About IVP
Local hands. Global network.
International Volunteers for Peace (IVP) is a non-profit local community group and the Australian branch of Service Civil International (SCI). We organise volunteering around worthwhile community needs and causes, recruiting participants from Australia and across the world through our global network.
Our story
Part of a volunteer peace movement that began in 1920.
1920
Service Civil International (SCI) begins as a volunteer peace movement.
1987
The UN Secretary-General names SCI a “Messenger of Peace” for its work in the International Year of Peace.
1988
Rita Warleigh, Chris Dunstan and Vern Cork found SCI Australia in Sydney. The first workcamp runs in the Blue Mountains that December.
1992
SCI Australia becomes International Volunteers for Peace and is incorporated.
Today
IVP is run entirely by volunteers. We send Australians to projects overseas and welcome international volunteers to workcamps here.
What we stand for
Our vision, mission and values
We see volunteering as a way of achieving social change. Volunteers should be ready to ask and be asked, to question and explain their values and those of their society, to share information, and to teach and be taught.
Our vision
International Volunteers for Peace strives towards a world of peace, social justice and sustainable development, where all people live together with mutual respect and without recourse to any form of violence to solve conflict.
Our mission
International Volunteers for Peace is a not-for-profit organisation promoting a culture of peace through volunteering and international voluntary projects with local and global impact.
Our core values
- Volunteering
- Non-violence
- Human rights
- Respect for the environment
- Inclusion
- Empowerment
- Cooperation
Our objectives
To achieve its strategic goals, IVP:
- organises volunteer projects in Australia and Oceania
- recruits volunteers from overseas and within Australia
- sends Australian volunteers to projects overseas and within Australia
- cooperates with like-minded volunteer networks locally and internationally
From the IVP Constitution, 18 June 2011 (PDF, 150 KB).
SCI
Service Civil International
One worldwide network for peace.
SCI has 41 branches and an ever-growing number of partner organisations. IVP sends Australian volunteers to projects run by SCI branches and partners overseas, and welcomes their volunteers to projects here. IVP is also a member of the Network for Voluntary Development in Asia (NVDA).
What we do
Past projects
In Australia
- Creek habitat restoration and environmental workshops with primary school children at Taralga
- School maintenance and classroom assistance at an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander school in Townsville
- Community Arts Festival at CERES, Melbourne
- Assisting athletes with disabilities at the annual Narrabeen Push and Power Games
- Conservation work to protect endangered wildlife
- Holiday camp for people with disabilities and their carers at Breakaway, Central Coast
- Goulburn Show workcamp (February–March 2021): five volunteers set up and ran the show and lived at the showground
Overseas
- Rebuilding schools after the Nepal earthquake
- Supporting children with disability in Vietnam
- Saving sea turtles in Mexico
- A children’s learning centre in Kenya
- Children’s camps in Poland
The committee
Meet the people who run IVP
All volunteers, elected each year at the AGM.
Executive
Stephen Horn
Chair
Frank Fan
Treasurer
Trinks Wang
Secretary
Committee members
Sana Bilal
Placement Officer
Rita Warleigh
Project Officer
Lucija Stolić
Communication Officer
Madeleine Tav
Human Resources
Kavita Sodhi
Human Resources
Xinge Li
Project Officer
Doris Chow
Project Officer
Abu Siddique
Membership Officer
Neo Gerona
Finance Officer
Helen Ware
Communication Officer
Other
Richard Hord
Public Officer
Reports
Annual reports
Read about IVP’s projects, volunteers and activities, year by year. The reports open in Google Drive.
- Annual Report 2025 (PDF on Google Drive, 3.7 MB)
- Annual Report 2024 (PDF on Google Drive, 6.1 MB)
- Annual Report 2023 (PDF on Google Drive, 5.2 MB)
- Annual Report 2022 (PDF on Google Drive, 16 MB)
- Annual Report 2021 (PDF on Google Drive, 1.5 MB)
- Annual Report 2020 (PDF on Google Drive, 23 MB)
- Annual Report 2019 (PDF on Google Drive, 563 KB)
- Annual Report 2018 (PDF on Google Drive, 1.2 MB)
- Annual Report 2016–17 (PDF on Google Drive, 113 KB)
Join the team
Volunteer with IVP
IVP would not exist without the energy and enthusiasm of its office volunteers. It is run entirely by people like you.
All of our volunteer roles can be done online and remotely. Whether you have a few hours or a few days a week, you can make a difference. We give every new volunteer an orientation.
When we have vacancies, we list them on our SEEK Volunteer page. Recent roles have included Project Officer, Membership Officer, and HR and Volunteer Engagement Officer.
Nothing listed that suits you? Email hr@ivp.org.au and tell us how you’d like to help.
Ready?