Since 1996, ICYE has been directly involved, both at international and national level, in launching and implementing the European Voluntary Service (EVS), an Action of the YOUTH IN ACTION PROGRAMME set up and funded by the European Commission (EC) to promote youth mobility and international voluntary service.

For examples of past and current multilateral European Voluntary Service projects coordinated by the ICYE International Office, please see activity summary descriptions under "News and Activities".

For testimonies of past ICYE/EVS volunteers, please see project documentations under "Resources and Publications".

The European Voluntary Service (EVS) provides young Europeans with the unique chance to express their personal commitment through unpaid and full-time voluntary activities in a foreign country within or outside the EU. EVS seeks to develop solidarity, mutual understanding and tolerance among young people, thus contributing to reinforcing social cohesion in the European Union and to promoting young people's active citizenship.

EVS has opened new possibilities and increased the number of long-term volunteer placements that ICYE can offer to young people. The EVS programme has also enabled ICYE to reach out and increase the participation of young people with less opportunities, who are usually not in the position to afford and/or access voluntary service exchange programmes at a cost.

Notably, in the frame of the EC's YOUTH Programme and EVS, the ICYE Federation and its members have developed mutually enriching partnerships with youth and voluntary service organisations and networks in Central, East and South East Europe as well as in the Mediterranean basin.

In this context the ICYE / EVS project "YOUTH AND EUROPEAN SOLIDARITY", which was dealing with migrant, IDP and refugee organisations in EU and South East European countries was flagged as "Best practice at Community Level - 29 ways to promote intercultural understanding" by the Directorate General Education and Culture at the 2006 "European Conference on Intercultural Dialogue".

Since the widening of the geographical scope of the programme in 2007, the ICYE International Office has coordinated numerous multilateral EVS projects with the African, Asian and Latin American region and established new partnerships in all of these regions as well as in Europe.

Such partnerships include the organisation of theme focused and multilateral long-term exchanges of volunteers (i.e. on Social Inclusion, HIV/AIDS prevention activities, Human Rights and Refugees issues, Youth Work, Women Empowerment), as well as study sessions and visits, training courses and issue seminars on relevant questions in the fields of international volunteering and global education.