We visit them in their own place, whether that is their home, a residential home, hospital, on the streets or in prison, wherever they are, offering our friendship as the basis for all the other help we give. The Conferences of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, the basic units of the organisation, normally meet weekly to discuss the business of helping the poor in their own area, normally their parish. Within each conference, the members live a rich, spiritual, community life. There are around 51,000 conferences in the world, with over 700,000 members. Working with the members, in particular tasks to help different groups of people (children, the elderly, the sick, schools, hospitals, etc.) are more than 1,500,000 volunteers, throughout the world, since there are Conferences of the SVP in 142 countries. What is the Council General of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul? The Council General of the Conferences of Saint Vincent represents the conferences at an international level. Its offices have been in Paris since the Society was founded in 1833. Its work mainly involves supporting the life of the Conferences around the world, sending significant resources, according to its means, for the work provided around the world, according to need. It acts as a link between the poorest and the richest countries where the Society is represented, to support technology transfer, economic and financial help, etc., and ensures that funds are used in accordance with the authorised programmes to help the poor. It provides the Society’s central administration, and grants the status of Conference to new groups as they are formed around the world. All of its members are volunteers, and only a small group (of ten people) is employed in the Paris office to provide the continuity of service required. The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul and United Nations
In March 2012, the SSVP was admitted as a Non Governmental Organization to ECOSOC (Economic and Social Council of the United Nations). This consultative status allows NGOs such as ours to access, not only to ECOSOC but also to many of its subsidiary bodies, to various mechanisms of the Human Rights of the United Nations, and gives us the possibility of attend international conferences on topics such as economic and social development, gender issues, sustainable development, organized by the United Nations.
