Support measure from SALTO SEE: ESC buddy-support system for 2025

This measure is designed by SALTO SEE to support quality and quantity of volunteering projects within the European Solidarity Corps (ESC) in the Western Balkans (WB). In the first stages it provides capacity building support for the ESC organizations in the WB, followed by a stage aimed at ESC volunteers exchange for those who have conditions fulfilled.

The measure aims to support one of the following two aspects:

enhancing quality in ESC projects
enhancing partnership creation (matching an in-experienced organization from WB with an experienced organization from ESC participating country holding a Quality Label for lead role in the ESC)

The measure addresses the needs of following types of organizations:

Primarily, in-experienced or less experienced organizations from WB, holding a Quality Label for the ESC, which would like to (re)start being active within ESC
experienced organizations holding a Quality Label for lead role from an ESC participating (program) country, which is interested in creating a new partnership with the organisation from WB (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia) for joint volunteering projects.

How does it work and Overview of timeline and phases

The ESC Buddy Support System for 2025 is designed in two stages.

First stage includes only ESC organizations from Western Balkans who have the motivation and conditions fulfilled to start being active in the European solidarity corps.
In the second stage, the organisations from ESC program countries with the lead role are joining the process, with the aim to establish ESC volunteer exchange with ESC from Balkans that prove ready for this.

The measure includes a series of online meetings, kicked-off by the organizing team. Timeframe for the implementation of the measure is February – June 2025 , with the following stages:

Date & Time (CET)	Meeting	For whom?	Stage
13. March, 15:00-17:00	First Online Joint meeting - mapping	Organizations from WB	First stage
17. April, 15:00-17:00	Workshop 1	Organizations from WB	First stage
23. April, 15:00-17:00	Workshop 2	Organizations from WB	First stage
15. May, 15:00-17:00	First Buddies Meeting	Organizations from WB + Lead organisations from ESC program countries	Second stage
May - June	individual work of pairs, according to their own set rhythm		Second stage
26. June, 15:00-17:00	Joint online wrap-up meeting	Organizations from WB + Lead organisations from ESC program countries	Second stage

Conditions

In order for this measure to work, you are asked to involve 2 people from your organisation. One of the two persons involved should be the ESC coordinator in your organization.
In the first stage of the BSS25, the support will be provided to all participating organisations, but the second stage is started only by those organisations which have the conditions fulfilled for exchange of the ESC volunteers.

Stimulation for exchange

The first few pairs that will manage to exchange ESC volunteers latest until the end of August 2025 will be rewarded financially by SALTO SEE , with 300 EUR per each involved partner. The criteria for reward is that the volunteer has arrived in the hosting organization to start the ESC project.

Application process

ESC organizations from Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia) apply by filling in this application form by 5th March.
ESC organisations from program countries with the QL lead role apply by filling in this application form by 5th April.

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