European Solidarity Corps Volunteering Teams in high priority areas are large-scale projects supporting volunteering activities carried out by young people from at least two different countries coming together to express solidarity by implementing short-term interventions that address common European challenges in policy areas defined each year at EU level. 

Priority of 2024 call

– Relief for persons fleeing armed conflicts and other victims of natural or man-made disasters;

– Fostering positive learning experiences and outcomes for young people with fewer opportunities.

 

Objectives

Volunteering Teams in high priority areas will particularly aim to:

• enable the young people to gain skills and competences which are useful for their personal, educational, social and professional development;
• reach out to young people with fewer opportunities, including refugees, asylum seekers and migrants and provide them with tangible benefits;
• promote diversity, intercultural and inter-religious dialogue – and the EU values of human dignity, freedom, equality and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities – as well as projects enhancing media literacy, critical thinking and a sense of initiative among young people;
• raise young volunteers’ awareness and understanding of other cultures and countries, offering them the opportunity to build networks of international contacts, to actively participate in society and to develop a sense of European citizenship and identity.

Eligible participating organisations

Any organisation legally established in a programme country or a partner country holding a volunteering Quality Label or valid Erasmus+ volunteering accreditation. Participating organisations must hold a valid volunteering Quality Label or Erasmus+ volunteering accreditation at the application deadline and during the entire duration of the project.

 

Who can apply

Any eligible participating organisation legally established in one of the EU Member States or third country associated to the Programme. and any international organisation. The organisation applies on behalf of all participating organisations involved in the project. The applicant organisation must hold a valid volunteering Quality Label or Erasmus+ volunteering accreditation at the application deadline and during the entire duration of the project.

 

Eligible activities

– Volunteering Teams are solidarity activities that allow groups of minimum 5 participants to volunteer together for a period between 2 weeks and 2 months. Composition of the team should be international (including participants from at least two different countries) with at least a quarter of team members coming from countries that are different from the country where the activity takes place. In volunteering teams, European Solidarity Corps’ volunteers will carry out tasks for a project over a short period of time. Volunteers will carry out the activity in a group. This can be an incentive for youngsters who do not feel ready to embark into challenging experiences on their own. The activity will be shorter in its duration. This can foster the participation of those youngsters who cannot commit for a long period of time because of their studies or jobs, but still want to be of help for the community.

The above makes also Volunteering Teams an inclusive format, particularly suitable for a first experience in volunteering and the participation of young people with fewer opportunities. They can thus serve as an entry-way for long-term activities or even provide an incentive to start an own solidarity project.

– Complementary activities are relevant side activities designed to add value and augment the results of the project as well as to strengthen its impact on the local, regional, and/or European level. These complementary activities also aim at raising awareness of the value of volunteering for young people and for communities as well as at strengthening the recognition of the skills and competences gained by the volunteers.

– Preparatory visits are visits to the venues of the volunteering activities before they start to ensure high-quality activities involving young people with fewer opportunities or when the visit is necessary for the implementation of an activity with a strong inclusion dimension. The visit can focus on facilitating and preparing administrative arrangements, building trust and understanding and setting-up a solid partnership between the organisations and people involved;

 

Project duration

The project duration must be between 12, 24 and 36 months.

Duration of the activity: 2 weeks to 2 months, excluding travel time.

 

Eligible participants: Young people between 18 and 30 years who are legally residing in an EU Member State, a third country associated to the Programme or a third country not associated to the Programme and have registered in the European Solidarity Corps Portal. Minimum 5 participants. The team should be composed of participants coming from at least two different countries and at least a quarter of team members coming from countries that are different from the country where the activity takes place. Young people can only be involved in one activity at a time.

 

Deadline: 8 February 2024, 17.00 (Brussels time).

 

For more information please check the Call.