How do I get involved in EVS?

To get involved in EVS you must be between the ages of 18 and 30. EVS is open to European citizens or people who have formal citizenship of a European Country. You don’t need any previous experience and don’t necessarily need to already speak the language of the country you will be working in, although you should be willing to learn it while you are there.  

 

 STEP 1: Register with a sending organisation.

GMYN is an accredited sending organisation and is happy to help interested people from across the UK, though we mainly work with people from the North West. It is generally easier for you to find a sending organisation close to where you live, so you can receive a high level of support from them.

You can find a list of sending organisations here:

http://www.britishcouncil.org/connectyouth-programmes-european-voluntary-service-young-people.htm

 

If you’d like GMYN to be your sending organisation you will need to send us:

1. Your C.V

You can use this template

http://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/europass/home/hornav/Downloads/EuropassCV/CVTemplate.csp

2. A letter of motivation

This is a letter that explains why you are interested in EVS. Help writing your motivation letter can be found here:

http://blog.youthnetworks.eu/2010/03/how-to-write-an-evs-motivation-letter/

3. A photo of yourself.

4. Details of two referees.

If you need any help filling out any of these forms please contact us.

 

 

 STEP 2: Search for a hosting project

There are a huge range of EVS voluntary placements across Europe and beyond. Project themes include: youth, sport, culture, social care, environment and more. Think about what interests and motivates you before you contact potential host organisations.

The more flexible you are in terms of which country and what type of placement, the more likely it is that you will succeed in securing a placement. If you have very specific ideas you may wait a long time before finding a suitable match for example if you only want to volunteer in Madrid in an art gallery, or volunteer with children in Prague it is likely to take a long time. If you want to volunteer in a social care project in Eastern Europe you are likely to find many more opportunities.

 

How to search for placements.

1. Have a look at this database http://ec.europa.eu/youth/evs/aod/hei_en.cfm

It gives you an idea of the range of opportunities out there, although some of the information is not up to date and they may not be looking for volunteers at the moment.

2. Register with Youth Networks database.

Once you have registered with GMYN you will be given access to the Youth Networks database, this provides up to date information about current hosting organisations and allows you to apply for EVS placements online.

3. Make a note of the EI Reference of any projects that you are interested in.

For example 2007-SI-32. This will enable you to keep track of the potential hosting projects you are interested in.

 

 

STEP 3: Apply for funding.

Once you have found, and been accepted by, a hosting organisation, GMYN and the hosting organisation will prepare a document that will be submitted to EU. This is the application to secure funding for your EVS placement.

There are 5 deadlines for EVS grant applications annually and the deadline you apply for determines the possible placement start date – a minimum of three months later. You can apply to GMYN at any time of year but we can only apply for funding in accordance with the following fixed funding deadlines.

  

Deadline                                       EVS Placement can start between

1^st February                                   1^st May – 30^th September

1^st April                                           1^st July – 30^th November

1^st June                                            1^st September – 31^st January

1^st September                               1^st December – 30^th April

1^st November                                1^st February – 31^st July

 

Please note that funding cannot be guaranteed and competition for placements can sometimes be very high.