HOST EUROPEAN SOLIDARITY CORPS VOLUNTEERS

All entities with mutualistic aims (non-profit organizations, entities that deal with children’s education, entities that provide support to the elderly or people with disabilities, councillorships that deal with youth or sports or culture, entities that do pet therapy, etc.) acting in any field (social, cultural, artistic, educational) can be accredited to host foreign volunteers aged 17 to 30 years up to 12 months with EU funding to fully cover the costs.

Are you an organization interested in hosting foreign volunteers who contribute to your normal activities bringing an added value?

Kora Association can follow you in all phases of the project and help you to manage it!

What are the European Solidarity Corpses?

The European Solidarity Corps is an international voluntary programme financed by the European Commission through a special solidarity fund, identified as a natural evolution of the EVS programme (European Voluntary Service) which was financed through the Erasmus+ programme. This programme allows all young people legally resident in Europe, aged between 17 and 30 years, to carry out an international voluntary experience in an organization or a public body for a period ranging from 2 weeks to 12 months, with the aim of encouraging professional learning, personal growth, strengthening of European identity and values.

In which areas can it be carried out?

  • Culture
  • Youth
  • Sport
  • Art
  • Leisure time
  • Media and communication
  • Social care for the elderly
  • People with disabilities
  • Social integration (e.g. with migrants and refugees)
  • Environmental protection and education
  • Rural development and development cooperation

A European volunteer is a precious resource for an organization working in the non-profit sector: interculturality, willingness to do, innovation, planning, exchange of ideas are some of the elements that volunteering with the European Solidarity Corps brings with it.

The program of the European Union, in fact, born to allow young people to do voluntary work abroad at no cost, highlights, among its aims, the important benefit that the young person will bring to the host community with his activity.

What support does Kora offer?

Kora Association has been working for years with the European Bodies of Solidarity, sending, hosting and coordinating volunteers from abroad. We were the first to host volunteers with the new European Solidarity Corps programme, in the context of the post-earthquake reconstruction in Norcia in summer 2017. Although based in Passignano sul Trasimeno in Umbria, we also coordinate organizations in other regions of Italy (Lazio, Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna…) and abroad (Portugal, France, Estonia). Our link with the territory remains preferential, however, and we strongly wish to collaborate with new realities in Umbria, where we are the only organization accredited to coordinate European Solidarity Corps projects.

We are available to help free of charge organizations that recognize in the added value of 2 foreign volunteers, European or non-European, a stimulus to growth and enrichment for their activities.

Our commitment consists in providing the skills and know-how acquired to work in synergy with the contacts of your organization, managing both the initial phase of accreditation with the National Youth Agency and all the subsequent steps:

  • Writing the accreditation form to welcome volunteers, to be submitted to the National Youth Agency.
  • project writing
  • selection of foreign partner organisations
  • selection of volunteers
  • training of members of the organisation
  • mentor training
  • volunteer tutoring

In this way your organization is freed from all the tasks that it cannot manage due to lack of time, resources and knowledge, and – at the same time – it acquires all the tools that it may need to manage an international volunteer hosting project on its own in the future.

Your organization will receive sufficient funding to cover pocket money, food, accommodation, accommodation-work transport and Italian language course for volunteers. Receiving volunteers from the European Solidarity Corps with our support does not involve any extra cost on your part. Volunteers will also receive from us the reimbursement of return travel expenses and medical insurance.

We currently coordinate projects in the following organisations:

  • Piano dell’Abatino Wildlife Park (refuge for local and exotic fauna)
  • Community of Living Ethics (cultural association based on spirituality and permaculture)
  • Community L’Arca “Il Chicco” (accommodation facility for people with disabilities)
  • Community L’Arca “L’Arcobaleno” (accommodation facility for people with disabilities)
  • Municipality of Norcia (where we host volunteers for 2 months for social reconstruction projects after the earthquake of 2016)
  • Omphalos LGBTI (LGBT association that organizes Umbria Pride)
  • MicrocosmO (agricultural company that produces organic vegetables)
  • Dance Gallery (cultural association that organizes dance courses and festivals)
  • Legambiente Lecco – Hostel Parco Monte Barro (environmental association)

What are the requirements for hosting European Solidarity Corps volunteers?

  • Sufficient activities for a service of 7 hours a day for 5 days a week
  • A tutor (responsible for activities)
  • A mentor (to support reflection, project evaluation and integration in the local context)
  • An Italian language course for the first 2 months

Kora Association also collaborates with organizations that have already hosted volunteer experiences, not necessarily international, but that have the ability to manage and integrate volunteers in their staff, and that have, within their own structure or in any case located in the surrounding area, facilities to host volunteers.

How to participate?

Ask for a first informative interview by sending us an email to evaluate together whether hosting volunteers in your organization is the right choice, what advantages and difficulties it could entail, what are the waiting times from the accreditation request to the volunteer’s arrival.

What are you waiting for? Host a volunteer!

    Some testimonies:

    Antonio is one of the founders of the Piano dell’Abatino Fauna Park, a refuge for local and exotic fauna located near Rieti. The Park has been hosting European Solidarity Corps volunteers since 2017, and this is what he thinks about them:

    When European volunteers arrive, they have to associate with the culture of a foreign country. This is something that enriches. A longer trip allows you to learn a foreign language, but language is not everything. This language learning process is accompanied by a deeper understanding of customs and a better understanding of the culture: popular customs, meal times, what kind of food to eat, even for us.

    I once asked the girl from Estonia, what time does the sun set? At 2.30 it is already dark.
    Sometimes the differences we see relate to the colour of the sky. Here it can be blue and when we go to Africa we will discover completely different colors. Another value is the comparison of traditions. The exchange of values takes place.

    It is important to give the opportunity to different young people from all over the world to take part in this kind of experience. It would be even more enriching to involve people from southern Europe and Africa in such common activities.

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