ESC sending

European Voluntary Service (EVS) is a European program that allows you to take part in full time voluntary service in a country different from your country of origin. Consult our list of open EVS positions. As well as hosting European citizens here in Portugal on the EVS programme, we also act as a sending organisation for Portuguese EVS participants. To visit the Portuguese version of this website, please click on the flag on the top right corner of the page.

Information provided on this page is directed at young people interested in participating in EVS abroad. If you are representative of an organization / institution interested in hosting foreign EVS volunteers in Portugal, visit the sub-page EVS hosting and coordinating.

EVS objectives
The main objectives of this youth mobility Erasmus+ action are developing skills and improving the employability perspective, as well as discovering new cultures and a sense of belonging to Europe.

Participation conditions
– Aged 17-30
– To be a legal resident of the country of the Sending Organisation

What EVS offers to the volunteer
– Round trip (according to mileage system) to the place where voluntary project will take place;
– Accommodation and food
– Transportation from the place of residence to the place of volunteering;
– Pocket money
– Language training of the host country
– Health insurance

EVS duration
From 6 to 12 months (there are also shorter projects, but they’re less common).
Throughout the process is mandatory to have at least 3 parts:
– Volunteer
– accredited Sending Organization.
– accredited Host Organization.

Spin is a Sending, Hosting and Coordinating Organization accredited by the National Agency for Erasmus+.

Pre-departure steps**

1. Get to know Spin Association! Getting to know our volunteers is really important to us! You can visit our web page or make an appointment for a virtual session (Skype, MSN). Become our member!
2. Prepare your CV and your motivation letter in English and fill in our EVS application form.
3. Look at European database of accredited organization and on our list of vacancies for projects which are the most interesting and the most adapted to your motivation. We recommend you to choose more than one project in order to increase the chances of success of your application.
4. Contact Spin once again and send us all the documents mentioned above, along with the proof of membership fee payment, so we can prepare your presentation e-mail.
5. Send your application to all organizations that you chose! During this phase of contact with the hosting organizations, you will also receive e-mails from Spin with information about projects abroad with vacancies to which you can send your application to. These recommended vacancies will be related to your profile.
6. In case you are selected by one of the hosting organizations, Spin and this organization will come into contact to prepare the formal application of the project. This will be presented to the National Agency for the Erasmus+ Programme for one of 3 deadlines*** established throughout the year.
7. The National Agency communicates to the associations the approval or not of the submitted project. If the application result is positive, Spin informs you and invites you for pre-departure preparation. If it is not approved, it can be reformulated and presented once again at the next deadline.

Attention:
* This process of application and approval can be lengthy. So you must be prepared to wait that time before leaving for your voluntary project. But don’t loose your motivation, it’s really worth waiting for!
** We advise you to prepare your CV according to the Europass format. Here you will find all the information about this format (including examples of CVs in various languages). To change the language of the website, use the list at the top on the right side.
*** Deadlines for the application of projects to the National Agency are:

For more information and registration
Call us or write us to sve@a-spin.pt.