VIDES Internazionale (International Volunteering, Women, Education and Development) is an international non-governmental organization (NGO) and volunteering organization headquartered in Rome and recognized by the United Nations (2003). It was established in 1987 by the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (FMA or Salesian of Don Bosco). VIDES Internazionale, through a people-centred approach, aims at promoting access to quality education for all children and at building an inclusive society based on the values of solidarity, justice and peace, where children, youth and women, especially those most marginalized, can fulfil their rights and meet their needs, overcoming exclusion and vulnerability.

VIDES International promotes:

• International Volunteering; by training youth that want to engage in international volunteerism. The program helps youth in realizing the importance of opening up to the others and of seeking concrete and tangible answers to problems that are affecting our society. The aim is to promote the empowerment of youth through volunteer experience, in the Salesian style of the Preventive System so that they act as responsible citizens and actors of positive social change.

• Development Cooperation; by supporting Salesian Sisters’ missions in Africa, Asia and Latin America through development projects. Vides International works mainly for the promotion of Education, Livelihood opportunities and Food Security, Health, Capacity Development and Human Rights. Given Salesian Sisters’ charisma, interventions are aimed at targeting particularly vulnerable children, youth and women.

• Advocacy action; by intervening in the international fora of the United Nations where the policies for children, youth and women are elaborated and by actively participating to defend the dignity of every person, especially to promote the right to education.