EUROPEAN COMMISSION Brussels, 19.7.2021 COM(2021) 404 final REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL Annual Report on the Implementation of the EU Aid Volunteers Initiative in 2020



I. Introduction Acting in accordance with Article 214(5) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the EU launched the EU Aid Volunteers initiative in 2014. This report describes the implementation of the EU Aid Volunteers initiative in 2020. It is prepared in line with Article 27(4) of Regulation (EU) No 375/2014, which requires the Commission to submit annual reports to the European Parliament and to the Council on progress made in implementing the Regulation. Previous reports for 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 are available online. The report is based on data collected and analysed in line with the Framework for the monitoring of the implementation of actions under the initiative. This framework was drawn up and agreed between the Commission and the European Education and Culture Executive Agency, which is responsible for managing most of the operations carried out under the initiative. II. Objectives and priorities The activities described in this report were based on the Commission’s 2020 Annual work programme to implement the EU Aid Volunteers initiative in accordance with Article 21(3) of Regulation (EU) No 375/2014. A budget of EUR 19 355 000 was set aside to implement the initiative. The objective of the EU Aid Volunteers initiative is to contribute to strengthening the EU's capacity to provide needs-based humanitarian aid aimed at preserving life, preventing and alleviating human suffering and maintaining human dignity and to strengthening the capacity and resilience of vulnerable or disaster-affected communities in third countries, particularly by means of disaster preparedness, disaster risk reduction and by enhancing the link between relief, rehabilitation and development. At the same time, it allows European citizens to show solidarity with people in need by taking part in humanitarian actions in these countries. III. Actions implemented in 2020 The actions described in Sections III.1-III.4 of this report are delegated to and implemented by the European Education and Culture Executive Agency, in cooperation with the Commission. The European Education and Culture Executive Agency is responsible for the calls for proposals, calls for tender, contract management and implementing the budget allocation in line with the Commission’s annual work programmes. In terms of managing operations, the Commission remains directly responsible for creating and maintaining the partners and volunteers’ network, the online platform, communication activities, and the ex-post evaluation.

III.1 Deployment The deployment of EU Aid Volunteers to humanitarian projects in countries outside of the EU has been impacted considerably by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic since March 2020. The measures adopted in many countries to restrict the mobility of citizens and increase social distancing hampered the regular implementation of most of the ongoing and planned activities. In many cases participants were either unable to travel from their home base, or were faced with difficulties to find travel opportunities to return from their place of deployment to their home countries. When the pandemic broke out, some organisations still succeeded to organise travel for their volunteers from their place of deployment on regular flights, others agreed with their deployed volunteers to stay in the host country and work from their place of accommodation until an opportunity for a repatriation was available. Others decided in agreement with their volunteers that volunteers should remain in the country of deployment because it was still safe and possible to carry out the activities as planned. The European Education and Culture Executive Agency provided guidance on the financial and organisational consequences for activities under the EU Aid Volunteers initiative to participating organisations and monitored the situation closely. Exceptionally repatriated EU Aid Volunteers were allowed to continue their deployment activities remotely from their home countries. Between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2020, 105 EU Aid Volunteers were deployed to projects funded through the 2018 and 2019 budgets and 23 apprenticeship placements at the headquarters of organisations in the EU took place during this period. More information on the type of projects and organisations involved can be found on the website: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/echo/eu-aid-volunteers_en/ . Since the launch of the initiative, 322 online volunteering assignments were published, of which 117 in 2020. The most frequently requested tasks included translation, proofreading and support to communication activities. Due to the duration and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the EU Aid Volunteers initiative could not be carried out in compliance with the requirements of the Regulation and within a reasonable timeframe. The call for proposals for deployment 2020 published in April 2020 was therefore cancelled. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Agency allowed projects to exceptionally request extensions going beyond the maximum duration foreseen in the call, up to a maximum duration of 36 months. In 2020, such extensions were mainly granted to projects funded from the 2018 budget. III.2 Technical Assistance and Capacity Building Technical assistance and capacity building projects supported through EU Aid Volunteers initiative funding strengthen the capacities of organisations intending to deploy EU Aid Volunteers and ensure that they comply with the standards and procedures set through the initiative.

No call for proposals for technical assistance and capacity building was foreseen to be published in 2020. The ongoing projects were impacted by the COVID-19 situation and many of their activities had to be transformed into online events. As for deployment projects, extensions going beyond the maximum duration foreseen in the call were granted. Overall, the 2015-2019 calls resulted in the funding of 32 capacity building projects and 13 technical assistance projects, involving 440 beneficiaries/project partners. III.3 Certification Organisations that wish to deploy EU Aid Volunteers must be certified as sending or hosting organisations under the EU Aid Volunteers initiative’s certification mechanism. This certification checks if participating organisations are able to apply the volunteer management standards to manage volunteers before and during their deployment. An open call was published in 2015, allowing for ongoing applications until 30 September 2020. By the end of 2020, 370 sending and hosting organisations have been certified (74 sending and 296 hosting organisations), providing opportunities to deploy more EU Aid Volunteers. The chart below shows the number of organisations certified between 2015 and 2020. III.4 Training programme The training programme of the EU Aid Volunteers initiative is based on a competence framework set out in Commission Delegated Regulation 1398/2014 and is delivered using a combined learning approach, with online preparatory learning and face-to-face classroom training including mandatory and optional training modules and a scenario–based exercise.