A Solidarity Project is a non-profit solidarity activity initiated, developed and implemented by young people themselves for a period from 2 to 12 months. A Solidarity Project gives a group of minimum five young persons the chance to express solidarity by taking responsibility and committing themselves to bring positive change in their local community. The project should have a clearly identified topic which the group of young people wish to explore together, and which is to be translated into the concrete daily activities of the project and involve all the members of the group. Solidarity Projects should address key challenges within the communities, where relevant including those identified jointly in the border regions and it should also present European added value. Participation in a Solidarity Project is an important non-formal learning experience through which young people can boost their personal, educational, social and civic development. Our guide on what the European Solidarity Corps is introduces the whole programme, and what non-formal education is explains the kind of learning this creates.
Last updated: October 2026.
What is a Solidarity Project for?
A Solidarity Project should clearly refer to the European Solidarity Corps' objectives and principles in particular solidarity. A Solidarity Project could address young people facing situations that make their inclusion in society more difficult, and it could also aim to enable active participation of young people in fostering the culture of preparedness. A Solidarity Project should also consider sustainable and environmental-friendly practices in the planned activities. A Solidarity Project should be directly linked to the local community the young people live in, although some of them can also tackle regional or even national issues. A Solidarity Project should have an impact on the local community by addressing local issues, targeting a specific group or developing local opportunities, particularly in communities located in rural, isolated, marginalised or cross-border areas, but also through involving different actors and developing new partnerships. Together with addressing the local challenges, a Solidarity Project should also demonstrate European added value by addressing priorities identified at European level. A Solidarity Project should reflect a common concern for topics within the European society, such as for example integrating third-country nationals, climate change or active democratic participation. In particular, young people managing the project could absorb in practice the concept of social entrepreneurship by creating new products or services that benefit local community or society in general and address important societal challenges. Participation in managing and implementing a Solidarity Project could be also a first step into self-employment or setting up organisations in the solidarity, non-profit or youth sectors. Our guide on what EU funded volunteering covers sets out the other ways the Union pays for solidarity work, and youth participation activities describes the Erasmus+ Action with a similar spirit.
Who can set up an ESC Solidarity Project?
A Solidarity Project is implemented by a group of minimum 5 young people aged between 18 and 30 years who are legally residing in one and the same EU Member State or a third country associated to the Programme and have registered in the European Solidarity Corps Portal. There is no maximum number of members of the group. Participants must have reached 18 and must not be older than 30 at the start date of the project. The group that will implement the project applies, and one of the young people in the group assumes the role of the legal representative and takes the responsibility of submitting the application. Any public or private body, legally established in an EU Member State or third country associated to the Programme, can apply on behalf of the group that will implement the project. Young people who want to form a group to run a Solidarity Project must be registered in the European Solidarity Corps portal as a first step, in order to apply to a Solidarity Project. A group of young people who plan a Solidarity Project can seek for support from an organisation, which can be any public or private body. The role of the organisation should be administrative, to support the group in the project life-cycle administrative and financial tasks, and it can also offer support and guidance in identifying and documenting learning outcomes. Specifically for groups of young people, as of 2026, the formation of the group needs to be evidenced by a registration form signed between the group members. The signatures on the registration form may have to be officially authenticated, if required by the granting authority, to ensure legal certainty. Existing groups which are already registered in the Organisation Registration System (ORS) also need to upload the signed agreement in their ORS profile to be eligible to apply as informal group of young people for actions under the Call 2026 and onwards. Our guide on who can take part in each European Solidarity Corps activityshows where Solidarity Projects fit among the other activities, the age limits by activity explains how the 18 to 30 range is checked against the project start date, and how to register on the ESC Portal covers the registration each group member needs first.
How long does a Solidarity Project last, and where does it take place?
The duration of a Solidarity Project is 2 to 12 months. The project should take place in the country of the applicant. The activities will take place in the country of residence of the applicant, facilitating in particular the participation of young people who may encounter difficulties to engage in transnational activities. In cases in which the project addresses cross-border challenges, project activities can also take place in cross-border regions of the EU Member States, third countries associated to the Programme and third countries non-associated to the Programme sharing the border with the country of the applicant. Project activities cannot take place in Belarus or on the territory of Russia as recognised by international law. Our guide on which countries can take part lists the eligible countries, and how long an ESC project lasts sets out the durations per activity.
How do you plan and run a Solidarity Project?
A Solidarity Project will typically consist of the following stages: planning, preparation, implementation of the activities, and follow-up, including the evaluation of the activities as well as the sharing of project's results. The group will decide autonomously on the working methods and how the project will be managed. The group will arrange the distribution of tasks and responsibilities, ensure efficient coordination and communication between its members and define the amount of time spent in carrying out the tasks in relation to the goals of the project. Working methods should aim to involve all members of the group through various phases of the project and of activities, that is preparation, implementation and sharing the results, and the phases should be clearly structured with the help of a project's timetable. During the planning phase of the project, the learning goals should be discussed together with the general aims of the project. During the implementation, regular reflection is encouraged and towards the end of the project, the group should consider measures that make the learning outcomes visible. For recognising and validating these learning outcomes it is recommended to use Youthpass and the related learning process reflection. The group should reflect together on measures aimed at the visibility of their project and the visibility of the European Solidarity Corps in general, and the group should also reflect on follow-up measures. In order to make the project and its results more sustainable, the group is expected to carry out a final evaluation. The group should consider the ways of sharing the results of the project and reflect on with who they should be shared.
♿ Inclusion and diversity: The European Solidarity Corps seeks to promote equal opportunities and access, inclusion and fairness. Young people implementing Solidarity Projects should design accessible and inclusive activities, taking into account the needs of participants with fewer opportunities, and special funding for the participation of people with fewer opportunities is available both for the members of the group and the target group.
🌱 Environmental protection, sustainable development and climate action: Solidarity Projects should promote environmentally sustainable and responsible behaviour among participants, raising the awareness about the importance of acting to reduce or compensate for the environmental footprint of activities. Solidarity Projects should be designed and implemented with environmental consciousness by integrating sustainable practices such as reducing waste and recycling, using sustainable means of transportation.
💻 Digital transformation: Groups of young people implementing Solidarity Projects are encouraged to make use of digital tools and learning methods to complement the physical activities and add to the quality of the project.
🗳️ Participation in democratic life: The European Solidarity Corps supports integrating a participatory dimension in Solidarity Projects, offering young people relevant opportunities to actively engage and participate in the conception and implementation of project activities as a pathway to discovering the benefits of active citizenship and participation in democratic life.
Our guide on what Youthpass is explains the certificate that records this learning, dissemination and impactcovers the sharing of results, and inclusion support describes the extra help for young people with fewer opportunities.
What does a coach do in a Solidarity Project?
A coach is a resource person who could have youth work experience to accompany groups of young people and support their participation through different phases of the project. Young people carrying out a Solidarity Project may be supported by coaches. The coach will remain outside the Solidarity Project, so he or she will not be a member of the group and if needed, can come from an organisation applying on behalf of the group. The coach empowers the group of young people in those areas and topics they need support in, so that they can successfully implement the project by themselves, and he or she can play different roles based on the needs of the group. Coaching could be done through regular coaching sessions throughout the project period, punctual trainings on specific topics or a combination of both. As a principle, the coach works with the applying group of young people, not with the target group of the project. The group of young people can use the support of one or several coaches depending on their needs. For example, a coach could be a person to turn to with doubts, questions, conflicts in the group; a trainer to give a workshop on project management; to teach the group certain skills needed for the project; a person supporting and monitoring the learning process. Our guide on your ESC mentor and what they dodescribes the person who supports a volunteer instead, and the role of youth workers explains where that experience comes from.
What does the grant for a Solidarity Project cover?
🧾 Project Management costs: Costs linked to the management and implementation of the project, for example preparation, implementation of activities, evaluation, dissemination and follow-up activities. The contribution is based on a unit cost of 630 EUR per month, based on the duration of the Solidarity Project.
🧭 Coaching costs: Costs linked to the involvement of a coach in the project, as a contribution based on a unit cost per day of work, with a maximum of 12 days. The unit cost is based on the country of the applicant and the working days, and the definition of a working day depends on national legislation of the country of applicant.
💶 Coaching Costs per day: Coaching Costs are 255 EUR per day in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Sweden. Coaching Costs are 227 EUR per day in Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Malta, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain. Coaching Costs are 137 EUR per day in Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania and Türkiye.
✍️ Conditional: The request for financial support to cover coach costs must be motivated in the application form, and the duration of coaching is not linked to the project duration.
♿ Exceptional costs: Costs to support the participation of young people with fewer opportunities who are members of the group implementing the project, and costs to support the participation of people with fewer opportunities who are a target group of the project. Exceptional costs are real costs, 100 % of eligible costs.
⚠️ Conditional for exceptional costs: The requests for financial support to cover exceptional costs must be duly justified and motivated in the application form and approved. The request for financial support to cover exceptional costs for people with fewer opportunities who are a target group of the project should not exceed 7000 EUR per project.
Our guide on what being fully funded means sets out what is and is not paid, and inclusion support covers the extra help.
How do you apply for a Solidarity Project, step by step?
To submit a European Solidarity Corps project application, applicants must follow four steps. Individuals are not entitled to submit project proposals in the framework of the European Solidarity Corps, except for individuals applying on behalf of a group of at least five young people wishing to carry out a Solidarity Project.
1️⃣ Each applicant must be registered. For actions managed by National Agencies, groups of young people involved in the application must register through the Organisation Registration system for Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps and receive an Organisation ID (OID). Our guide on what an OID is and how a group gets one explains the registration in detail.
2️⃣ Check the compliance with the criteria. When developing their project and before applying for EU support, groups of young people must verify that the project respects the following criteria: admissibility, eligibility, exclusion, selection, and award. Applications must be sent no later than the deadline for submitting applications as indicated in the call. The applications must be readable and accessible. Applications must be complete containing all required parts and mandatory annexes, and only clerical errors can be corrected after the submission deadline upon request of the managing agency for duly justified cases. A Declaration on honour signed by the legal representative must be annexed to the application form by using the available template. Eligibility conditions must be fulfilled not only at grant signature, but also throughout project duration. If it appears at implementation or final report stage that these criteria have not been fulfilled or were no longer complied with, the activities carried out may be considered ineligible, and the EU grant initially awarded to the project may have to be returned to the granting authority. An application can be rejected on different grounds, including non-admissibility, non-compliance with the eligibility criteria of the Action, application of sanctions or restrictive measures, insufficient financial capacity, insufficient operational capacity, failure to meet the award criteria, and non-compliance of the proposed project with the principles of non-retroactivity or prohibition of double funding.
3️⃣ Check the financial conditions (only applicable to requests for funding). The majority of grants will be financed in the form of unit costs (simplified forms of grants).
4️⃣ Fill in and submit the application form. Applicants apply to the National Agency of the country where the applicant is legally resident. To request an EU grant under the European Solidarity Corps, applicants must use the specific forms for each Action that are available on the websites of the European Commission, of the National Agencies or of the Executive Agency. Applicants are required to submit their application online to the appropriate National or Executive Agency using the correct electronic form and including all requested annexes. Applications sent by post, courier service, fax or email will not be accepted. For actions managed by the National Agencies, applications, including annexes and, if relevant and required, supporting documents, must be submitted electronically via the application forms available in the Opportunities section of the Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps website. In cases where the applicant has submitted an application to another National Agency than the one in charge for the corresponding call for proposals, the National Agency shall re-direct the application to the correct National Agency.
🗓️ When to apply: Applicants submit their application by the following dates. Applicants have to submit their grant application by 18 February at 12:00 midday Brussels time for projects starting between 1 June and 31 December of the same year. In an optional round, applicants have to submit their grant application by 7 May at 12:00 midday Brussels time for projects starting between 1 August and 31 December of the same year. Applicants have to submit their grant application by 1 October at 12:00 midday Brussels time for projects starting between 1 January and 31 May of the following year. National Agencies may organise three selection rounds by setting three deadlines as above or only the first (18 February) and the last (1 October) one, and this information will be published on the site of each National Agency. For actions managed by National Agencies, irrespective of the day of the deadline, the deadline for submission of electronic forms is always set at 12:00:00 midday Brussels time. Applicants established in countries that have a different time zone should carefully consider the time differences to avoid rejections.
🏅 Scoring: To be considered for funding, proposals must score at least 60 points, and they must score at least half of the maximum points in each of the categories of award criteria. In ex aequo cases, priority will be given to highest scores for Relevance, rationale and impact and then Quality of project management and then Quality of project design. Relevance, rationale and impact has a maximum of 40 points. Quality of project design has a maximum of 40 points and looks at the consistency between project objectives and proposed activities, the extent to which the project is designed, developed and implemented by young people, the extent to which the composition of the group permits to reach the project objectives, the involvement of the members of the group at the various phases of the project, the clarity, completeness and quality of all the phases of the project (planning, preparation, implementation, evaluation and sharing the results), the extent to which learning process and learning outcomes in the project is thought through, identified and documented, in particular through Youthpass, and the extent to which the project incorporates sustainable and environmental-friendly practices, accessible and inclusive activities, as well as makes use of digital tools and methods to complement and improve activities. Quality of project management has a maximum of 20 points and looks at the practical arrangements, management, cooperation and communication between the members of the group, the measures for evaluating the outcomes of the project, the measures for making the project visible to others who are not involved in the project, and the measures for sharing the outcomes of the project. For Solidarity Projects and Volunteering Teams in High Priority Areas, proposals which are not rejected on other grounds and that passed the individual quality thresholds and the overall quality threshold will be considered for funding, within the limits of the available budget, and the rest of the eligible proposals will be put on reserve list, if additional budget becomes available, or rejected.
Our guide on how to apply for Erasmus+ or ESC takes the steps one by one, what an OID is explains the organisation code, and what National Agencies do covers who runs the programme in each country.
What rules apply to the application and the money?
Intellectual property rights and the originality of submitted work are to be respected under the European Solidarity Corps, and all applications for projects must contain original content authored by the applicant or partner organisations jointly applying for a grant. Where a third-party content is referred to, proper attribution and acknowledgment of intellectual property rights must be given. Failing to meet these criteria through acts of plagiarism makes a proposal ineligible for consideration, and confirmed violation of intellectual property rights represents an exclusion situation under the EU Financial Regulation. Applicants are strongly advised against relying on external entities or individuals for drafting of the application. All proposals are automatically screened by the National Agencies and the Executive Agency to detect double funding and plagiarism risks. If the application content is similar to an already funded or to be funded project, a critical similarities report will be generated highlighting the percentage of similarity with other proposals, and in the absence of justification by the applicant, such detected similarities might lead to rejection of the proposal. The grants also do not cover costs related to hiring external organisations or individuals to draft the application or any subsequent reports because these are considered as core tasks which cannot be subcontracted. No other organisations or external individuals can be paid or otherwise compensated for drafting the application or any subsequent reports, as such costs will not be reimbursed or considered as eligible under the grant's terms.
The content generated by a generative artificial intelligence (AI) tool should be thoroughly reviewed and validated by the applicants to ensure its appropriateness and accuracy, as well as its compliance with intellectual property regulations. Applicants are fully responsible for the content of the proposal, even those parts produced by the AI tool, and must be transparent in disclosing which AI tools were used and how they were utilised. Applicants are required to verify the accuracy, validity, and appropriateness of the content and any citations generated by the AI tool and correct any errors or inconsistencies. Applicants are required to provide a list of sources used to generate content and citations, including those generated by the AI tool, and to double-check citations to ensure they are accurate and properly referenced. Applicants are required to be conscious of the potential for plagiarism where the AI tool may have reproduced substantial text from other sources, and to check the original sources to be sure they are not plagiarising someone else's work. Applicants are required to acknowledge the limitations of the AI tool in the proposal preparation, including the potential for bias, errors, and gaps in knowledge.
No EU grant may be awarded retroactively for projects already completed. An EU grant may be awarded for a project which has already begun only where the applicant can demonstrate the need to start the project before the grant agreement has been signed, and in such cases, the costs eligible for financing must not have been incurred prior to the date of submission of the grant application. If the applicant starts implementing the project before the grant agreement is signed, this is done at the risk of the applicant. Each project or activity may give rise to the award of only one grant from the budget to any one beneficiary. In no circumstances shall the same costs be financed twice by the Union budget, and to avoid the risk of double funding, the applicant must declare that its organisation has not received any other EU grant for the particular project. The applicant must also commit to give notice of any future EU grants related to the particular project and of any EU operating grants given to its organisation, and this will be checked through the Declaration on honour.
When the EU grant is provided in the form of a contribution to a unit cost, the principles of no-profit and co-financing are ensured by the Commission for the Action as a whole in advance when it defines the rates or percentages of such units, lump sums and flat rates. The respect of the no-profit and co-financing principles is generally assumed in this case and therefore, applicants do not have to justify the costs incurred by the project. The payment of the grant based on the reimbursement on the basis of contribution to unit costs, lump sums, or flat rate financing is without prejudice to the right of access to the beneficiaries' statutory records. Where a check or audit reveals that the generating event has not occurred, for example project activities not realised as approved at application stage or participants not taking part in the activities, and an undue payment has been made to the beneficiary, the National Agency shall be entitled to recover up to the amount of the grant. If the activities undertaken or the outputs produced are of insufficient quality, the grant may be reduced partly or in full even if the activities have taken place and are eligible.
In case of multiple submissions of the same or very similar project applications by the same applicant to the same or different National Agencies, only one proposal may be accepted and evaluated, and the applicant will be asked to withdraw the others (or they will be rejected). Should almost identical or similar applications be submitted by different applicants to the same or different National Agencies, they will all be subject to a specific assessment and may all be rejected. Proposals may be changed and resubmitted until the deadline for submission.
Costs or contributions that do not comply with the conditions set in Part B of the European Solidarity Corps Guide, costs related to return on capital and dividends paid by a beneficiary, debt and debt service charges, provisions for losses or debts, interest owed, currency exchange losses, bank costs charged by the beneficiary's bank for transfers from the granting authority, and excessive or reckless expenditure shall not be considered eligible. Deductible or refundable VAT, costs incurred for activities implemented during grant agreement suspension, in-kind contributions by third parties, and costs declared by the beneficiary and covered by another project or work programme receiving an EU grant are not eligible either. The applicant must indicate in the application form the contribution from sources other than the EU grant, and direct co-financing may take the form, for example, of the beneficiary's own resources or financial contributions from third parties. Contributions in kind from third parties are not considered as a possible source of co-financing. Our guide on whether ESC volunteering is fully funded sets out what the grant covers and what it does not.
Frequently asked questions
Does a Solidarity Project have to go through an organisation?
No, the group that will implement the project applies, and one of the young people in the group assumes the role of the legal representative and takes the responsibility of submitting the application. Any public or private body, legally established in an EU Member State or third country associated to the Programme, can apply on behalf of the group that will implement the project.
How many young people do you need?
A Solidarity Project is implemented by a group of minimum 5 young people aged between 18 and 30 years, and there is no maximum number of members of the group.
Where does a Solidarity Project take place?
The project should take place in the country of the applicant. In cases in which the project addresses cross-border challenges, project activities can also take place in cross-border regions of the EU Member States, third countries associated to the Programme and third countries non-associated to the Programme sharing the border with the country of the applicant.
Is a coach obligatory in a Solidarity Project?
Young people carrying out a Solidarity Project may be supported by coaches, and the group of young people can use the support of one or several coaches depending on their needs. The request for financial support to cover coach costs must be motivated in the application form.
Is coaching linked to the duration of the project?
The duration of coaching is not linked to the project duration. The contribution to Project Management costs is based on a unit cost of 630 EUR per month, based on the duration of the Solidarity Project.
Start with your own group
Young people who want to form a group to run a Solidarity Project must be registered in the European Solidarity Corps portal as a first step, in order to apply to a Solidarity Project. The group will decide autonomously on the working methods and how the project will be managed. Our guide on how to apply for Erasmus+ or ESC at Youth Works Hub takes the steps one by one.
Related pages: what the European Solidarity Corps is · how to apply for Erasmus+ or ESC · how to register on the ESC Portal · teams that volunteer together · what being fully funded means · from application to departure
👉 ESC projects: youthworkshub.org/category/esc-projects
