Safeguarding

Safeguarding & Participant Protection

EVEC Athens hosts and sends young people through Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps. Some of them are under 18. This page explains what we do to keep participants safe, who is responsible, and how to raise a concern.

Who this covers

• Participants in youth exchanges and training courses, including those aged under 18
• European Solidarity Corps volunteers hosted by EVEC in Athens
• Trainees and interns on placement with us
• Local and online volunteers
• Our own staff, volunteers and trainers, and any partner working with our participants

Our commitments

• Participants are treated with respect regardless of age, nationality, gender, disability, religion, sexual orientation or background.
• Harassment, bullying, discrimination, and any form of physical, emotional or sexual abuse are not tolerated.
• Concerns are taken seriously, recorded, and acted on — not dismissed or handled informally.
• Nobody is disadvantaged for raising a concern in good faith.

Before an activity

• For any role that involves working with people under 18, we request a criminal-record certificate (ποινικό μητρώο).
• Everyone joining us receives a safeguarding briefing during orientation, covering conduct expectations, boundaries, and how to report a concern.
• For participants under 18, we require written parental or guardian consent before the activity, and we agree supervision arrangements with the sending organisation.

During an activity

• Every hosted participant is given a named contact at EVEC and a phone number they can use for the duration of their stay, including outside working hours in an emergency.
• Accommodation and activity venues are chosen with participant safety in mind.
• Where an activity involves minors, supervision responsibilities are agreed in writing with the sending organisation before arrival.

How to report a concern

Email erasmus@evec.org.gr, marking the message Safeguarding. It reaches Mrs Mirlena Charisi, President, who is the accountable person for safeguarding at EVEC Athens.

Tell us what happened, when, who was involved, and what you would like to happen next. If you prefer not to give your name, we will still look into it, although that can limit what we are able to do.

What happens next:

• We acknowledge within 2 working days.
• We agree immediate steps to keep the person safe.
• We look into what happened and tell you the outcome. If it will take longer than expected, we tell you when to expect an answer.
• Where a criminal offence may have occurred, we contact the Greek authorities.

If you are not satisfied with our response

For activities funded by Erasmus+ or the European Solidarity Corps, you can escalate to the Greek National Agency, INEDIVIM (Foundation for Youth and Lifelong Learning), which supervises our accreditations:

• Erasmus+ KA1 Youth Accreditation — 2023-1-EL02-KA150-YOU-000188397
• European Solidarity Corps Quality Label — 2023-1-EL02-ESC50-QLA-000195138

You can also use our complaints procedure for anything that is not a safeguarding matter.

Online volunteering — EVEC Volunteers Academy

Our online volunteering programme is open to young people from the age of 13. Because it runs through shared documents rather than in person, the arrangements differ from a hosted activity. This section sets them out.

Registration. Anyone under 18 is registered by a parent or guardian, never by themselves. Under Greek law a young person under 15 cannot consent to their own data being processed, so we hold nothing about them until a parent has completed the registration form. If it is not completed within 14 days, the record is deleted automatically.

What a parent can see and do. A parent or guardian is a commenter on every document their child works in. They can read everything, at any time, and help if they want to. They also receive a private, view-only summary that updates automatically: level, tasks given, what has been submitted, and the reviewer’s feedback. The young person is told this, so they know what their parent can see.

How we communicate. Everything happens inside the shared task document. No private messaging, no group chats, no personal phone numbers, no contact through social media. The reviewer is named in the document, so the volunteer knows who will read their work. Every document sits in a shared drive to which the President has access, so a second adult is always present.

Contact between volunteers. Volunteers under 18 are not put in contact with other volunteers. There is no forum and no chat.

Reviewers. Only adults review a young person’s work. Reviewers receive the same safeguarding briefing as staff, and the criminal-record requirement above applies to them.

Photos and video. Where a volunteer produces photos or video, we ask separately for permission to use their first name, to show their face, and to tag a personal social media account. These are three different things, and each can be refused without affecting the others. Volunteers are asked never to include anyone else’s face without written permission, and never anything that shows where they live or which school they attend. Location data is removed from every file before it is used.

Withdrawing. A parent or guardian can withdraw a young person at any time, without giving a reason. The same day, access to every document is removed and the record is closed. Work already published stays published, but the credit line carrying their name is removed on request.

Turning 15, and turning 18. At 15 a young person can consent to their own data being processed under Greek law, and the parent summary becomes a shorter one unless the young person agrees to keep full access. A parent keeps the right to raise concerns and to withdraw their child until they turn 18.

Concerns about the Academy are raised in exactly the same way as any other — see the top of this page.

Responsibility and review

Accountable person: Mrs Mirlena Charisi, President, EVEC Athens — European Voluntary and Educational Center (EVROPAIKO ETHELONTIKO KAI EKPAIDEFTIKO KENTRO). Registered office: Kallistratous 89, 157 71 Zografou, Athens, Greece.

This policy is reviewed at least once a year.