The Federation of the Organisations in Europe

The European Federation for Intercultural Learning (EFIL) is the umbrella organisation of 22 AFS Organisations in Europe. AFS (formerly American Field Service) is a non-profit volunteer based educational organisation offering educational exchanges for young people around the world. The Members of EFIL are voluntary, non-governmental, non-profit organisations providing intercultural learning opportunities to help people develop the knowledge, skills and understanding needed to create a more just and peaceful world, and to act as responsible global citizens. EFIL Member Organisations participate in a network of partner organisations running long-term intercultural exchanges between almost 80 countries worldwide. EFIL was established in 1971, mainly as a service organisation for AFS partners at a European level. EFIL’s activities evolve around our four main working areas: networking and lobbying, training and sharing, managing pan-European projects and programmes and new partner development. All of EFIL’s activities are led and implemented through a combination of volunteer and staff resources and are carried out jointly by EFIL and its Member Organisations. EFIL is a member organisation of the European Youth Forum (YFJ), has participatory status at the Council of Europe.