In 1982, at the end of the liberation wars in Asia and Africa, dictatorships in Latin America collapsed. In the same year, a solidarity and cooperation project with Nicaragua was launched in Bergamo, thanks to the support of one of the major NGOs of that time, MLAL, which led to the birth of Cesvi, on 18th January, 1985.The first project of Cesvi was about education in Italy.
Since the mid-eighties, education to a worldwide outlook for European citizens has become the other focus of the organisation's activity.In 1987, Cesvi set up an agricultural development project in Uruguay, with the help of a number of former Frente Amplio political refugees, who returned to their country after a period spent in Italy. Restoration of democracy in Uruguay, Brazil, Peru, Argentina and Chile saw Cesvi's getting involved in those countries to support the development of humanitarian organisations, which had been, until then, prohibited. In 1988, Cesvi was awarded NGO status by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
This was an important recognition in order to access public funding, but also served Cesvi as a warning: Cesvi would neither be anti-governmental, nor pro-governmental. In any political scenario, Cesvi would retain its non-governmental and independent character in order to ensure the independence of its recipients.