UNA Exchange - Volunteering across Wales and the World

European Voluntary Service

How long: 2-12 months
When: Throughout the year
Destinations: 50+ countries worldwide
Activities: Social, Environmental, Youth Work, Arts/Cultural, Language, Sport
Who can apply: 18-30
Cost: No cost

If you are between 18 and 30 and want to volunteer in another European country (or possibly further afield) for between two months and one year, then the European Voluntary Service (EVS) programme may be ideally suited to you.

EVS is the volunteering strand of the European Commission’s Youth in Action Programme . The programme exists to support young people aged 18-30 from across the European Union to undertake a period of voluntary service in another country. It brings together community groups (who have an appropriate project and are able to host a volunteer), organisations (who send volunteers) and of course volunteers. The programme will provide all the funding for your project including Pre-Departure and On-Arrival training, travel costs, accommodation and a small living allowance.

Through the EVS programme you can volunteer in any European country and, increasingly, in other areas of the world too.

UNA Exchange is approved by the British Council (the UK National Agency for Youth in Action) as an ‘EVS Sending Organisation’. This means that we are able to arrange and support the placements of young people on available EVS projects. We currently send around 25 volunteers per year.

Recent EVS projects that UNA Exchange volunteers have joined include:

Supporting a live music venue run by volunteers in Finland - click here to read a report from this project

Supporting an environmental charity in Spain - click here to see a recent evaluation from this project

Working with homeless people in Italy

Assisting Rangers at a wildlife park in Peru

To get a better idea of what is available you can search for EVS projects on the central EVS database . This search feature is found on the web pages of the European Commission and includes all of the approved EVS projects available.

UNA Exchange has worked on the EVS programme since 1998 and co-ordinates both the hosting and sending of EVS volunteers. We can be your EVS sending organisation if you are currently resident in Wales or have previously volunteered with UNA Exchange. Please contact , EVS Programme Co-ordinator if you would like further information about applying for an EVS project.

More information on what you can expect from EVS, how the programme is structured and how the application process works is available on request. You can also come along to our EVS Info Sessions whch run throughout the year, please contact Georgie Mavrakis for further details.

European Voluntary Service is part of the Youth In Action Programme 2007-2013 which offers loads of great funded opportunities for young people aged 16-30.

EVS in Estonia

Gareth is currently out in Estonia completing a 12month EVS project at centre for young adults with learning disabilities. Here is his story so far...

I started my 12month EVS placement in June 2009, in Estonia. I live and work in a purpose built community for young adults with learning disabilities. I support them to get a further education and to learn basic life skills. Most of my time is spent teaching life skills, such as cooking and how to maintain a home (cleaning, making a bed, doing laundry etc). I can also be supporting service users to school, music therapy, swimming and village work (gardening, general maintenance, preparing sauna etc).

I’ve been doing other smaller projects, such as doing talks in local school and universities about the benefits in volunteering and the difference in education systems. There have also been community building days, within the Russian settlements as well as helping others to achieve EVS placements and volunteer jobs to support their studies.

I have found my time here to be extremely valuable to both my personal and professional outlook on life. I have worked within this field for 9 years and getting to see a different work structure has given me a greater more varied perspective on my work and career goals.

During my personal time, I have travelled all round Estonia, most of the surrounding countries, taken snowboarding lessons and made many great friends. To name just a few.

I would recommend this experience/adventure to everyone.