At the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the celebration of the 1st International Women Day in 1911, as well as of the celebration of 2011 as both the European Year of Voluteering and the UN International year of Volunteers +10, CCIVS will run a centralized group EVS project addressing gender issues in International Voluntary Service (IVS) and youth programmes: "Gender sensitivity at (voluntary) work".The project, which takes into account the importance given by the European Commission and the UN to Gender Equality as a prerequisite to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and build sustainable societies, as well as the priority given to the African continent in terms of development cooperation, is the first concrete outcome of the ongoing Africa-Europe project "Culture meets Concepts" (145091-3.2-FR-2008-R1), which took place during the year 2009.The project aims at exploring gender roles in different societies and linking the general reflections on gender sensitivity to the participation of young women and men in IVS projects and their interaction in diverse cultural contexts. The wide range of field projects, while practically addressing key development issues and national priorities - from education to climate change, from HIV prevention to youth and women employement - will thus see a progressive introduction of the gender perspective, and generate productive exchanges and learning processes on this topic for both the volunteers and the hosting communities.Eighteen (18) Volunteers from CCIVS member organisations in Austria, Belgium, Estonia, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK will be hosted for a 6-months periojd in the African continent, where CCIVS member organisations in Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Togo, Uganda and Zambia. After a first period of research, the volunteers will organise targeted actions to promote culturally appropriate gender sensitivity activities in IVS projects and with the hosting communities, using and developing specific non-formal education tools. An EVS in CCIVS office will follow the programme, working in particular on the development of a gender sensitivity tool¬kit and promoting gender as a key cultural issue in international voluntary service projects, at the occasion of the celebration of 2011 as both the European Year of Voluteering and the UN International year of Volunteers +10.