volunteering was commended in 1987, when the UN International Year of Peace, the UN Secretary-General designated ICYE as a Peace Messenger.

Category

Education and Skills

Additional Information

As a small charity, with a staff team of 4, ICYE UK works hard to promote our programme to individuals who would like to experience a true cultural immersion, while volunteering for a local NGO overseas, in Latin America, Africa, Asia and Europe for a maximum of 12 months.  We also receive volunteers here in the UK to support UK charities including residential disability support groups and Scout centers. In 2016 ICYE received 48 volunteers from 17 countries who provided a total of 80,640 volunteer hours to UK charities. We also provided international placements for 52 volunteers in 19 countries across 4 continents, each giving on average 1680 volunteer hours to their local projects. Our extensive training ensures our volunteers can become multipliers of change in the field of intercultural awareness and our programme not only offers the opportnunity for young people to experience personal development but directly contributes towards the promotion of peace. We face challenging times financially and so we are looking to diverse our income stream to stengthern key areas of our programme.