2.5 Cross-border mobility programmes
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EU programmes
With regards to voluntary activities, the most important EU programme is the European Solidarity Corps (in Finnish Euroopan solidaarisuusjoukot) which replaced the European Voluntary Service (EVS) in 2018. As the national agency of the European Solidarity Corps and the Erasmus+, the Finnish National Agency for Education provides information on the programme, provides assistance for the application process, manages the selection of projects, supports and monitors their implementation and gives out information on the results of the programme in accordance with the Commission’s guidelines.
In 2023, almost 2,2 million euros were assigned to Finnish projects within the framework of the European Solidarity Corp programme (see information in Finnish). Only organisations that belong to Quality Label for Leading Organisations can apply for funding under Volunteering Projects.
Due to the ongoing situation in Ukraine, young people coming from Ukraine are now able to do another volunteering period with the European Solidarity Corps, if they have already carried out a volunteering period in Finland. Ukrainian volunteers can be hosted without a support organisation. For more information, see Rules for ongoing Erasmus+ projects in the field of youth with Ukrainian partners by the Finnish National Agency of Education, more information available in Finnish.
Other programmes
There are no other cross-border mobility programmes for volunteering that are funded by the government.
Legal framework applying to foreign volunteers
When coming to Finland from abroad as young volunteer participating in the cross-border programmes like the European Solidarity Corps (ESC) programme of the European Union, a residence permit is needed when the visit is longer than three months. The Finnish Immigration Service offers data about the procedure, see Residence permit application for volunteer work. Non-EU citizen volunteer workers may need a visa even for the shorter periods, depending on the country, see Visa to visit Finland -webpage of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs or EU-Immigration Portal Finland volunteer of the European Commission. All participants in the European Solidarity Corps have to be covered, throughout the activity period, by the obligatory European Solidarity Corps insurance plan set up by the European Commission, see the Info Kit for Participants of the European Solidarity Corps.