ICYE was founded in Mexico in 1968 it started as a group of returnees receiving exchanges in Mexico and, after some years, was legally established in Mexico in January 1987 as Servicio Internacional para el intercambio juvenil A.C. (SIIJUVE A.C.) as a non-profit organization with the primary objective of promoting intercultural understanding and youth with global skills and values through international volunteer and training programs. On the national level, SIIJUVE consists of voluntary collaborators and a National Office. These volunteers are divided into six Regional Committees, responsible for developing the objectives of the association. These six regional committees are located in the capital cities of Tuxtla Gutierrez Chiapas, Guadalajara, Mexico City, Puebla, Queretaro, and Toluca, our National office is located in Puebla and from there coordinates the 6 regional committees. SIIJUVE became a member of the ICYE Federation in 1987.

SIIJUVE´s projects are mostly private, nongovernmental institutions that work in one or some of the following areas: street children/adolescents, children/adolescents with difficult backgrounds, animal welfare, ecology, elders, community development, education, etc. Our organization is forming alliances with projects to fit the interests and abilities of our incoming volunteers and to enhance collaboration within Mexico´s civil society. In Mexico, we live in a situation of economic inequality, and low support from the government, amongst others. That makes collaboration the key to the survival of social projects in the country. The majority of the volunteers will be hosted in families and will have the support of the regional committees during the program, having a contact person near to them.

Mexico can be best described as a mix of Cultures and is home to twenty ethnic groups and sixty-eight ethnolinguistic groups as Tarahumaras, Huicholes, Mixtecos, Otomiés, Purépechas, Zapotecos, and Mayas. Diversity can be seen not only in the people and languages we speak, but in the flavors of our dishes, the diversity of our traditions, and our contrasting architecture. In Mexico, we celebrate Indigenous rituals, like the day of the death and mix them with actual Catholic celebrations. We have beautiful Spanish churches next to prehispanic cities and modern buildings. In Mexico, you will discover that everything is possible.