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 2022 call
– Promoting healthy lifestyle;
– Raising the awareness of and preserving Europe’s cultural heritage

Objectives
Volunteering Teams in high priority areas will particularly aim to:

• contribute to the improvement of health and well-being of vulnerable people, including persons affected by chronic or life-threatening diseases (e.g. cancer);
• contribute to building inclusive societies through protecting vulnerable groups as people with drug-alcohol dependence, elderly and children, migrants, homeless etc. from COVID-19 impact and other diseases
• foster European cooperation to strengthen the capacity of the solidarity sector to tackle common European challenges, such as health crisis, protection of vulnerable groups through networking and exchanging experiences;
• raise awareness about prevention through campaigns, promotion and information dissemination, public discussions in order to improve the general health of European populations.

Organisations should design accessible and inclusive activities, taking into account the views and needs of participants with fewer opportunities.
Volunteering activities should promote environmentally sustainable and responsible behaviour among participants, raising the awareness about the importance of acting to reduce or compensate for the environmental footprint of activities.
Participating organisations are encouraged to make use of digital tools and learning methods to complement their physical activities, to improve the cooperation between partner organisations, and the quality of the activities.

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 latest at the start of the activities they are involved in and during the entire duration of the activities.

Who can apply
Any eligible participating organisation legally established in a programme country 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. Despite their shorter duration, these activities will be valuable both for the individuals and for the communities benefitting from this service. 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 a programme country or in a partner country neighbouring the EU 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: 6 April 2022, 17.00 (Brussels time).

For more information please check the Call.