REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL Annual Report on the Implementation of the EU Aid Volunteers Initiative in 2020
Date: 2021-07-19
Institutions: Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, European Commission
Subjects: EU aid, EU initiative, activity report, aid evaluation, coronavirus disease, epidemic, humanitarian aid, man-made disaster, natural disaster, third country

EN 

  EN 

   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 20141. 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 375/20142,  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 online3. 

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 initiative4 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 
Commission5. 

1  Regulation (EU) No 375/2014 of the European Parliament and of the  Council of 3 April 2014 establishing 
the  European  Voluntary  Humanitarian  Aid  Corps  (‘EU  Aid  Volunteers  initiative’)  (OJ  L  122,  24.4.2014, 
p. 1).  Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  No 1398/2014  of  24 October  2014  laying  down  standards 
regarding  candidate  volunteers  and  EU  Aid  Volunteers  (OJ  L  373,  31.12.2014,  p.  8).  Commission 
Implementing  Regulation  (EU)  No 1244/2014  of  20  November  2014  laying  down  rules  for  the 
implementation of Regulation (EU) No 375/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 April 
2014 establishing the European Voluntary Humanitarian  Aid Corps (‘EU Aid Volunteers initiative’) (OJ L 
334, 21.11.2014, p. 52). 
2  OJ L 122, 24.4.2014, p. 1-17. 
3  http://ec.europa.eu/echo/who/accountability/annual-reports_en 
4    Commission Implementing Decision C (2020)59 of 13.1.2020 on the financing of the EU Aid Volunteers 

initiative and the adoption of the work programme for 2020. 

5  The division of tasks between the Commission and EACEA is based on Commission Decision C (2013)9189 
of 18.12.2013 delegating powers to the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency with view to 

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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 
the  website: 
https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/echo/eu-aid-volunteers_en/.  

type  of  projects  and  organisations 

involved  can  be  found  on 

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. 

performance  of  tasks  linked  to  the  implementation  of  Union  programmes  in  the  field  of  education, 
audiovisual and culture comprising, in particular, implementation of appropriations entered in the general 
budget of the Union and of the EDF allocations. 

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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  projects6  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 
20207.  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. 

Number of certified Sending and Hosting 
Organisations per year 

370 

62 

63 

63 

74 

88 

20 

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

Total

400

300

200

100

0

6  Article 10 and 15 of Regulation (EU) No 375/2014. 
7 

https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/sites/eacea-site/files/certification-call-announcement-012115.pdf 

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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 exercise8. 

Due to the expiration of the previous framework contract in spring 2020, a new call for tender 
had been launched in 2019 and the new framework contract was signed in June 2020 with a 
consortium of training providers led by the company ICF. 

The first and only cycle of the EU Aid Volunteers training in 2020 took place from 17 to 29 
February in Pisa, Italy and was organised by Scuola Universitaria Superiore Pisa, Sant’Anna, 
a  partner  in  the  training  consortium.  Fifty-four  candidate  volunteers  (junior  and  senior,  10 
men and 44 women) were trained divided in three groups. The courses were taught in English 
and all candidate volunteers passed the training successfully. 

The training activities were afterwards put on hold. It was initially hoped to resume the face-
to-face  training  in  September  2020,  but  the  training  had  to  be  cancelled  due  to  lockdowns, 
travel  restrictions  and  quarantine  requirements  in  many  EU  Member  States.  Given  that  the 
deployment call 2020 was cancelled there is no need to train 600 new candidate volunteers in 
2021 and 2022. From the total training foreseen for 1 200 candidate volunteers resulting from 
the calls 2019 and 2020, it is still foreseen to  train the remaining volunteers from  the 2019 
deployment call at the end of 2021 if the situation allows.  

IV. Support measures 

The  support  measures  budget  covers  communication  and  visibility  activities  and  the 
maintenance  and  helpdesk  of  the  EU  Aid  Volunteers  Platform.  In  2020  it  also  covered 
exceptionally an ex-post evaluation study. 

A volunteering event was planned for spring 2020, but the event had to be cancelled. Other 
planned  promotional  activities  to  accompany  the  publication  of  volunteering  vacancies  and 
the  organisation  of  further  outreach  could  also  not  take  place  because  major  events  (for 
example  the  European  Development  Days)  were  cancelled  and  the  publication  of 
volunteering vacancies was put on hold. Three newsletters providing updates on the situation 
of  volunteers  and  the  continuation  of  the  programme  were  published  on  the  Commission’s 
website and sent to the distribution list (February, May and December 2020).  

In  2020,  ninety  new  stories  from  the  field  were  published  on  the  EU  Aid  Volunteers 
Platform. The Platform will continue to be used in 2021 for the publication of volunteering 
vacancies and stories until other tools may be developed under the European Solidarity Corps 
(https://europa.eu/youth/euaidvolunteers_en).  

Article  27  of  Regulation  375/2014  foresees  that  the  Commission  has  to  present  an  ex-post 
evaluation report to the European Parliament and to the Council on the implementation of the 
EU Aid Volunteers initiative for the seven-year financial period of implementation  no later 

8  Annex II to Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1244/2014. 

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than 31 December 2021. A contractor to carry out an evaluation study was selected in spring 
2020 and the work started in  August  2020. The  draft  final  report was received in February 
2021 and will feed into the drafting of the ex-post evaluation report.  

V. Conclusions and way forward 

The implementation of the EU Aid Volunteers had to be put on hold abruptly in spring 2020 
due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the uncertainties with regard to travel 
possibilities and working conditions only very few deployments continued and many of them 
were  carried  out  remotely.  Travel  restrictions,  quarantine  requirements  and  lack  of  testing 
capacities impeded the organisation of face-to-face trainings in a cost-effective and safe way. 

By  the  end  of  2020  trainings  had  not  resumed  and  uncertainty  linked  to  the  effects  of  the 
ongoing  pandemic  persisted  so  that  no  new  activities  had  been  planned.  The  2020  call  for 
proposals for deployment was therefore cancelled so that only EU Aid Volunteers of projects 
selected in 2018 and 2019 continued to carry out some activities. Overall, from the allocted 
2020  budget,  EUR  16.9  million  in  commitment  appropriations  and  EUR  14.2  million  in 
payment  appropriations  could  not  be  used  and  were  transferred  to  other  programmes  in 
Heading 4 of the EU budget.    

Since  the  launch  of  the  initiative,  370  organisations  were  certified.  A  number  of  these 
organisations were re-certified for another three years and this process will continue in 2021 
for  organisations  that  were  awarded  certification  in  2018  and  are  still  active  in  deployment 
projects.  The  call  for  certification  expired  in  September  2020  and  new  applications  for  a 
quality label under the European Solidarity Corps will be possible in 2021. 

In December 2020 a political agreement was reached between the legislators on the renewed 
European  Solidarity  Corps  legislation  that  will  also  include  a  humanitarian  aid  strand  and 
replace the EU Aid Volunteers initiative from 2021. 

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