The European Union is built on solidarity, a shared value which is strongly felt throughout European society. Solidarity defines the European project and provides the necessary unity to cope with current and future crises by holding a strong moral ground. Solidarity provides a clear compass to guide the European youth in their aspirations for a better Union.

Young people need easily accessible opportunities to engage in solidarity activities, which could enable them to express their commitment to the benefit of communities while acquiring useful experience and competences for their personal, educational, social, civic and professional development, thereby improving their employability.

The European Solidarity Corps brings together young people to build a more inclusive society, supporting vulnerable people and responding to societal challenges. It offers an inspiring and empowering experience for young people who want to help, learn and develop and provides a single entry point for such solidarity activities throughout the Union.

It opens up more and better opportunities covering a broad range of areas, such as integration of migrants, environmental challenges, prevention of natural disasters, education and youth activities. It also supports national and local actors, in their efforts to cope with different societal challenges and crises.

The European Solidarity Corps aims also to complement the efforts made by Member States to support young people and ease their school-to-work transition under the Youth Guarantee3 by providing them with additional opportunities to make a start into the labour market in the form of traineeships or jobs within their respective Member State or across borders.

The activities of the European Solidarity Corps support the objectives of the EU Youth Strategy for 2019-2027 which encourages young people to become active citizens, agents of solidarity and positive change for communities across Europe, inspired by EU values and a European identity.

General Objective:

The European Solidarity Corps aims to promote solidarity as a value, mainly through volunteering, to enhance the engagement of young people and organisations in accessible and high quality solidarity activities as a means to contribute to strengthening cohesion, solidarity, democracy and citizenship in Europe, while also responding to societal challenges and strengthening communities, with particular effort to promote social inclusion. It shall also contribute to European cooperation that is relevant to young people.

Specific Objectives:

• to provide young people, with the support of participating organisations, with easily accessible opportunities for engagement in solidarity activities effecting positive societal change, while improving their skills and competences for personal, educational, social, civic, cultural and professional development, as well as facilitating their active citizenship, employability and transition into the labour market, including by supporting the mobility of young volunteers, trainees and workers;
• to ensure that the solidarity activities that are offered to the European Solidarity Corps participants are of high quality, properly validated and respect the principles of the European Solidarity Corps;
• to ensure that particular efforts are made to promote social inclusion and equal opportunities, in particular for the participation of young people with fewer opportunities through a range of special measures such as appropriate formats of solidarity activities and personalised support;
• to contribute to European cooperation relevant to young people and raising awareness of its positive impact.

Volunteering, which is the main mechanism for promoting solidarity as a value, helps tackle important societal challenges and addresses the needs of local communities. It also enables young people to acquire experience, skills, and competencies useful for their personal, educational, social, civic, and professional development, thereby improving their employability and active citizenship.

They are full-time, free activities that last 2-12 months and in some cases can last for 2 weeks or more, allowing young people to assist organizations in their daily work. Young people can volunteer in projects involving social inclusion, environment, culture, and other issues in program countries or neighboring partner countries. There are two types of activities called individual volunteering and volunteering teams.

Individual volunteering is 2-12 months of solidarity activity. This kind of solidarity activity offers the opportunity to contribute to the daily work of institutions in youth solidarity activities, to the ultimate benefit of the communities where the activities are carried out. Participants can volunteer abroad or in their own country.

Volunteer teams are solidarity activities that enable 10-40 people from at least two different countries to volunteer together for a period of 2 weeks to 2 months. Such solidarity activities can contribute to the inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities, especially in the European Solidarity Program. At least a quarter of the volunteers must come from a country other than the one in which the activity took place.

In volunteering projects, participants must be 18 years old at the start of the event and not over 30 years old.

To participate in individual volunteering activities, young people need to register with the European Youth Portal (https://europa.eu/youth/solidarity). This portal is a channel used to deliver youth opportunities to young people.

Register on the Solidarity Platform (https://europa.eu/youth/solidarity_en) with an e-mail address you always use and the correct identity information. After completing the registration process, you will have a reference number.

After this process, you need to contact the host institutions and apply for their projects. You can use one (both) of the following methods for this:

1. You can send your CV and motivation letter to the institutions in the EVS database (https://europa.eu/youth/volunteering/evs-organisation_en), which is the old program of volunteering.
2. You can see the projects and details on the ESC Volunteering Projects page (https://europa.eu/youth/volunteering/project_en) and apply them to the projects that meet your needs and criteria by using the filters you want, with your CV and motivation letter that you have previously uploaded to your user account through the system.

To volunteer as part of a project, you need a hosting organization and a supporting organization. The host organization represents the institution you will go to within the project’s scope, and the supporting organization represents the organization in your country. The supporting organization requires you to participate in this process actively and prepare the necessary documents, visas, etc. that support you in making the needed applications.

Accepted volunteers are informed through the specified communication channels, and the next process is supported by the host institution + supporting institution.