The European Solidarity Corps is all about creating new journeys for everyone and the Maltese National Agency specifically aims to reach out to those youth who have never had the opportunity to participate in one of the programmes.
The Corps foresees special measures to help the participation of young people with fewer opportunities. These measures include;
- Inclusion Support: Every young person should be able to participate in a European Solidarity Corps project. Sometimes this might require specific support. In Corps, you can receive further support in terms of reinforced mentorship, validation of your learning outcomes.
- Exceptional Costs: Support for young people with fewer opportunities and with special needs on equal terms as others
- Advance Planning Visit: These visits will help you to build trust, understanding and create a solid partnership between organisations and yourself.
- Several Project formats: You may start your journey with short term volunteering between two weeks and two months. If you are not feeling very comfortable with going abroad, you may try to start your experience in your country of residence rather than going abroad. The European Solidarity Corps provide in-country volunteering, traineeships and employment opportunities. Another opportunity might be to join Volunteering Teams for a shorter period of volunteering experience to expose yourself to an activity before embarking yourself into a more challenging – longer term experience. If you still do not feel comfortable with these options, we can give you the third option : Solidarity Projects! where you can create your own projects and can receive grant for the implementation.
- Mentorship: Every participant under the European Solidarity Corps Programme can benefit from a support of a mentor or a coach.
- Linguistic Support: You will have access to an online linguistic support in long term European Solidarity Corps Volunteering, Jobs and Traineeships projects or you may find yourself in a class where you can learn the local language if it is not provided by the online support.
- Recognition: Every participant in a European Solidarity Corps project is entitled to have a Youthpass certificate. This is just as much a tool to reflect on learning as it is a certificate and can be helpful for you for future employment or studies.
The Inclusion and Diversity Officer’s job is to support you to access the European Solidarity Corps projects and engage with the programme in a meaningful way. If you’d like to find out more about how European Solidarity Corps can help and support you, contact us at eupa@gov.mt