How to initiate an EVS project? For a volunteer In most cases, volunteers themselves take the initiative by contacting sending and sometimes host organizations. The first step is to find a sending organization and together consult the databases of approved host organizations available on the Internet. Volunteers can also contact a sending organization which has already established contact with a host organization.

For a sending organization A sending organization can consult the databases of host organizations, which can be accessed by various means. It can also re-establish contact with partners with whom it has collaborated before, provided that they are already approved as EVS host organizations.

For a host organization

Before approval as a host organization

All host organizations must be approved by the European Commission independent of the project format, application level or geographic dimension. As a first step, the host organization fills in the Host Expression of Interest form and submits it to the National Agency (please check with your National Agency regarding when to submit your expression of interest). Host Expressions of Interest (HEIs) have the double aim of ensuring the quality of EVS projects and facilitating partner finding. If an organization's Host Expression of Interest is approved, it is included in the Internet database of approved host organizations and the host organization can start to look for a sending organization and a volunteer. Please note that an approved Host Expression of Interest is valid for a maximum of three years, and not just for a single project. It does not automatically guarantee that any subsequent project application/s will be approved for funding.
 
After approval as a host organization

Potential volunteers and sending organizations can consult the host organization database, where all project descriptions are recorded. A host organization may be contacted at any time by anyone seeking to establish a partnership. If the host organization already has a partner and has specified this in its expression of interest, this will be indicated in the database. Ideally, host organizations should answer potential sending organizations or volunteers within a month

Host organizations can also take the initiative and contact organizations which they already know or with which they have already cooperated, for example in connection with other European programs or other activities.

How to apply?

After a partnership has been established, the sending and approved host organizations should prepare their respective applications for funding, completing the application forms together. They should send them to the National Agencies in the sending and host countries by the deadlines indicated in section B.5. Volunteers should be involved in the preparation of the applications as much as possible, allowing them to influence the content of the project.

Projects can go ahead only when both the sending and the host National Agencies have approved the applications for funding. The partners will receive funding directly from their National Agency and will be responsible for all contractual and reporting obligations for their own part of the project.