GVC – Civil Volunteer Group is founded in Bologna, a non-governmental organisation committed to development cooperation, humanitarian aid, international volunteering and global citizenship education in Italy and over 20 countries around the world.
The organization launches its presence in Latin America, particularly in Nicaragua and Bolivia, with agro-health and educational initiatives. In the following years, the projects consolidated and expanded, extending to new geographical areas and areas of intervention, to include programs related to international emergencies.
GVC begins operating in Palestine, a commitment that is renewed and corrected year after year, to seek new solutions to a long-running crisis with the aim of activating development processes beyond the emergency. It is one of the first humanitarian organisations to sign the operational framework agreement for carrying out emergency projects in 1993, in the aftermath of the birth of ECHO, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid.
With the first health interventions involving grassroots community organizations, in 1997 it built the first blood transfusion center in the Gaza Strip, still operational, in collaboration with the Central Blood Bank of Gaza.
active in Italy and seven other countries around the world to support and protect women, girls and children. The organisation is committed to promoting the right to education, gender equality and combating violence against women.
The national Spazi Donna WeWorld program is born: places of listening and welcome where a specialized staff, entirely female, builds trusting relationships and accompanies women in situations of violence or difficulty –along with daughters and sons– on paths of awareness, autonomy, and self-determination. WeWorld Women’s Spaces are now present in Milan (Giambellino and Corvetto), Bologna, Rome, Naples, Pescara and Cosenza.
The Frequency 200 project is also born, with the aim of promoting the right to the future of girls and boys, combating school dropout and supporting access to quality education in fragile and peripheral neighborhoods, where economic and social conditions often limit access to opportunities. The program is currently active in the most vulnerable neighborhoods of Rome (San Basilio), Aversa, Milan (Barona), Catania (San Cristoforo), Cagliari (Sant’Elia) and Ventimiglia.
Programmes supporting women, girls and children in Italy are complemented by the work of our Research Centre. In 2014, the first survey on the costs of violence against women in Italy was published and presented to the Chamber of Deputies on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (25 November).
Over the years, WeWorld’s commitment in Italy has grown with the opening of new Spazi Donna WeWorld in Bologna, Brescia and Pescara.
creating a single organisation: WeWorld-GVC, now simply WeWorld. The merger aims to strengthen the impact of programmes, optimise resources and increase the number of people reached by activities in Italy and around the world.
becoming the first Italian member of the global network for the protection of children’s rights. This international recognition consolidates our commitment to promoting equality, inclusion and social justice globally.
The conflict in Ukraine which began in February 2022, sees us intervene immediately with humanitarian aid to help people forced to leave their homes in various parts of the country, activating our local partners from the very first hours and subsequently establishing a stable presence to respond to the emergency.
for “measures to ensure gender equality in the workplace and in the activities carried out by the Foundation”. We are committed to promoting an inclusive environment that supports gender equality and celebrates diversity in all its forms.
Director of International Programmes and International Cooperation at WeWorld, becomes a Board Member of Voice Network: the largest European network of humanitarian NGOs, which has been promoting effective humanitarian action around the world since 1992.
