Sixteen fully funded European Solidarity Corps placements are open right now across 9 countries, and the lives waiting inside them could hardly be more different. You could be restoring a forest castle in the centre of France, running arts and storytelling with Roma children at a daily centre in Romania, teaching circus and acrobatics at a movement centre in Estonia, supporting older people through a humanitarian charity in a small Serbian town, farming organically in the green hills of Galicia, or standing up for refugee rights at a European coordinating office in Brussels. From collective living in rural France to communication work for an Alpine environmental NGO in Liechtenstein, this is one of the widest ranges of volunteering life we have gathered in a single post.
Every one of these sixteen placements is a European Solidarity Corps opportunity, which means the funding is real: travel within the usual distance bands, accommodation, food, local transport, insurance, pocket money, a mentor and language support are all covered, for volunteers aged 18 to 30. A few carry eligibility rules that limit them to residents of a specific country, and those are flagged below so you do not fall for one you cannot take. Ten of the sixteen are marked "as soon as possible," so they can close the moment enough good applications arrive, while the rest run from late July all the way into 2028.
What's in this batch:
16 Fully Funded ESC Volunteering Placements · 9 Countries · Deadlines from "As Soon As Possible" into 2028
🩷 ESC Volunteering Opportunities
🇫🇷 France: Collective Living and Renovation at a Rural Centre 🏡
📅 Deadline: As soon as possible
Move into a big house with a vegetable garden in a small village in eastern France and make it your home for a few months. As part of a non formal education movement built on solidarity and collective living, you will renovate the buildings, garden, organise and take part in cultural events and workshops, share the everyday running of the house from cooking to cleaning, host groups and individuals, and even lead summer workcamps with training provided. No specific skills needed, just a love of manual work, nature and community life. Open to applicants from 🇮🇹 🇩🇪 🇵🇹 🇱🇻 🇮🇸 and 23 more. A whole house, and a whole way of living together.
🇷🇸 Serbia: Community Engagement and Humanitarian Aid for Older People 🤝
📅 Deadline: As soon as possible
Join a charity in a small Serbian town that provides home care for older adults, runs a second hand shop and computer classes, and distributes humanitarian aid to around two hundred people every month. Your role is all about connection: raising community awareness, strengthening local relationships, supporting the daily distribution of food, clothing and essentials for vulnerable and homeless people, and documenting the process. You will also join field activities for older people, from creative workshops to doctor visits and computer courses. Open to applicants from 🇮🇹 🇩🇪 🇵🇹 🇹🇷 🇲🇰 and 26 more. Aid work measured in real relationships.
🇫🇷 France: Restoring a Castle and Collective Living in Nature 🏰
📅 Deadline: As soon as possible
Home for a few months is a castle with two small towers, a farmyard, a vegetable garden and workshops, surrounded by forest in the centre of France. Sharing a room with others, you help with building renovation, gardening, the collective life of cooking and cleaning, hosting groups mostly in summer, and leading summer workcamps with training provided. It is a genuinely isolated place, six kilometres from the nearest village with shops, so committing to shared daily life is the heart of the experience. Open to applicants from 🇮🇹 🇩🇪 🇵🇹 🇱🇻 🇮🇸 and 22 more. Yes, an actual castle, forest included.
📋 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 →
🇷🇴 Romania: Arts and Storytelling with Disadvantaged Children 🎭
📅 Deadline: As soon as possible
At a daily centre giving disadvantaged children a safe space, most of them from the Roma community, this placement is all about art. You will assist with theatre based activities, prepare visual art classes, explore music through rhythm, melody and group play, and run storytelling and creative writing sessions that boost imagination and language skills. A big part of the role is gently encouraging shy or hesitant kids so they feel comfortable, helping with homework, and keeping the space supportive and inclusive. Open to applicants from 🇮🇹 🇩🇪 🇵🇱 🇲🇩 🇺🇦 and 23 more. Art as the way in for kids who need one.
🇫🇷 France: Collective Living and Renovation in the Countryside 🌿
📅 Deadline: As soon as possible
Share a house with around three other volunteers, part of a non formal education movement built on solidarity and collective living. Your days mix renovation of the building, settling the outdoor spaces, and organising the daily life of the place, plus real involvement in the local community: promoting the organisation, joining local events and meeting all sorts of people. In summer you help lead international workcamps for young volunteers and work on promoting volunteering. Living together with respect for everyone is one of the core objectives. Open to applicants from 🇮🇹 🇵🇹 🇪🇸 🇱🇻 🇮🇪 and 21 more. A smaller house, the same shared spirit.
🇷🇴 Romania: Handcrafts and Creativity with Disadvantaged Children ✂️
📅 Deadline: As soon as possible
At the same kind of daily centre for disadvantaged children, most from the Roma community, this placement centres on handcrafts. You will plan craft activities that grow fine motor skills, patience and self expression, weave in themes of social inclusion and cultural awareness, and encourage teamwork among the children. Alongside the crafts you help develop problem solving abilities, support homework, and keep the environment warm and inclusive. Open to applicants from 🇮🇹 🇩🇪 🇵🇹 🇱🇻 🇲🇩 and 23 more. Small hands, real skills, steady patience.
✍️ Last minute motivation letter? Here's how to write one that actually gets read, and remembered. Read the guide →
🇫🇷 France: European Awareness and Language Learning at a Middle School 🏫
📅 Deadline: As soon as possible
Support a middle school of 350 pupils aged 11 to 14 in the Champagne region to open up their view of Europe. You will help run educational projects that raise European awareness and support foreign language learning, like a European week, pitch in over the summer for a smooth start to the school year, and can propose your own clubs around languages, culture or activities of your own design. You will likely work as part of a team with other French volunteers, with plenty of room to take initiative. Open to applicants from 🇮🇹 🇩🇪 🇵🇹 🇱🇻 🇺🇦 and 21 more. Bring Europe to a classroom in Champagne.
🇷🇴 Romania: Social Media and Support for Disadvantaged Children 📱
📅 Deadline: As soon as possible
A daily centre offering disadvantaged children a safe space, with non formal activities, homework help and a warm meal every day, most of them from the Roma community. Your role puts social media at the heart of it: creating pictures and posts for the centre's platforms, promoting events, managing community interactions and gathering stories and visuals with the staff. You will also propose digitalisation activities for the kids and help with their homework. Open to applicants from 🇮🇹 🇩🇪 🇵🇱 🇱🇻 🇺🇦 and 24 more. Tell the story of a place that changes lives.
🇪🇸 Spain: Organic Farming and Environmental Awareness 🌱
📅 Deadline: As soon as possible
A short summer placement in Galicia built around nature and community. Your days mix organic farming, afforestation and environmental awareness activities with youth fair events, guided visits, intercultural gatherings, community based non formal education and space for your own creative personal projects. A hands on, open air experience for anyone drawn to environmental work, youth activities and local community life. ⚠️ Open to residents of Türkiye. Green Galicia, hands in the soil.
💡 What do organisations actually look for in an ESC volunteer? Skills, values, attitude, what makes a strong profile. Read the guide →
🇷🇴 Romania: Sport and Movement with Disadvantaged Children ⚽
📅 Deadline: As soon as possible
At a daily centre giving disadvantaged children a safe space, most from the Roma community, this placement is built around sport and movement to support their mental, physical and emotional development. You will organise sports and dance activities indoors and outdoors, adapt them to different skill levels, keep everything inclusive, and track the children's progress, all while nurturing wellbeing and social skills like teamwork and communication. You also help with homework and keep the environment supportive. Open to applicants from 🇮🇹 🇩🇪 🇵🇹 🇫🇷 🇺🇦 and 24 more. Movement as medicine, and as joy.
🇮🇹 Italy: Activities with People with Disabilities 🤲
📅 Deadline: 24 July 2026
A volunteering placement centred on playful and educational activities with children and adults living with physical, cognitive or sensory limitations. It is a chance to grow in social work and the promotion of inclusion, in a supportive international setting where all expenses are covered and you receive an Italian language course and task specific training. No previous experience needed, only genuine motivation to take part in an international volunteering project. ⚠️ Open to residents of Portugal. Inclusion work, fully supported from day one.
🇩🇪 Germany: Montessori Kindergarten Care 🧸
📅 Deadline: 25 July 2026
Work in a daycare centre with one nursery group and two kindergarten groups, caring for children from age one until they start school. Strongly shaped by Montessori pedagogy and the principle "help me to do it myself", the centre has run language development programmes since 2012 with a dedicated specialist. As a volunteer you join the everyday life of the groups and support the children's learning and growth in a warm setting built on the idea that "I, you, we, everyone is important". Open to applicants from 🇮🇹 🇫🇷 🇵🇹 🇱🇻 🇺🇦 and 25 more. Gentle days, guided by a gentle method.
🗺️ 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 →
🇪🇪 Estonia: Circus and Acrobatics at a Movement Centre 🤸
📅 Deadline: 10 August 2026
For over fifteen years this non profit has been bringing children, young people and adults into contemporary circus and the performing arts, growing independence and creativity through dance, circus, acrobatics, acting and music. Your time splits between assisting the instructors during circus and acrobatics training and office work shaped around your interests, but most of it is spent in the gym itself. You can also pour your energy into choreography, costume making, social media and visual content. A warm, friendly team where you learn by trying the moves yourself. ⚠️ Open to residents of Italy. Run away to the circus, officially.
🇱🇮 Liechtenstein: Communication for an Alpine Environmental NGO 🏔️
📅 Deadline: 31 October 2026
See how an international environmental NGO really works, from the inside. This non profit umbrella organisation spans seven Alpine countries and a network of over a hundred associations, all committed to protecting the Alps and their sustainable development. As a volunteer you work in that international setting on sustainable development, supporting the communication work across social media, website and newsletter, and backing the project managers on Alpine wide projects. A focused role for anyone genuinely drawn to the mountains and their future. Open to applicants from 🇦🇹 🇫🇷 🇩🇪 🇮🇹 🇸🇮. The Alps themselves as your cause.
🇮🇹 Italy: Advocacy for Forcibly Displaced People 🌍
📅 Deadline: 31 December 2027
Step into the advocacy unit of an international refugee organisation, where the work is about empowering forcibly displaced people to claim their rights and pushing for sustainable solutions. Working closely with the head of the unit, you will help update the unit's capacity building materials and organise the meetings and workshops that carry the global advocacy strategy forward. Expect to build real skills: creating, revising and presenting training materials across different media, drafting professional communications and reports, coordination, research and analysis, and a sharper read on the factors that shape advocacy. ⚠️ Open to residents of Belgium. Advocacy skills that travel anywhere.
🇧🇪 Belgium: Advocacy and Communication for Refugee Rights 🤝
📅 Deadline: 31 May 2028
Work at the European coordinating office of a refugee network and take a stand against rising populism, nationalism and anti immigration sentiment. Choose the unit that fits you: Programmes and Fundraising, where you learn to research a topic, take a programme from concept to implementation and write grant applications; Communication, where you use storytelling to advocate for the rights of refugees and migrants across a European network; or Advocacy, where you experience lobbying with European public institutions and NGO networks. Open to applicants from 🇧🇦 🇭🇺 🇵🇹 🇷🇸 🇺🇦 and 10 more. Refugee rights, at the European level.
Sixteen placements, nine countries, one shared promise: your travel, housing, food, insurance and pocket money are covered, so all you bring is yourself. Their characters pull in every direction. Four are built around children, above all the Roma children's centres in Romania where you can lead through art, crafts, sport or social media, and the Montessori kindergarten in Germany. Four are built around collective living in rural France, from a forest castle to a village house you help renovate and run. Others put you at the heart of a cause: humanitarian aid for older people in Serbia, organic farming in Galicia, refugee advocacy in Italy and Belgium, and communication for an Alpine NGO in Liechtenstein, with contemporary circus in Estonia for good measure. A handful are limited to residents of a specific country, so check those before you fall in love with them. Ten are open right now on a rolling basis and will close as soon as they fill, while the rest run from late July into 2028. Find the one that sounds like your next year, and get your application in while the place is still there.
