Over the past year, we at YesEuropa have been working together with our partners from Rapatac (Sweden) on INVOLVE+, an Erasmus+ KA210-YOU project funded by the European Union aimed at strengthening the capacity of youth organisations and professionals who manage international volunteering projects.
International volunteering programmes such as Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps (ESC) offer powerful opportunities for young people to travel, learn, and contribute to communities across borders. Behind every successful volunteer experience, however, there are organisations, coordinators, mentors and youth workers who dedicate time and effort to making these opportunities possible. Through the INVOLVE+ project, we wanted to take a closer look at this reality: understanding the challenges organisations face, identifying good practices, and exploring how we can support the sector more effectively.

One of the most meaningful aspects of this project has been the collaboration between organisations from different countries. At YesEuropa, we have had the opportunity to work closely with Rapatac, an organisation based in Sweden, combining our perspectives, experiences and approaches to volunteering. This kind of international cooperation is essential in the youth and volunteering sector. When organisations from different contexts come together, they create spaces to learn from each other, question existing practices and develop new ideas. In many ways, this collaboration has been the heart of the project.
Meeting in person has played an important role in strengthening this partnership. In February last year, our team travelled to Sweden for the first Transnational Project Meeting, where we started shaping the research phase and exchanging experiences about how our organisations work with volunteers. This year, in February, we had the pleasure of welcoming the Rapatac team to Madrid, where we continued the conversation and worked together on the next steps of the project. These meetings are always valuable opportunities to reflect, share perspectives and build stronger connections between organisations.

A central part of INVOLVE+ has been its research phase, which aimed to better understand the realities of organisations working with international volunteers across Europe. Over the past months, we gathered insights from around 50 sending and hosting organisations through an online survey. We also organised four focus groups between October and December 2025, creating spaces for discussion and collective reflection among professionals working in the field. In addition, we conducted six individual interviews with people directly involved in managing volunteer projects.
Through these conversations, organisations shared their experiences regarding volunteer recruitment, mentoring systems, communication between partners, administrative challenges and the growing need to support volunteers’ emotional wellbeing. The research also highlighted the importance of creating inclusive opportunities for young people with fewer opportunities, as well as the need for clearer preparation processes before volunteers begin their mobility.
Another interesting topic that emerged during the discussions was the growing presence of AI tools in volunteer applications, which is already influencing how organisations approach recruitment and motivation letters. At the same time, many organisations shared inspiring practices that help create meaningful volunteer experiences, such as peer-to-peer involvement of former volunteers in selection processes, structured reflection activities, and community events that help volunteers integrate into their host environments.

All these insights are now guiding the next phase of the project. Together with Rapatac, we will continue working on developing practical resources for organisations managing international volunteering projects. Among the upcoming results of INVOLVE+ will be the creation of a practical guide on the management of international volunteer projects, covering the entire process from preparation to evaluation. The project will also include the production of 12 podcast episodes exploring international volunteering from both hosting and sending organisations’ perspectives.
For us at YesEuropa, this project has been a valuable opportunity not only to conduct research, but also to strengthen cooperation with partners across Europe and reflect on the future of volunteering. Working together with organisations from different countries allows us to better understand the sector and develop tools that can support youth organisations and volunteers alike.
As the project continues to develop, we look forward to sharing the next results and resources with the wider volunteering community.