What was there before the Big Bang in 2016, when the European Solidarity Corps saw the light of day? What is this EVS some people still talk about? What can we do with this programme? What are its limits?

Once upon a time, there was the European Voluntary Service…

Many of your fellow ESC officers think that to understand the European Solidarity Corps, it is worth discovering a bit of history: knowing the basics about the previous European Voluntary Service may help you understand the organisations that have been on board for a longer time.

The European Voluntary Service has existed since 1996. In 1998, after a 2-year pilot phase, it became a fully established community action programme. The Youth Programme (2000-2006) brought EVS and the other youth activities together under the same roof for the first time. Then came Youth in Action (2007-2013) which was followed by Erasmus+ in 2014.

In 2016, the European Voluntary Service celebrated its 20th anniversary with hundreds of events across Europe. When President Jean-Claude Juncker announced in his in State of the Union Address on 14 September that year that there would be a new programme, most of us could not believe our ears – to say the least.

What changed after Juncker’s speech?

Firstly, the one common Erasmus+ programme hosting all sectors (education, youth and sport) was split into two separate programmes. It was a huge administrational change for the National Agencies. European Solidarity Corps’ pilot phase started as early as December 2016. Since 2019, it has been a fully-fledged EU programme.

During these first years, the ESC activities included not only volunteering and solidarity projects, but also jobs & traineeships. When the current programme period (2021–2027) started, jobs & traineeships were discontinued and Humanitarian Aid volunteering (former EU Aid Volunteers) was integrated into the programme.

Secondly, the ideological transformation was shifting the focus towards solidarity and community impact. If the EVS was called a learning service, where the learning experience of the volunteer was central, the focus on solidarity brought the programme closer to traditional volunteering, where the volunteer’s willingness to contribute is at the core. A closer look is also taken at the communities in which volunteering takes place and where the volunteer returns to.

However, the learning dimension remains relevant. In fact, the European Solidarity Corps builds on what was good in EVS but brought the programme to the 2020s: it is no longer an international volunteering programme only, but a solidarity programme that extends from local (solidarity projects, in-country volunteering) to global action (humanitarian aid volunteering). The project administration has also undergone an impressive change, allowing organisations to focus more on content and less on paperwork.

The terminology has also changed. The MOOC on Erasmus+ Youth in Action (2014–2020) containing a playlist dedicated to the European Voluntary Service is still available on YouTube. If you are curious about volunteering activities before the word solidarity was introduced, there is no harm in watching these videos. It might even come in handy.

Learn from the best: good practices

We want examples of good practices and success stories, right? Good practices are in fact an excellent way of obtaining perspective on the variety of possibilities offered by the European Solidarity Corps.

Solidarity being an abstract concept, we have invested in showing how to connect projects with solidarity and the other values on which the programme is based. Youth researchers Dan Moxon and Adina Șerban have studied and produced reports on the issue. Two reports have already been published and a third one, connecting ESC projects with solidarity and community impact, is underway.

Let’s take a closer look at the first two:

Showing solidarity with…

This report contains case studies of 29 European Solidarity Corps projects identified as good quality examples by NA officers across Europe.

‘Showing solidarity with…’ explains how the proposed projects reflect solidarity and asks further questions about the nature of solidarity. The second part contains brief anonymous case studies.

Showing Solidarity for …

This publication explores how the thematic priorities of the European Solidarity Corps programme can be supported through ESC-funded projects.

‘Showing Solidarity for…’ presents 9 project case studies of ESC solidarity and volunteering projects, focusing on one or more of the thematic priorities.

The final section of the publication describes how the three thematic priorities that are the subject of the study (following the 2021 ESC Guide: 1. Environmental protection, sustainable development and climate action; 2. Digital transformation; 3. Prevention, promotion and support in the field of health) are addressed in the case studies.

Award-winning projects in the spotlight

Every year, three SALTOs join forces to find out which projects stand out from the crowd as best practice examples. This friendly competition called SALTO Awards allows us to identify real change-making projects in various categories. Descriptions of the winning projects with interviews and other extra material can be found in the Flagship Project Collection database.

Activating citizens – Municipalities using the European Solidarity Corps

Activating citizens is a series of webinars exploring the various possibilities of the European Solidarity Corps to promote voluntary engagement and active citizenship in local communities.

The webinars are a cooperation between SALTO ESC and the Europe Goes Local long-term activity. The webinars provide space for municipalities to show how they use the ESC programme for promoting solidarity, social cohesion and innovation – and how local and international volunteering activities can have a sustainable impact on a local level.

Read more about the Activating citizens webinars and watch the videos featuring some of the best practices in using the ESC programme in European municipalities.

European Solidarity Corps Project Platform

Still hungry for project examples? All the Solidarity Projects are available on the ESC project platform. Projects can be filtered by status, subject, call year, country etc. A good practice reporting system is also included.

The platform allows organisations and young people to see the variety of solidarity projects that can be developed with ESC funding.

EACEA’s database of funded HAV projects

What about the newest action type Humanitarian Aid volunteering? Since HAV projects receive funding from the Executive Agency (EACEA), the projects can be browsed on a database hosted on EC’s website.