European Solidarity Corps founded by European Commission
History
Since the early 1990s, the European Commission was engaged in financing international voluntary service projects for young people as part of the program Youth for Europe. The Association of Voluntary Service Organisations, then known as Steering Group of Voluntary Organisations (CC-EYE), was active in lobbying for the rights of volunteers during this period. In 1996, the European Voluntary Service was established, when 200 volunteers were sent abroad for six to twelve months in a pilot project.The European Voluntary Service was the second of the five "actions" of the European Union's programme Youth in Action. Until 2016, more than 100.000 volunteers had participated in the European Voluntary Service program. In 2017 and 2018, the European Voluntary Service was replaced by the European Solidarity Corps, which is an expanded version of the European Voluntary Service.The program is being administered by the Directorate General for Education and Culture of the European Commission.