Support to young volunteers 

The Law related to Volunteers’ rights

To ensure that volunteering remains accessible to all, the Law related to the Volunteers’ rights (la loi sur le droit des volontaires) has provided the possibility of a compensation.  Volunteers are either reimbursed for their expenses on presentation of supporting documents (invoice, receipt, train ticket, etc.) or with lump-sum reimbursement. In the first case, there is no maximum limit.  In the latter, there is no need to provide documentary evidence of actual expenditure (maximum: €40.67 per day and €1,626.77 per year (amounts valid from 1 January to 31 December 2023).

The decree related to youth organisations

The decree related to youth organisations provides a special support for initiatives aimed at specific target groups (décret relatif aux organisations de jeunesse, pp 13). This support is addressed to the associations and not to the volunteers themselves. In 2023, 14 Youth organisations have benefited from this special support. In order to be eligible to this special support, these 14 youth organisations must, as part of their four-year action plan, draw up and implement a programme of  specific actions aimed at groups such as : 

• working-class people ;
• people with disabilities or victims of discrimination ;
• or which must enable young people to do voluntary work both outside and within the youth organisation.

Community buidling

The International Youth Office (Bureau International Jeunesse) promotes the Europeers activities organised by the other National Agencies to their ESC organisations and E+ beneficiaries and support the participation of young people in these activities.

Tackling societal challenges

The French-speaking community participates to the "Mindchangers project", a European project aimed at improving the capacities of Local Authorities and Civil Society Organizations in launching projects and activities to engage youth in the big challenges of our era: climate change and migrations. 

Mindchangers is funded by the European Commission within the Development Education and Awareness Raising programme. The project is realized by Regione Piemonte in partnership with Consorzio Ong Piemontesi (IT), Baden-Württemberg and SEZ (DE), RESACOOP (FR), La Rioja and CONGDCAR (ES), Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles (BE), University of Craiova (RO).