Brussels, 10/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - The first-ever call for proposals for the deployment, next year, of humanitarian volunteers of the EU in third countries was published by the European Commission on Wednesday 9 September.
350 junior and senior professionals wishing to take part in the “EU Aid Volunteers” initiative, are sought. This standard of European solidarity to the increasing numbers of victims of natural or human disasters was formally set up in March 2014 to support and reinforce the EU's humanitarian aid operations throughout the world (see EUROPE 11041).
The call is open to specialist humanitarian aid, civil protection and volunteer management organisations, which must be certified prior to their application.
The chosen volunteers will be responsible for reinforcing the resilience and management of disasters in vulnerable, fragile countries or those hit by disasters or crises which are no longer in the public eye. The European Commission hopes that more than 300 local organisations and communities will benefit from the support and expertise of these volunteers.
“We have a collective responsibility to help and to show our solidarity with the people who suffer most. This is why we created the EU Aid Volunteers”, said the EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Christos Stylianides.
The deployment of these professionals, which is expected to start in 2016, will take over from pilot projects carried out over four years. On 10 and 11 September, the Commission is holding a conference in Brussels to celebrate the end of this pilot phase with its very first apprentice volunteers together with the host organisations. (Aminata Niang)