From strengthening historical memory and human-rights work in Peru and learning the ranger's trade at a Croatian nature-park visitor centre, to producing 4,000 clay bricks to build a sustainable school in France, monitoring and ringing birds in one of Spain's most important wetlands, working backstage at a southern German open-air theatre, and living inside an Italian youth shelter for unaccompanied minors — this batch of 17 ESC placements spans 10 countries and reaches from the Alps to the Andes.
Almost all are fully funded — flight, accommodation, food, monthly pocket money and insurance — with one Italian mountain placement the exception, where travel, visa and insurance are not covered and it is aimed at local (Italy-resident) volunteers. Deadlines run from 20 to 31 July 2026.
What's in this batch:
17 ESC Volunteering Placements · 10 Countries · Deadlines 20–31 July 2026
🌱 ESC Volunteering Opportunities
🇮🇹 Italy — Green Maintenance and Lake Shore Care in the Mountains 🚣
📅 Deadline: 20 July 2026
A mountain cooperative working on science communication and public engagement needs hands for its green maintenance and the cleaning of the lake shores at an ecomuseum. Alongside that come cooking, keeping the shared spaces in order, and promoting the programme with photos and videos. The other half of the deal is what you get to try: rafting, bike rides, a flight approach tutorial, ceramics and craft, drum circle, yoga and more. ⚠️ Travel, visa and insurance costs NOT included. Open to residents of Italy — for a local mover who wants the mountains and the drum circle.
🇮🇹 Italy — Animal Sanctuary and Dog Shelter Care 🐖
📅 Deadline: 20 July 2026
An animal welfare project dedicated to giving a second chance to animals in need, split across two parts: a sanctuary for rescued farm animals, and a shelter for dogs needing medical assistance and living with chronic health issues. The sanctuary takes in animals usually considered food that have been rescued, freed or saved from exploitation and suffering, and it asks no questions about their origins and keeps no economic relationship with anyone who trades animals as commodities. If you love animals, are ready to get your hands dirty, get up early and do the physical work, you belong here. Open to applicants from 🇨🇾 🇭🇷 🇮🇸 🇱🇮 🇲🇹 and 24 more — a sanctuary built entirely on second chances.
🇮🇹 Italy — Living and Working in a Youth Shelter 🤝
📅 Deadline: 21 July 2026
Split your week across two settings run by a cooperative that has supported children and teenagers since 1985. Three days a week you support a shelter home to around ten young people who have been removed from their families and are currently unaccompanied, and two days a week you support daytime educational centres. Across both you help with workshops, sports, games and socialisation, and with preparing and running the activities. The goal is simple and real: to give these minors safety and empowerment inside a genuine team. You actually live in the shelter, fully immersed in its everyday life. Open to applicants from 🇭🇷 🇫🇮 🇮🇪 🇱🇻 🇵🇹 and 24 more — you don't visit this one, you live it.
📋 New to ESC volunteering? Everything you need to know — how it works, who can apply, what costs are covered — is in one place. Read the complete guide →
🇫🇷 France — Languages and Intercultural Exchange at a High School 🌍
📅 Deadline: 26 July 2026
A high school in the heart of a southern French city, steps from the train station and the amphitheatre, hosts two volunteers who work together across the school year. The aim is intercultural exchange between the volunteers and the pupils, so you become a real player in the education side: designing and running workshops with non-formal learning methods, mostly around European languages, discovering Europe, and actively joining the school's projects like sustainable development. A dynamic team and a genuinely pleasant setting to build something in. Open to residents of Spain — a full school year to open young minds to Europe.
🇪🇸 Spain — Inclusion and European Values at a Primary School 🌍
📅 Deadline: 26 July 2026
A primary school is looking for a volunteer to join its educational community as an active member of the team. You will support the daily life of the centre and help build a positive, inclusive and multicultural learning environment, all with the aim of promoting European values, intercultural exchange and solidarity through education and community participation. Working with teachers and staff across different areas of school life, you support the students and bring your own ideas, skills and cultural background into the mix. Open to applicants from 🇦🇹 🇭🇷 🇫🇮 🇱🇻 🇵🇱 and 24 more — your own background becomes part of the curriculum.
🇭🇷 Croatia — Visitor Centre and Ranger Work in a Nature Park 🦌
📅 Deadline: 27 July 2026
Find out exactly what it takes to work in a nature park. Based at a visitor centre, you will learn beside the professional and ranger service units: everyday tasks, administration, law and regulation for protected and NATURA2000 areas, visitor management, workshops for schools, ranger fieldwork and support to the local population. Along the way you will pick up digital skills like marketing and webpage administration, run events, and build the kind of communication and teamwork that only comes from working with people every single day. Open to applicants from 🇧🇬 🇩🇰 🇫🇮 🇱🇹 🇵🇹 and 21 more — the closest thing to an apprenticeship in conservation.
✍️ Last-minute motivation letter? Here's how to write one that actually gets read — and remembered. Read the guide →
🇧🇬 Bulgaria — Youth Work and Volunteering Promotion at a Youth Centre 🎉
📅 Deadline: 27 July 2026
Get right into the daily life of a youth organisation and a youth centre. You will inform and promote youth activities across the region, popularise volunteering, the European Solidarity Corps and Erasmus+ in schools, NGOs and among young people through info meetings and events, join projects run by the association and the youth centre, support youth initiatives, festivals, cultural and sports events, back the young people of the local youth parliament, and keep the organisation's regular activities going together with local youth. Open to applicants from 🇭🇷 🇫🇷 🇱🇹 🇵🇹 🇹🇷 and 20 more — the connector between a whole region's young people.
🇫🇷 France — Youth Engagement and Ecological Transition Ambassador 🎭
📅 Deadline: 28 July 2026
Become an ambassador for youth engagement and ecological and social transition with a non-formal education association. Run workshops, take part in forums and help develop associative life while joining a Youth Participation project on mental health and empowerment with French and European volunteers. Spend October at an international workcamp in a natural park, then work on a European project with Poland, Italy and Spain exploring how young people can respond to the climate crisis, and co-organise a youth exchange and an open-air cinema season. Open to residents of Italy — a packed year of climate action, forums and open-air cinema.
🇪🇸 Spain — Bird Monitoring and Habitat Restoration in a Wetland 🦅
📅 Deadline: 29 July 2026
Live and work inside one of the continent's most important natural areas, side by side with a team of local volunteers. You will take an active part in scientific bird monitoring programmes, from census work to ringing, and in habitat restoration projects and conservation campaigns across the wetlands and other natural areas. At the ornithological centre you will help run awareness campaigns and environmental education programmes for the local community, and support the staff working with visitors. Short courses in ecology, biology, species identification, ringing and monitoring techniques come with the placement. Open to residents of Italy — real ornithology training in a wetland of continental importance.
💡 What do organisations actually look for in an ESC volunteer? Skills, values, attitude — what makes a strong profile. Read the guide →
🇹🇷 Türkiye — Language Clubs, Handcrafts and Digital Skills for Local Youth 💻
📅 Deadline: 30 July 2026
A district-wide initiative building cultural bridges and strengthening social solidarity by bringing international youth together with the local community. Working out of busy youth centres, you will organise social, cultural and educational activities for local young people, children and disadvantaged groups, plan workshops from language clubs to handcrafts and digital skills, run social cohesion events, and share your own culture with the neighbourhood. Alongside it comes in-house mentorship and practical training in youth work, event planning and digital content creation, plus weekly Turkish lessons. Open to applicants from 🇧🇾 🇨🇿 🇮🇹 🇱🇻 🇲🇰 and 3 more — mentorship and Turkish lessons built right into the role.
🇵🇪 Peru — Historical Memory and Human Rights Work ⚖️
📅 Deadline: 31 July 2026
Work at a human rights organisation defending and promoting rights across Peru, through strategic litigation and by strengthening organisations of women, LGBTIQ+ people, Andean producers and victims of violence. Alongside your mentor, the Legal Team and regional offices you will support commemorative events, expand the Memory Map with information on the victims remembered at each site, build a virtual portfolio of human rights cases so they are easier to access and share, help regional offices raise awareness, and contribute to the strategy that treats historical memory as a live tool for defending human rights today. Open to applicants from 🇭🇷 🇱🇮 🇲🇰 🇲🇹 🇹🇷 and 26 more — memory as a living weapon in the defence of rights.
🇩🇪 Germany — Behind the Scenes at an Open-Air Theatre 🎭
📅 Deadline: 31 July 2026
Ever wanted a look behind the curtain? During the off-season at one of southern Germany's largest open-air theatres, perched on a forested castle hill, you and an international team handle the maintenance and improvement work that keeps the place running: dismantling stage sets, sorting and repairing props, clearing and organising storage and the prop garage, and readying the audience hall for winter. There is painting and general site care too, from pruning trees to raking leaves. Perfect for anyone curious about theatre and happy to work outdoors. Open to applicants from 🇦🇹 🇭🇷 🇫🇮 🇲🇹 🇵🇹 and 25 more — the theatre magic no audience ever sees.
🗺️ Not sure if your country is eligible? The full list of ESC and Erasmus+ programme and partner countries — including many outside the EU. Check eligibility →
🇧🇬 Bulgaria — Human Rights Education through Games and Workshops 🎲
📅 Deadline: 31 July 2026
Passionate about human rights, inclusion and youth work? As one of two volunteers, you will help fight hate speech and discrimination through non-formal education and gamification, facilitating workshops, campaigns, trainings and events that promote human rights, tolerance and solidarity for thousands of young people across the country. You will even use an innovative board game to spark dialogue, critical thinking and empathy. Along the way you build real skills in facilitation, public speaking, intercultural communication and teamwork, with dedicated training in human rights education from experienced trainers. Open to applicants from 🇭🇷 🇫🇮 🇱🇹 🇵🇹 🇺🇦 and 24 more — a board game as a genuine tool against hate.
🇫🇷 France — Bilingual Primary School in the Mountains 🏔️
📅 Deadline: 31 July 2026
A bilingual primary school in the Alps splits its teaching time evenly between French and Italian, and it wants a volunteer to bring multiculturalism, foreign language learning and respect for nature and others into daily school life. You will take part in the everyday running of the school by organising activities for the children, mostly cultural and ecological workshops, and you might team up with the volunteer hosted at the nearby high school to build joint activities. A small mountain town made for anyone who loves hiking, skiing and nature. Open to residents of Italy — teaching kids in the Alps, with the slopes at the weekend.
🇮🇪 Ireland — Nature Protection and Community Living at a Sustainability Centre 🌾
📅 Deadline: 31 July 2026
An organisation in the west of the country brings together people who want to protect nature, pick up useful hands-on skills like gardening, DIY, cooking and crafts, and live together in a spirit of mutual support. Your days are made of concrete activities while you discover a more environmentally respectful way of life: maintaining natural spaces, preserving biodiversity and monitoring wildlife, growing and harvesting fruit and vegetables, cooking and exploring sustainable food, learning practical crafts and object repair, and helping organise community workshops and events. Open to residents of France — a hands-on crash course in living lightly.
🚫 "I'm not qualified enough." "I don't speak the language." Four common ESC myths — and the facts that prove them wrong. Read the facts →
🇫🇷 France — Eco-Construction Workcamp Building a School with Clay Bricks 🧱
📅 Deadline: 31 July 2026
Help build the school of tomorrow, quite literally. Working alongside local residents and municipal staff, you and the team will produce 4,000 eco-friendly clay bricks with traditional low-impact techniques and locally sourced materials, learning every step: preparing the soil, mixing it with water and natural fibres, filling and compacting the moulds, demoulding and drying. Every brick goes into a sustainable school built for future generations. Around the work sits intercultural exchange, shared community life and real teamwork. No technical skills required, only motivation. Open to applicants from 🇨🇾 🇬🇪 🇭🇺 🇮🇸 🇱🇻 and 21 more — 4,000 bricks you make by hand become a real school.
🇬🇪 Georgia — Supporting People with Disabilities at a Day Care Centre ♿
📅 Deadline: 31 July 2026
Support an organisation working for equality and an inclusive society in Georgia's third-largest city. At the day care centre you assist the educators with playing, crafts and activities with the kids, help a local school develop and run new offers, and back the team on public relations and office work, all serving a bigger goal: making the needs and barriers of people with disabilities visible and pushing for a more inclusive society. You will not be alone, another volunteer is already on board and team applications are welcome. Open to residents of Austria and Germany — team applications welcome — bring a friend.
Seventeen ESC placements across 10 countries, stretching from an Alpine bilingual school to human-rights work in the Peruvian Andes. Building a school from 4,000 hand-made clay bricks in France, ringing birds in a Spanish wetland, learning the ranger's trade in a Croatian nature park, working backstage at a German open-air theatre, and living inside an Italian shelter for unaccompanied minors — these are not opportunities you'll see grouped together again.
France leads with four placements — a high school, an ecological-transition ambassador role, an Alpine bilingual school and the clay-brick workcamp — while Italy offers three and Spain and Bulgaria two each. Conservation and human rights run as strong threads: ranger work and bird monitoring on one side, historical-memory work in Peru and human-rights education through board games in Bulgaria on the other. Almost all are fully funded, with the one Italian mountain placement the exception (travel, visa and insurance not covered, aimed at local volunteers). The two Italian roles close first on 20–21 July, and a large group runs to 31 July. Choose yours before the early ones fill.
