Are you aged 17-30 and willing to spend from 2 weeks to 12 months abroad as an EVS Volunteer? Are you based in Armenia? Are you interested to volunteer abroad and make the world a better place? If yes, EVS is for you!

There are a number of websites that will allow you to search for vacancies within the EVS programme.  These include:

1. Database of volunteering projects is the Database of project at the European Youth Portal. We recommend that you first use this database to find projects that you might be interested in.

2. EVS organizations Database is the Database of accredited EVS sending, hosting and coordinating organizations. It lists all valid accredited host organisations (several thousand of them) but does not give you any indication whether there is a vacancy in any of them. Click on the organisation to see more information about them. You can contact individual organisations to say you’re interested in volunteering with them – but please bear in mind that some of those listed may not currently have a project looking for new volunteers. After your contact them you wait till the organisation is coming back to you. Unfortunately this system does not work as well as it could and very often volunteers report that they have not received any response from organisations. Anyway, the database is worth exploring.

3. EVS with APY is a Facebook group for all those young people in Armenia who are interested to volunteer in Europe. Having a large network of international partners, APY itself offers EVS placements all around the Europe. Join the group and stay tuned.

4. European Commission’s official EVS web-site: In this web-site you can find all the important information and recourses related to EVS. Here you can learn about the EVS core values and quality standards as well as check the eligibility criteria and other technical aspects of EVS.

5. YouthNetworks! is an independent search database that is much smaller but much more up-to-date. Volunteers and organisations can register their details on this site and it is possible for both groups to search for partners for their EVS projects. In other words it is possible for volunteers to search for available placements and also it is possible for organisations to search for volunteers who are available to come to their project. The goal of YouthNetworks is to make youth work easier and more efficient. It is an online network based on the needs of international youth organisations.

An EVS project is comprised of three partners:
1. Host organisation – where you will spend your EVS
2. Sending organisation – a support organisation in Armenia that will help you before, during and after your project. APY is a recognised sending organisation.
3. Volunteer –that’s you!

In most cases, once you have found a project that you would like to volunteer with and if they have agreed to host you then the hosting organization and the sending organization will make an application to a National Agency (usually in the country of the hosting organization). There are different deadlines each year and, if the project is approved, you can start to volunteer 3 months after each deadline.  For example if you want to start your placement in December then you will have to apply by the 1st September deadline. This really means that you should begin to plan your EVS project as early as possible so that you have the best chance of being accepted by an organization that you are interested in.

Residents of Armenia can volunteer only in the countries of the European Union as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Turkey. You can apply for volunteer placements in any country of the European Union although there are different methods of application depending on where it is you would like to volunteer.