In the 1950s, SCI started to set up development aid program and to recruit qualified volunteers for these. The largest development programme was in the province of Tlemcen, West Algeria, after the Algerian Independence War (1954–1962). Simone Tanner Chaumet and Mohamed Sahnoun for example worked in Algeria as SCI volunteers. From 1962 till 1968, SCI rebuilt the village Beni Hamou, set up a medical service and community development like primary teaching for the district of Sebdou.