History

The idea of IPP came up at Easter 1996 at the European Junior Branch Meeting in Denmark with a view to trying to develop an activity for people aged 19 and above. The idea developed rapidly and at the IBM in Turkey in 1996 the board approved the carrying out of two experimental IPPs in Germany and Sweden.

In July 1997 the first IPP took place in Bad Nauheim, Germany. The theme of the Project was Environment and Society. As well as holding discussions and activities on the theme, the participants restored a small wetland area together with local community workers. They also learnt about rubbish collection and recycling methods by visiting local recycling works and a purification plant and taking part in daily rubbish collection along with local dustbin men.

The second IPP took place in the area Rosengard in the city of Malmo, Sweden in July 1998 based on the theme of Racism and Xenophobia. The participants worked with local immigrant children in their own community creating a performance containing circus, dance and music. Seminars, discussions and presentations on education, religion and immigration were also held during the project.

In December 1998/ January 1999 the third IPP was held in the National Wildlife Reserve of Caño Negro, Costa Rica. The theme of the project was Environment and it was partially developed in co-operation with the Reserve's administration. The IPP consisted of integrating the participants to the different activities of rational use and conservation of the natural resources at the National Wildlife Reserve of Caño Negro while helping the local community and sharing experiences.

Nature Conservation with Social Development was the theme of the fourth IPP, which was hosted by CISV Brazil in July 1999. The project was developed in cooperation with the partner institution O Boticário Foundation for Natural-Life Protection, in the Natural Reserve of Salto Morato, in the south of the country. The main activities developed during the project were: Construction of the trail to the huge fig tree, construction of an amphitheater next to the visitors center and cooperation with the local community on constructing a roof for their handy crafts storage. Social and educational activities were developed with the community.

The fifth IPP was hosted by CISV Spain, also in July 1999. The theme was Children in Care and the project was developed in co-operation with the Social Child Protection Department of Madrid's Council, in Madrid. The project consisted of having the IPP participants join a camp organised by Madrid's Council for children under state guardianship. During the days, the participants organised educational activities for the children, with the direct co-operation of educators from the Council, and in the evenings they compared experiences and discussed about the background of the children and the situation at each of their countries.

The five projects were carefully evaluated by the participants, staff, partner institutions, IPP taskforce and Educational Development & Research Committee. In March 2000 representatives from each of the five projects met on the site of the very first project (Bad Nauheim, Germany) with the IPP Taskforce and members of other CISV International committees to evaluate IPP as a whole. Finally, at the IBM in Austria, 2000, IPP became an official CISV activity.

Since 2000 IPPs have taken place on a regular basis in more than 12 in countries on various themes, such as history, marginalization, tourism or disability. The number of hosted IPPs per year have also grown to a record of 5 in 2006.