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AIC International

1.	AIC TODAY The International Association of Charities (AIC for its acronym in French) is the network of more than 150.000 volunteers, mainly women, organized in more than 5.000 local teams and 53 national associations in Africa, Latin America, Asia, Europe, Middle East and the USA.

AIC aims to act together against all material, physical, moral and spiritual forms of poverty and suffering, developing social co-responsibility around innovative projects, being a force of transformation within society, making disadvantaged people, those excluded from society, partners in their own social reintegration by accompanying them in specific ways in their search for empowerment and autonomy. Today, AIC volunteers run over 13.800 projects targeting especially women, elderly and children through local initiatives adapted to each community covering concerns related to: education and training, nutrition, health, shelters, and individual support. AIC also aims to give voice to the voiceless, especially in international organizations. AIC is represented in the UN’s ECOSOC, at the UNESCO, the Council of Europe, the European Anti Poverty Network (EAPN). As a Catholic International Organization, AIC is represented in different groups of Catholic organizations CICO ( Conference of International Catholic Organizations), CGIC, the International Catholic Centre for UNESCO, the Latin-American Episcopal Council, and in the Pontifical Councils for the Lay and Cor Unum.

2.	AIC's HISTORY The first group of AIC volunteers was founded in 1617, the year when St. Vincent de Paul was indignant about the situation of the poor people in his parish at Châtillon-les-Dombes, and this indignation gave rise to the first “Charity” where he brought together a group of lay women, in order to remedy the serious needs of the deprived by helping them materially and spiritually. AIC is, therefore, the oldest lay women's association in the Catholic Church. Almost four hundred years have gone by since the first volunteers recruited by St. Vincent began to take care of the poor sick in a concerned and organized way. Thanks to the confidence that St. Vincent had in them, these women took on the role of the public exercise of charity, being particularly concerned about those human beings who, because they were born poor and women, were ignored, ill-treated and despised. AIC had an international dimension right from the time of St. Vincent de Paul. He extended his ministry founding other groups in other countries where there was dire poverty, such as Italy (1624), and Poland (1651). Nothing could stop him, neither language problems, the distances involved, or different cultures and customs. Moreover, to maintain communication among the various “Charities”, St. Vincent wrote a considerable number of letters and even launched the publication Relations, a bulletin which is not unlike the one founded today. This was already something more than just organizing charity, it involved organizing communication and this was one of the outstanding characteristics of its founder. St. Vincent created the “The confraternity of Charities” on August 23rd 1617. On November 24, 1617, the General Father of Lyon approved the Rules in which St.Vincent suggested to the members of the first Confraternity of Charity how they should behave in front of the poor. On December 8, 1617, feast of the Immaculate Conception, Vincent de Paul solemnly installed, in the hospital chapel of Châtillon, the first Confraternity of Charity composed of thirteen members (SVP-Coste,v.13, p.419). In the following centuries, the organization was subject to changes, and faced difficult times, especially in France after the 1776 Revolution. After the Second Vatican Council, the organization was consolidated as an international structure and since 1971 it took the name of International Association of Charities. 3.	AIC’s STRUCTURE AIC’s structure, from the Grassroots to the International, is composed of: the local associations, the national associations, and the international association. Its governing bodies are the General Assembly (composed of the national associations), and the Executive Board. The EB is supported by the International Secretariat in its mission of putting in place the General Assembly’s decisions. AIC is part of the “Vincentian Family”, an international coordination forum of all organizations and religious foundations founded or inspired by St. Vincent of Paul 4.	WHERE AIC headquarters are in Belgium, where it is formally registered under Belgian law as “Association Internationale des Charités, AIC aisbl”, an international non profit association. 5.	EXTERNAL LINKS www.aic-international.org www.famvin.org www.aic-madagascar.org www.equipes-saint-vincent.com www.ckd-netzwerk.de www.qvvaicitalia.it www.vicentinasmexico.org www.aic.ladiesofcharity.us www.aic-españa.es