Volunteering in Sem & Vol

SEM&VOL is the eighth independent association of the Movement of Solidarités Jeunesses, which is located in Dordogne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine (a region in the south-west of France). Solidarités Jeunesses (www.solidaritesjeunesses.org) is a youth and community education association, under the French law of 1901, belonging to several international networks. In France, Solidarités Jeunesses consists of 7 affiliated territorial associations and 1 partner organisation. Based on commonly established goals, the affiliated associations reflect the dynamic of the movement at a local level. Most of these structures host international volunteers as well as young people in need of social integration and are involved in the local development of their regions through a variety of activities. Sem&Vol was founded in 2013 in a village called Le Buisson de Cadouin, on the occasion of its first international project. Since this year, several European exchanges (Erasmus+) have been hosted by the delegation, bringing together many people from around the world and the local population. All the exchanges were highly successful. In 2015, the municipality of Le Buisson de Cadouin offered us to use the premises of the school in Cadouin, which had to close due to a shortage of children and the proximity of the school in Le Buisson, to host young people coming from elsewhere. Nowadays, Sem&Vol located the volunteers hosting centre in the centre of this village – a small vibrant and welcoming village of only 300 inhabitants, which is attached to the larger rural community of Le Buisson (around 2600 inhabitants). It permitted Sem&Vol to expand its activities by proposing other local development and grassroot actions: over this period of time, more than 40 international voluntary workcamps were hosted by different villages in the Dordogne.