European Voluntary Service

After your Erasmus semester or year, it is almost certain that you will find yourself searching for more programs or projects that will let you go abroad again. This was my case and the case of many of my Erasmus friends. So, I decided to write some information on the projects I have discovered and applied for myself. In today's entry, I will be writing about the European Voluntary Service, mostly known as EVS.

• What is EVS?

The European Voluntary Service is a Program that gives people the opportunity to volunteer in various organisations. The difference between EVS volunteers and “normal” volunteers is that EVS gives you the chance to have the same volunteering experience that you would in your own town (for example in a local NGO or social centre) but in another country. This will be a whole new experience for you and you will get to know the habits and culture in a city or village of a foreign land. There are short-term projects, that last from two weeks up to a month or two and long term projects that can last up to a year maximum.

Short term projects usually regard some concrete needs, such as an annual festival or a special celebration. Long term projects are more general, since they include more needs of the organisations that are not as limited as the first type of projects. After you have completed your volunteering period successfully, you will get a youthpass, which is basically a certificate confirming your participation in the project -this can be useful for your CV later on.

• Who can take part in EVS?

Anyone who comes from one of the following countries: Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and United Kingdom. At the same time, those are also the countries that can host you as a volunteer.

• Can I take part by myself or is it necessary an agreement with my University, like in Erasmus?

There is no learning/training agreement, but there is an Activity Agreement, which you cannot sign on your own. However, your University isn't involved at all. In fact, there is no such requirement that volunteers have to be University students. Anyone, aged from 18 to 30 years old, can participate in the EVS Program. The Activity Agreement is signed among three parts: the volunteer, the sending organisation and the hosting organisation.

What is a sending organisation, though? Well, this is an entity of your own country -and, preferably, your own town as well, since you will have to keep in touch with them and make certain arrangements and a brief training- which is part of the EVS Program. It might be an organisation that also hosts volunteers in your own country, but this isn't necessary, since there is a separation of organisations: there are sending organisations, hosting organisations and co-ordinating organisations. The latter help other entities organise their projects and usually provide them with volunteers or help etc. Most of the organisations belong in more than one category -or even in all three of them.

• How do I start searching for a project?

First of all, you should find your sending organisation. If you find a project first without having an entity in your country, things will get messy and complicated and you will have to start all over again. So, it is best to start from that in order to avoid problems and complications. The site, where you will launch all your search, from the beginning to the end, is Europa.eu.

After you find the available entities that are close to where you live, you should contact them, in order to ask them for information and request a possible meeting. Be careful: do not write an email to just one entity, because you can never be sure that they answer. Write to more -as many as possible, and, after some have answered to you, choose which you prefer and let the rest know that you will not be needing their help after all.

Once you have found your sending organisation, you can start searching for potential projects. Your entity will probably help you as well -the first ones to receive emails regarding future projects are the EVS coordinators of the sending organisations, so this would probably help you clear things up a bit.

However, for you to have more choices, you should do a whole lot of search on your own. And, I am warning you that it is quite chaotic. The database contains all the organisations that participate in EVS and you can launch your search based on certain criteria, like the country, the town and the type of project you are interested in. My advice to you would be not to base your search just on a specific country -volunteering is much more than a get-away and, sure, it is important to go to a country you aspire to get to know, but it is also crucial that you get to do something you love and something you are actually good at. Being in a country you love can be perfectly combined with being in the right type of project -there are so many entities and projects for each country that I highly doubt you don't find the one you really want.

• What kind of projects are there?

The projects vary, as I said. There are projects relating the environment, media and communication, anti-discrimination, social inclusion, civil protection, health, European awareness, rural development, youth leisure/policies/sports, gender equality, anti-racism/xenophobia, children, education through sport and outdoor activities, inter-ethnic and inter-religious dialogue, etc. As I wrote earlier, you should see your preferences, but also your skills and, possibly, your studies. For instance, I wouldn't be appropriate for a project related to rural development or health, since I am studying Law and those sectors are completely outside of my area of expertise. This does not mean that you can't have your options -no one forces you to be limited to just one category of projects.

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Personally, I was searching for law-related projects, like the ones that have to do with human rights: against racism, pro gender equality etc. However, there are many European Awareness projects, as well as Youth or Children related projects that also seem really interesting. If you know foreign languages, like I do, you would be appreciated for organisations like Municipalities, Social Centres or Schools that are interested in forming study groups, usually for English.

• How can I contact the hosting organisations?

Once you decide the entities you like, you can write a letter to the EVS responsible via the email that is listed on the website I have mentioned before. You should explain them that you want to be part of their team of volunteers and it is indispensable that you also attach your CV and a motivation letter, so that they can find out about you, your studies, experience, the languages you speak and your skills.

The official EVS language is English -however, if you happen to speak the language of the country where your potential EVS will take place, it is acceptable to write your curriculum in this language. For instance, lately I have sent many CVs in countries like Denmark, Germany, Italy and United Kingdom -in those cases, I have written my motivation letter in English. However, I also wrote some emails to a few Spanish organisations -in this case, I wrote my motivation letters in Spanish.

I should warn you once again: you will have to choose more than one organisation and sent more than one applications. Many organisations do not plan any projects at the moment, while others have already chosen their volunteers. I have recently contacted dozens of organisations and I have received answers from less than half of them. I have spoken with other candidates as well, who told me that this was the case for them too. So, you shouldn't be disappointed if you don't get an answer right away. Most entities will answer within a week -or else, they won't answer at all. So, keep sending your data to organisations, where you'd be interested in, so that you have more possibilities.

Once some organisations give you a first positive answer, they usually sent you a questionnaire with some details on you and your intentions regarding volunteering. There are usually some applications of their own as well. Many organisations also organise some Skype interviews in order to make sure that they can work with you. In the end of these procedures, the coordinators are ready to make their final decisions and let you know whether or not you were chosen.

• How do the hosting organisation choose their volunteers? Which are the criteria?

That depends on many factors, such as the specific needs and requirements of each project. Some organisations might be interested in a volunteer who speaks many foreign languages, others in a volunteer who has excellent computers skills and others in someone who knows about agriculture or someone who has theatrical experience as an actor or director etc. Overall, it is important that you can communicate well with your potential entity -the thing that they will evaluate most will be your personality, because they will need you to be with them every day, so it is important that there is a mutual understanding and a willingness to work together for the same cause.

• What happens after I am chosen by an entity?

After you are chosen by a hosting organisation, you fill out a first “draft” of the Activity Agreement. This includes all three parts: your sending organisation, your hosting organisation and you. Once the signatures are ready, the document is used as an application for one of the EVS Calls -there used to be three of them every year, but I think that some of the dates and deadlines might change now, after the introduction of the Erasmus+ Program, which includes all the projects that used to be organised separately until now. A month or so after filing the idea of the project, the Committee announces its decision of whether it is approved or not.

In case it is approved, you will start by arranging meetings with your sending organisation. There will be a two-hour session, like a seminar, where the EVS coordinator will explain to you everything you need to know before you leave. Furthermore, your coordinator will be there for you for any kind of question or doubt you may have. You can arrange meetings or communicate via email. In any case, the coordinator will be your person of trust, that can help you with anything. Usually, before you take off, your sending organisation provides you with a kit of useful documents, travel guides, dictionaries, etc. During your stay in the city of your EVS you will still be in touch with the sending organisation's coordinator, describing your stay and expressing potential troubles or just talking about your experience.

• What will my schedule be like as a volunteer?

Each project has little differences regarding the everyday schedule, which you can find if you read thoroughly the description listed on the EVS website. According to the standard, though, the schedule goes something like that: up to 35 hours of work, 5 days a week. Whether you will be working in the morning or afternoon, or even split the everyday hours, is a matter of each organisation and project and it may vary. You have two days off per week, which are usually, but not necessarily, weekends.

Moreover, you have two extra days off per month. If you want to go back to your home country for a while, or even travel around the country where you volunteer (I am referring to long term projects, because in a short term one, this wouldn't make any sense), you can work the whole month and take all your days off together: for example, in a 6-month project, you can work 5 months and take 12 days off all together, so that you can use them as you want.

There are also frequent meetings with the EVS coordinator of your hosting organisation -that should not be your employer, but it has to be a different person. You will be speaking about your stay, discussing your responsibilities and duties and how you cope with them. They will give you any information you ask for and help you as much as they can.

• What do they provide with during my stay there?

Since you will be a volunteer, you are not going to get a salary for fulfilling your tasks. However, the European Committee takes into consideration that you are in a foreign country, so you are provided with certain benefits that can make your stay and activity much easier. First of all, you are provided with accommodation and food.

Normally, there is an apartment, where volunteers stay -usually, male and female volunteers are living in separate apartments or, at least, rooms. There, you are provided with everything you might need -furniture, fully equipped kitchen, electronic devices etc. In most cases, this house is situated very close to where you will be working.

Transport is also covered, though, in case the work is a bit far from your house: your host organisation will provide you with a weekly/monthly/10-journey card for your local transportation, or at least pay for your tickets.

Regarding the food, if there is a social centre as part of your hosting organisation, you will be probably having your meals there, at least during weekdays. For the rest of the time, an amount of money is given to you, so that you can buy food. This differs from one entity to an other: if there is no social centre, there could be a deal with a local restaurant that might serve you food, or maybe the University Restaurant. In the rest of the cases, you are given the money in order to buy your food or the ingredients you will be needing to cook it yourself.

Another thing you are given is pocket money. I am not 100% sure that the amount of money is standard, but what I have personally seen is an average of 100 euros per month. You are also offered your health and work insurance. Finally, 90% of your departure and return tickets are covered by your hosting organisation. You will only have to pay 10% -and many sending organisations intent to pay that for their volunteers, using the grant money they are given.

I hope that those tips have been helpful for you. I am searching for an EVS myself these days and I know that it can be really confusing. However, all you need is patience and a strong will and I am sure that you will find the right project for you -I trying to do the same thing and I dare say I'm quite hopeful about it! So, good luck!

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