What is ICYE

The International Cultural Youth Exchange (ICYE) is an international non-profit youth exchange organisation promoting youth mobility, intercultural learning and international voluntary service. ICYE organises long and short-term exchanges combining home stays with voluntary service in a variety of community service projectsin more than 40 countries around the world.

ICYE mission statement

  • To provide challenging intercultural learning experiences for young people.
  • To promote their social and personal development through international volunteer programmes
  • To promote intercultural understanding, equality of opportunity, tolerance and peace among people in the world

A Brief History

ICYE originated in 1949 as the International Christian Youth Exchange, a post-World War II reconciliation exchange programme between Germany and the United States of America. Building bridges of peace, justice, and understanding through personal encounters has been our goal over the past 50 years. Today the ICYE Federation is an international independent non-profit organization with 33 National Committees in Africa, the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe.

Its headquarters are in Berlin, Germany.

The ICYE Federation is recognised by and a participating member of:

 

ICYE main programmes

Long Term Voluntary Service Exchange

Long Term Voluntary Service ExchangeICYE is one of the few truly international and reciprocal 6 and 12-month volunteer exchange programmes, combining home stays with community service volunteering to meaningfully enhance young people’s cross cultural skills, raise their awareness towards social and cultural differences, and boost their self-confidence and problem solving abilities.

Short Term Programmes

ICYE member organisations organise also various types of short-term exchange activities for interested individuals and groups. Besides group study visits & work camp projects, ICYE offers individual volunteering placements, ranging from 2 to 16 weeks, with local community partners in education, youth work, teaching, health education, environment, as well as arts & crafts, cultural and language courses.

Seminars and Training

Every year ICYE organises a wide range of thematic activities and training courses. These include seminars on issues such as youth mobility, intercultural education and sustainable development, practical training experiences and international training courses for ICYE staff and youth workers of other youth organisations. For more details on planned or recently held seminars and training activities, read here. (put links to past and future activities on main web site)