Make a difference beyond Europe's borders
Since 2022 the European Solidarity Corps has offered volunteering placements in third countries. You work on humanitarian operations — from disaster preparedness to refugee protection and food security.
18–35
Age requirement
5 days
Mandatory in-person training
3
Organisations required
What is it?
Solidarity that reaches the world
Humanitarian volunteering under the ESC has been offered since 2022 in third countries where humanitarian operations are ongoing.
Projects cover: disaster preparedness and response, gender equality promotion, refugee and internally displaced persons protection, protection of undocumented migrants, climate change mitigation and food security improvement.
Important: competition is intense. The number of interested candidates greatly exceeds available placements — completing the training does not guarantee a place.
Opportunities
Choose your path
Individual humanitarian volunteering
2–12 months
Full-time (30–38 hours/week). Always cross-border — in a third country where humanitarian operations are under way.
- ✓Supports host organisation's humanitarian work
- ✓Accommodation, travel and food covered
- ✓Complementary insurance
- ✓Small personal allowance
Group humanitarian volunteering
2 weeks – 2 months
Groups of 5–40 volunteers from at least 2 countries. Full-time.
- ✓Selected by sending and host organisations
- ✓At least 2 countries represented
- ✓Accommodation and travel covered
- ✓Complementary insurance
Financial support
What the EU covers
Travel
Return travel to and from the project is covered.
Accommodation
Accommodation throughout the stay is arranged by the host organisation.
Food
Daily meals or a food allowance are included.
Allowance
Small personal allowance during the placement.
Insurance
Complementary insurance covers health and accidents.
Language support
Access to language support in the working language.
Step by step
How it works
Register on the ESC portal
Create an account and complete your profile. Indicate interest in humanitarian volunteering.
Start the online training
Go to the "Online training" tab in your ESC account and select "Humanitarian aid training". Begin with the self-assessment on EU Academy.
Pass the online test
Complete the mandatory online training and pass the test to be invited to in-person training.
Attend in-person training
5 days in groups of ~25 candidates. Training centres in France, Germany, Italy or Spain. Three rounds per year: Feb–March, May–June, Sept–Oct.
Be selected by a project
After completing training you may be selected by a humanitarian volunteering project. Note: places are limited.
Frequently asked questions
Your questions answered
Ready to apply?
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