Alliance2015 partners ACTED, People in Need and Concern Worldwide became involved in the EU Aid Volunteers Initiative in 2015.
The EU Aid Volunteers Initiative (EUAVI) brings volunteers and organisations together from different countries, providing practical support to humanitarian aid projects and contributing to strengthening local capacity and resilience of disaster-affected communities and actions that aim at linking relief rehabilitation and development (LRRD). It is a great opportunity for junior and senior professionals looking to work in humanitarian response and development.
credits: Concern Worldwide 
Since 2015, the Alliance2015 members Concern Worldwide, ACTED and People in Need have received three deployment grants under the European Union Aid Volunteer Initiative. The consortium, led by Concern Worldwide, has developed a programme to strengthen humanitarian response capabilities through the recruitment, training and deployment of European volunteers coupled with capacity building of staff across host organisation partners. Successful applicants benefit from a Head Office-based apprenticeship, followed typically by a 12-month deployment in one of our country offices.
Africa and the Caribbean
We deployed 27 volunteers between 2016 – 2021, across 8 partner organisations in: Malawi, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Liberia, Senegal, Angola, Haiti.
Our volunteers were involved in a variety of projects, covering: gender equality, local partner capacity building, HR and Systems, finance, monitoring and evaluation, health and nutrition, education, communication and urban resilience.
credits: Concern Worldwide, Malawi 
credits: PIN, Angola
Asia and MENA
We deployed 36 volunteers between 2016 – 2021, across 12 partner organisations in: Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, OPT, Tajikistan, Lebanon, Cambodia, Kyrgyzstan, The Philippines, Cambodia, Myanmar, Mongolia.
Areas covered by the projects: livelihoods, logistics, communications, programme support and development, disaster risk reduction, finance.
credits: ACTED, Tajikistan 
credits: Concern Worldwide, Lebanon
Europe and Caucasus
We hosted 58 volunteers in three European Headquarters for apprenticeships of up to 3 months duration in France, Czech Republic and Ireland. We deployed 6 volunteers between 2016 – 2021 across 3 partner organisations in Georgia, Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Our volunteers engaged in: project management, private sector engagement, small and medium business development, capacity building, communication and advocacy.
credits: PIN
During its lifecycle (2015-2021), the EUAV Initiative has enabled 69 volunteers to kick start their career in the humanitarian and Linking Relief and Development sector. This is combined with designated funding to provide capacity building activities for programme staff and local partners across 26 host organisations in the areas of People Management and Development, Humanitarian Response and Resilience.
Synergy was achieved with ECHO and EU funded projects through participation in the implementation of more than 60 EU funded Humanitarian and Development projects, through:
- Direct participation of Volunteers during deployment to ECHO & EU funded project activities.
- Direct participation of previous EU Aid Volunteers in the implementation of ECHO & EU funded projects following the completion of EU Aid Volunteer Deployment and progression to a paid position with partner organisations.
- Contribution of programme staff and local partners who have took part in EU aid Volunteer capacity building activities and were able to apply learning to better support project implementation.
What have Alliance2015 EU Aid Volunteers contributed to? Have a look at our video!
What made you become an EU Aid Volunteer? In this video, several of our previous EU Aid Volunteers discuss their favourite parts of the experience, as well as skills they have gained.
