European Voluntary Service (EVS)

Change life, open mind: this is the slogan of the new Programme Erasmus + 2014-2020, a unique integrated Program of community support aimed to social cooperation and mobility that gather previous international Programs like Comenius, Erasmus, Leonardo, Grundtvig, Jean Monnet, Erasmus mundus, Tempus, Alfa Edulink, Youth in Action.

The Agenzia Nazionale Giovani pursues its mission managing the Italian funds allocated by the community program Youth in Action and Erasmus+: Youth (2014-2020). The target is a non-formal and informal learning within the youth area.

The European Voluntary Service is an Erasmus+ Program opportunity in the Key Action 1 individuals Mobility area and it offers an intercultural learning experience in an informal context for young people between 17 and 30 years of age, promoting their social integration and active participation.

Youths can select and take part in volunteering services in a country chosen either from the Program or outside of Europe, for a period of 2 to 12 months, engaged as a “European Volunteer” in local projects from various areas such as: culture, youth, sport, social work, cultural heritage, art, leisure time, civil protection, environment, cooperative development.

THE PROJECT UTILIZES PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF NON-FORMAL LEARNING.

This experience offers young people the opportunity to engage in contact with other cultures, to express solidarity and to obtain new skills and abilities to optimize personal and professional training.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE:

The European Voluntary Service is the only opportunity in the Erasmus+ Program Youth area which permits individual participation to a mobility project.

If you are between 17 and 30 years of age and are interested in participating to an EVS project, the first step is to find an Italian accredited sending organization and apply as a volunteer in a project shared with a European hosting organization.

Inside the EVS Database you can find and select an accredited organization from your own city/region. Once you have selected and found one or more sending organizations you are interested in, you can then contact the organization requesting to receive further information and assistance in regards to the interested project.

COOPERATIVA ITACA IS ACCREDITED AS A HOSTING ORGANIZATION.

The following hosting organizations tasks are:

  • To provide for subsistence, accommodation and local transports for the volunteers;
  • To forecast tasks and activities in accordance to EVS quality principles as specified in the EVS Document;
  • To provide the opportunity to perform various activities allowing an integration of ideas, creativity and experience;
  • To identify all functional learning opportunities for the volunteer assuring that training on arrival and the interim evaluation has been taken;
  • To provide a linguistic, personal, administrative and task support for the whole duration of the EVS experience;
  • To organize learning language classes.

OUR EUROPEAN PARTNERS:

Associação Juvenil da Linha de Cascais Rota Jovem – Cascais (Portugal)

http://home.rotajovem.com/

With the support of an expert and enthusiastic equipe, the association promotes activities “from youth to youth” aiming to be an open door for new ideas and to help young people to achieve their projects.

Rota Jovem contributes to promote an active citizenship within the community, with the aim to contribute to the development of a society with a strong sense of social integration and youth policies.

Messzelàtò Egyesület – Budapest (Hungary)

http://messzelato.hu/

The goal of this organization is to realize a value-driven sustainable society based on cooperation and active community. Its activities include: the creation of eco-touristic maps and nature trails; working on the organization’s own bio farm; holding workshops on practical and everyday solutions of environment friendly way of living; assisting in the development of more and more alternative consumer community; running campaigns to promote for example organic and local food.

Fundaciòn Paideia – A Coruña Galizia (Spain)

https://www.paideia.es/

This organization devotes the most of its activities to disability area and deepen the interdisciplinary answers to many questions regarding disabilities and social exclusion for people with physical diseases. The areas of deepening concern are equal rights topics with the target to contribute to the development of a better autonomy. They offer free counseling and information services about job opportunities and ethical values about disabilities within the society.