LVIA

LVIA is an Italian organisation dealing with solidarity and international cooperation. They've been working since 1966 with the aim of fighting social inequality, food insecurity and poverty and of operating concretely for peace and human development. They have 40 volunteers and 150 local experts in 12 African and eastern-European countries, where they operate with local partners to grant access to water and the right to health, to strengthen agriculture and livestock farming, to support vocational training, to enhance craft skills and local enterprises and to improve the urban and rural environment. They promote cooperation in solidarity between Italian local communities and those of the countries where they work, in order to establish a growing integration among peoples and cultures of the world. They offer concrete training opportunities both to the Northern and Southern hemispheres of the world involving people in our projects, so as to develop an active and responsible citizenship. Their financial resources come from the United Nations, the European Union, ECHO, USAID, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and from several international cooperation agencies. We are supported by local institutions, foundations, Italian and European companies and associations, as well as thousands of private individuals. They are founders and members of the FOCSIV (Volunteers in the world) and of the Italian NGOs Association. They are also part of the national platforms in the countries where they work. In 2006 they became associated members of the Italian Institute for Donation and have been awarded the certificate of Excellence in Ethics and Management.