Erasmus+ · ESC
Do your ESC — abroad or in Greece.
The European Solidarity Corps funds long-term volunteering. EVEC sends Greek youth to projects across Europe — and hosts young people from every ESC programme country here in Athens — that includes Türkiye, Serbia, North Macedonia, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein, not only the EU.
For volunteers coming to Athens
This could be your next year.
Imagine waking up in Athens. Spending your days on work that actually matters — designing, creating, writing, growing food. Building a portfolio and skills that shape your future. All of it covered.
Find your role
We’re looking for motivated young volunteers to join our team in Athens. Pick the role that fits you — or tell us your own.
Web Designer / Developer
Help build the digital home of EVEC. You’ll design and develop pages for our portal, bring our programmes online, and leave with a real portfolio and hands-on experience in modern web tools.
Apply for this →Graphic Designer
Turn ideas into visuals. You’ll create graphics for our campaigns, educational materials, and social channels — and grow a portfolio that travels with you.
Apply for this →Article & Content Writer
Make science make sense. You’ll write articles that turn complex research into stories young people actually want to read, published on our website and shared across Europe.
Apply for this →Social Media Manager
Run the channels that reach thousands. You’ll create content, grow our Instagram, TikTok and Facebook communities, and learn social strategy by doing it for real.
Apply for this →Urban Farmer
Get your hands in the soil. You’ll work inside our microgreens and urban-farming system — bridging science and practice across sustainability, green skills, and healthy living.
Apply for this →Your own role
Don’t see your skill here? Tell us what you bring. If it fits our mission, we’ll build a role around you.
Tell us about you →What’s covered
You arrive set for everything — at zero cost
Your cost? Zero. ESC is fully funded by the European Union.
Where you’ll live
You’ll share a fully equipped 100 m² apartment with three other volunteers — three bedrooms, plus a shared kitchen, bathroom, and living room. It’s in Zografou, a safe student neighbourhood within walking distance of our office, right between two university campuses. 24/7 supermarkets are a few minutes away, and there’s a farmers’ market twice a week.
What you’ll gain
Skills you keep long after the year ends.
Who can apply. Are you 18–30 and legally resident in an ESC programme country? Then you’re eligible. You don’t need a degree, prior experience, or perfect English — just motivation and the skill you want to grow.
If ESC is closed to you
Three other ways to work with us.
The age limit and the residency rule are set by the European Union, not by us, and we cannot make an exception to either. If a funded placement is what you need and we cannot host you, the European Youth Portal lists every ESC placement in Europe and your national Eurodesk office will help you search it. Here is what we ourselves can offer, described exactly as it is.
Funded by your university
Erasmus+ traineeship
On-site in Athens, 3–6 months, paid by the Erasmus+ grant your own institution holds — not by us. There is no upper age limit. Greek students join self-funded or through a university placement, because Erasmus+ cannot fund mobility inside your own country.
Check the traineeship →Unpaid · In Athens
Local volunteering
If you are already in or near Athens. Any background, no experience needed, a few hours when you can. Unpaid, with a certificate and a reference for what you do.
See what needs doing →Unpaid · From anywhere, any age
Online volunteering
Open worldwide, with no residency rule and no age limit. Unpaid. No allowance, no accommodation, no travel — it is not a smaller ESC. What it gives you is real work published under your name, a certificate, and a reference from the person who supervised you.
See the online roles →These are the same jobs on every route — the route changes the money, the hours and the paperwork, not the work. If none of the three fits your situation, the honest answer may be that we have nothing for you right now, and we would rather say that in two lines than leave you guessing. Think we have got this wrong? Tell us.
From our volunteers
Don’t take our word for it
“I came to design posters and left with a full portfolio and a second family. Athens just felt like home.”
“Running EVEC’s socials taught me more in six months than any course. Real audience, real results.”
“Growing microgreens, learning Greek, exploring the city on weekends — the most I’ve ever grown in a year.”
Other ways in
Not an incoming volunteer?
Greek and dreaming of volunteering abroad? Let us send you.
Choose EVEC as your sending organisation and we’ll support you the whole way — helping you find the right placement somewhere in Europe, preparing you before you go, and staying with you throughout. Same deal: fully funded by the European Solidarity Corps, zero cost to you.
Volunteer abroad with usOrganisations & institutions — let’s work together.
Hold an ESC Quality Label? Co-host placements with us or send your volunteers to Athens. Want to start volunteering activities? We’ll help you build the project and guide you towards your own Quality Label for the years ahead — you stay the owner.
Partner with usThe EVEC Method
Science made simple, learning made real.
We take complex scientific research and turn it into something anyone can understand and use — especially young people. Our volunteers learn by doing: hands-on workshops, real projects, and creating content that reaches thousands. Today our system is built around microgreens — and we’re expanding into what comes next.
Mycelium
Drones
Solar
Trust & credibility
Real, accredited, safe to trust
Co-funded by the European Union
Athens, GreeceHost · support · lead roles. Valid to 2027.
Youth accreditation, valid to 2027.
Our EU organisation IDs.
Partners across Greece, North Macedonia, Poland, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Spain, Denmark & Austria.
Hosted ESC volunteering projects in Athens.
Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the EU or EACEA. Neither the EU nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
Good to know
ESC volunteering — your questions answered
Is ESC volunteering paid?
It’s funded, not salaried — you don’t earn a wage. Instead the European Union covers everything: a €420 / month allowance for food and pocket money, free shared accommodation, travel to and from Athens, full insurance and language support. Your cost to take part is zero.
Who is eligible — can Greek youth apply?
Anyone aged 18–30 and legally resident in an ESC programme country. Greece is a programme country, so Greek youth are eligible too. You don’t need a degree, prior experience or perfect English — just motivation.
How long is a placement?
There are two lengths, and we host both. Short-term is 14–59 days — the right fit if you have a summer, or a gap between semesters. Long-term is 60–360 days, which is what most of our volunteers do. At any one time we host up to 4 long-term and 6 short-term volunteers, so short-term places come up more often. If you only have a few weeks, you are not disqualified — a lot of people assume ESC means a year and never ask.
Is “Erasmus+ volunteering” the same as the European Solidarity Corps?
Yes. Erasmus+ is the EU funding programme; the European Solidarity Corps (ESC) is its volunteering strand — what many people call “Erasmus+ volunteering”. It is not a study exchange: you volunteer full-time on real projects, fully funded.
How and when do I apply?
Applications are open all year — there’s no fixed deadline. Send the short form below and we reply personally. Enquire around six months before your ideal start date so we can plan your placement.
What will I actually do?
Choose a role that fits you — social media, content writing, graphic design, web, or urban farming & microgreens — or propose your own. You’ll build a real portfolio and a European network while the programme covers everything.
I am over 30, or I do not live in a programme country. Can you make an exception?
No, and it is not our call. The 18–30 age limit and the residency rule are written into the European Solidarity Corps regulation by the European Union. We are a host organisation: we cannot waive either of them, and neither can any other host in Europe. If we accepted your application anyway, it would fail at the funding stage and you would have spent months waiting for a no.
What we can do is tell you straight away, and point you at what is actually open. Three other routes take people the ESC rules exclude — two of them have no age limit and no country rule at all. And if a funded placement is what you need, the European Youth Portal lists every ESC host in Europe, not just us.
Ready?
Your year in Athens starts here.
Step 1 — register on the European Youth Portal
Every European Solidarity Corps volunteer needs a free Participant Reference Number (PRN) from the European Youth Portal before a placement can be confirmed. It takes a few minutes and it is the same for every host in Europe. Register on the European Youth Portal →
Step 2 — send us the form below. You can do the two steps in either order.
One short form — wherever you’re starting from. We read every message and reply personally.
Keep exploring
Related strands
Get Involved
Compare all four ways to join
ESC, traineeship, local or online — side by side, with what each one asks of you.
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