About
What is it?
EU Aid Volunteers brings volunteers and organisations together from different countries, providing practical support to humanitarian aid projects and contributing to strengthening local capacity and resilience of disaster-affected communities. Participants in the EU Aid Volunteers initiative must be over 18 years of age and be a citizen of an EU Member State or a long-term resident in the EU. Volunteers receive accommodation and travel expenses, insurance, ongoing learning and development, a monthly allowance, and a resettlement allowance to help with expenses of returning home.
How are we helping?
EU Aid Volunteers supports humanitarian aid organisations. EU Aid Volunteers projects, run by partners of EU-based and non-EU based organisations, strengthen the capacity of non-EU based organisations to prepare for and respond to humanitarian crises and to improve their volunteer management. It also provides funding for technical assistance to EU-based organisations to strengthen their technical capacity and meet the standards and procedures required to deploy EU Aid Volunteers.
Organisations deploying volunteers must comply with the initiative’s standards on volunteer management and go through a certification process before submitting a proposal for volunteer deployment.
The EU Aid Volunteers initiative offers:
- Opportunities for European citizens to become volunteers in humanitarian projects worldwide, showing solidarity with people in need of assistance,
- Professional support by trained and well-prepared volunteers to communities affected by disaster,
- Capacity building for local staff and volunteers of aid organisations in countries hit by disasters,
- Technical assistance for organisations based in Europe to strengthen their capacities to participate in the EU Aid Volunteers initiative.
What is next?
In the new upcoming European Solidarity Corps regulation for the period 2021-2027, the European Solidarity Corps programme will take up the EU Aid Volunteers initiative as a new strand. As from January 2021, DG EAC will be responsible for young people’s volunteering activities in the field of humanitarian aid.
For more information on EU Aid Volunteers projects, and to manage your project – if you are a beneficiary – please visit the EU Aid Volunteers Platform.