Webinar Youth Volunteering & Preparedness

The two interconnected webinars will focus on the topic of preparedness and what this new priority means for our youth and volunteering programmes.  
While the webinars are interconnected, participants may attend Webinar 1 as a standalone session. Participation in Webinar 1 is recommended in order to fully benefit from Webinar 2.

Webinar 1: The contribution of youth volunteering to Resilience and the European Preparedness Strategy

Date: 22nd of January from 14.30 – 16.00 CET

Aim: To create a common understanding of the preparedness priority and why it matters in youth programmes. What does this new priority mean for the European Solidarity Corps and how can volunteer organisations and civil protection organisations mutually support each other in the future.

Key Questions:

• Why is preparedness relevant for youth programmes today?
• What does preparedness concretely mean within the Solidarity Corps framework?
• How can volunteering contribute without becoming emergency response?
• What can youth and civil protection actors learn from each other?

Webinar 2: Youth Volunteering and Civil Protection: Practices & opportunities within the European Solidarity Corps

Date: 19th of February from 14.30 - 16.00 CET

Aim: To support organisations in translating ideas into eligible, high-quality projects under the European Solidarity Corps. The 2nd webinar focuses on technical procedures, cooperation models, and programme requirements.

Key Topics

• How civil protection and youth organisations can cooperate in Solidarity Corps projects
• Preparedness-focused project design (roles, activities, safeguards)
• Quality Label (QL) access as a main requirement
• Application and implementation aspects
• Common pitfalls and good practice

This webinar series aims to bring together important players to contribute to population preparedness: organisations experienced in youth volunteering / European Solidarity Corps and actors with experience in civil protection and preparedness. 

By fostering mutual understanding, showcasing practice and clarifying programme requirements, the series supports a whole-of-society approach to preparedness and potentially opens doors to cross-sector cooperation.

Main Objectives of the webinar series

• Raise awareness of preparedness and resilience as a new priority within EU youth programmes, esp. for the Solidarity Corps actions "Solidarity Projects and Volunteering Teams in High Priority Areas".
• Create a shared understanding between youth volunteering and civil protection actors.
• Showcase how ESC projects already contribute to preparedness in meaningful, non-emergency roles.
• Explore future potential for cooperation and project development.

Target Groups (across both webinars):

• Solidarity Corps organisations (programme beneficiaries and multipliers)
• Civil protection organisations interested in youth engagement, (organisations with experience in preparedness/resilience but little or no Solidarity Corps experience) 
• National Agencies interested in supporting organisations contributing to the new priority
• Interested stakeholders and experts related to the topic
• Everybody who is interested to learn more about the contribution of youth volunteering to the new European priority of preparedness.