Village (Age 11)

Villages welcome delegations from 10-12 countries. Each delegation consists of two boys and two girls, accompanied by a youth leader trained by CISV. The camp is coordinated by the Village host country’s adult staff, supported by 16-17 year old Junior Counsellors. You can read more on this in the section “how Villages are organised”.

A Village creates a safe and structured setting in which your child learns to interact and cooperate with peers from around. The children learn about each others’ lives and cultures and how to live together. The Village lessons, memories and friendships made, last a lifetime.

During Village days the children have four activity periods. The type of activities evolve during the camps: starting from getting to know each other, to communicating cultural sensitivity. We explore ways to cooperating responsibility, building trust and giving the children a global perspective.

“National nights” are a traditional activity done at Villages. The purpose of national nights is to allow the delegates to share things about their home life and life in their country.

The “Open Day” is when the camp is open to the public for one day. It is the opportunity to show to the local chapter how the camp is going, to practice national dance and dress up in the traditional costumes. The Open Day is generally organized in the second half of the camp.

A Village day schedule may look like this:

• 08:15-10.00 Wake up, flag time and breakfast
• 10:00 Activity period 1
• 12:00 Free time
• 12:30 Lunch, siesta and free time
• 14:30 Activity period 2 and 3
• 17:00 Time for self-care
• 18:00 Spend time with delegation
• 19:00 Dinner
• 20:10 Activity period 4
• 21:15 Flag time and get ready for bed
• 22:30 Good night, lights off

The Villages are typically hosted at a school hostel that is vacant over the summer holidays. The children share a room with at least one other child with the same biological gender.

During the two weekends children stay at host families who are member of the local CISV Chapter. During the first weekend, your child stays over with at least one child of his/her delegation. Based on experience and as is one of our objectives, children form friendships with children from other delegations. To foster such friendships, the children are invited to express with whom they would like to spend the second weekend. Weekend stayovers at host families are always done with a minimum of two children; no child will spend a weekend “alone”.

In line with our CISV values, we strive for mutual respect and equality. Kindly inform the Program Team about your child’s (tendency to) gender dysphoria so that we can anticipate on this.

28 Days has been proven to be the time needed for children to fulfill the Peace Education goals of the Village. First we give the children time to adjust to their new environment. Once they feel comfortable, the activity program can move from games with the objective to get to know each other to games focused at building trust and mutual appreciation.

While four weeks may seem long for parents and care-givers, children report back that the weeks “flew by”. The children are entertained with discovering new things and making new friends. From their point of view the time passed quickly.

In a Village, there is almost one senior present per two children.

Seniors include:

• volunteering adults, who are mostly parents and caregivers from the local CISV Chapter
• Youth Leaders, including the Youth Leader of your child’s delegation
• Junior Branch members, who are 16- and 17-year old members of the local CISV Chapter

The seniors who are physically present at the Village and interact with the children are checked on good behavior following the child protection policy and procedures.

You will bring your child to an pre-agreed upon location to meet his/her delegation and (adult) Youth Leader. The Youth Leader then travels with the delegation of four children to the Village by public transport. This can be by train, bus and/or airplane. The mode(s) of travel and itinerary are jointly decided upon by the parents and caregivers of the delegation’s children.

With over 60 years experience of successfully organising Villages, you can be assured of the highest level of supervision and safety for your child. We have a child protection policy and procedures, which are regularly reviewed and updated.

CISV Belgium has its own additional child protection procedure that is in line with the Belgian national legislation and requirements.

Our child protection and risk management procedures ensure that:

• All programme staff and leaders are dilligently screened and police-checked, in line with national procedures and international standards
• All programme staff and leaders are locally selected and trained to international standards
• Confidential references are reviewed locally
• All children under 16 travel with an adult leader aged over 21
• Hosting families are carefully screened by CISV members

The cost of the Village camp consist of three components:

• Village cost as set by hosting CISV Chapter. The Chapters aim to keep the fee standard. In 2023 the going-rate was €1350 per child per Village. This fee is “all-inclusive”, and covers: accommodation, three meals a day, drinks and snacks, supervision and entertainment.
• Travel cost for your child from home country to the hosting country and back. Please read “how will my child travel to the Village” for more information.
• 25% of the youth leader’s travel costs, insurance, a national fee and an international fee.

Only children who are a CISV Belgium member are eligible to attend a Village. Our yearly membership fee is €80 per family. A CISV membership is non-binding for both parties; meaning, a membership (i) does not guarantee that your child can attend a Village nor (ii) binds your child to attend a Village.

With the Corona pandemic still fresh in our minds, we did not send a delegation to a Village outside Europe.

CISV is a Peace Education Program with so-called “Chapters” all around the world. Some countries have multiple chapters. The Chapters decide for themselves whether or not they are going to organise a Village.

The Village is organised by adult volunteers (mostly parents and care-givers of current CISV members and former CISV children who are now adults), CISV youth leaders and Junior Branch members. If a Chapter organises a Village, it is this hosting Chapter who invites delegations from 10-12 Chapters.

CISV Belgium makes an inventory of the invitations received, which delegations they can form and can send out. Below you can read more about the formation of delegations and who can go where.

In February/March 2025, the CISV Belgium’s Program Team, shares with its members:

• from which countries we have received Village invitations
• which delegations are formed
• which delegation is invited to which Village

Please read “How Villages are organised” and “Selection criteria” for more information on how the Program Team’s decision-making process, procedure and guidelines.

The Village camps take place during the summer holidays. The exact starting date is determined by the host country. In February/March it is announced to which Villages our Belgian delegation are invited. We then receive the starting date and the Village cost.

All camps are the same all over the world. Only the location, starting date and travel costs vary. CISV Belgium does not offer you the possibility to choose the Village your child is going to attend.

However, when signing up for a CISV membership, you can opt for a “European destination” or an “Out-of-Europe destination”.

In 2025, CISV Belgium is hosting a Village. Therefor there is a chance your child is invited to a Village in Belgium.

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We strive to give all 11-year old members the opportunity to attend a Village. It can occur that we have to make a selection between candidates for a Village. In CISV Belgium, we apply the following selection criteria:

• Age: only 11 year olds can attend a Village.
• Maturity: your child needs to show a level of maturity congruent with her/his biological age.
• Motivation: at the CISV local meetings, our youth leaders observe your child’s attitude towards interacting with others and her/his engagement in the activities. It should be clear that your child enjoys our events as it’s a good precursor of how likely it is that your child will enjoy (similar activities at) a Village abroad. Note, shyness and introversion are not selection criteria.
• Taking part in the preparation activities (critical): first, we only feel comfortable sending children abroad whom we believe will enjoy a Village abroad. For this, we need to know your child and cannot send children abroad who we have never met. Secondly, at the local events, children can bond with other (potential) members of their delegation, giving children confidence and a sense of safety when going abroad. Thirdly, the local meetings prepares your child for a Village abroad.

When all criteria mentioned above are met, we maintain the following prioritiy ruling:

• Family involvement: active involvement by the caregivers of our child members. CISV is a volunteer-based organisation; by supporting CISV, you give other children an opportunity to go abroad. It is in this spirit that children whose caregivers actively support CISV mission receive priority over others.
• Date of subscription: Children whose family membership have been completed, which includes membership fee payment, before 31 December of the previous year have priority to candidates that subscribed closer to the starting date of the Village.
• Belgium-based: while we do not look at candidates’ nationality, we do give priority to children living in Belgium.

Taking part in the local events perpares your child for her/his Village experience abroad. These meetings help your child get acquainted with CISV and meet peers with whom (s)he may form a delegation.

We consider these meetings mandatory. It allows us to observe who seems motivated and ready to go abroad independently and which children have a natural attraction to one another.

A so-called Delegation Hang Out is organised for a delegation that will go to a Village. This event allows the children to get to know each other better prior to their adventure abroad. The hang out is organised by the youth leader and is only with the delegation.

Our goal is to form delegations of children who will enjoy attending a Village abroad.

Typically the meetings take place on a Sunday afternoon, once a month during the school year.

In autumn a family day is hosted for children and parents and care-givers to meet one another.

In the beginning of the year a weekend away within Belgium is organised. This weekend allows the youth leaders and the children to spend quality time together and really get to know each other. Participation is mandatory with only school travel obligations or sickness being a valid exception.

The common language at the CISV Village is English. The stronger your child’s English comprehension and speaking abilities the more likely it is (s)he can make friends and will enjoy the Village.

We encourage you to make your child familiar with English, boosting their (social) confidence when abroad. Though the camp is not a language camp, the international experience will improve your child’s English tremendously in a short period.

We invite parents and care-givers to come and meet us at multiple occassions throughout the year. These occassions are indicated on the calendar. CISV Belgium representatives are happy to introduce you to our organisation and answer all your questions.

There are several information sessions for parents and care-givers and we advise you attend all meetings.

Usually the last weekend of September, we convene a general information session.

In February/March, at the start of the preparation weekend, we hold a second information session where we provide preliminary costs of camps and ask parents and care-givers to confirm whether you expect your child to go in Europe (this includes Belgium in 2025) or outside Europe.

In March, we convene a meeting to announce who will be attending a Village, with whom your child forms a delegation, the location, starting date and cost of the Village.

The Program Team is happy to answer your questions. You can reach us at: info-participants@cisv.be

Please take into account that the Program Team consists of volunteers, mostly parents and care-givers of CISV members. We wholeheartedly support the CISV Peace mission while juggling a busy family and work life. We do our best to answer your question as soon as possible.