The efforts and initiatives taken by Greece to increase the engagement of all young people, including those with fewer chances, in local and international volunteering are covered in this section. It is divided into three primary sections: (i) support given to young volunteers, (ii) community building, and (iii) programmes addressing societal concerns.

Support to young volunteers

Hellenic Youth Participation is a Greek organisation that was founded in 2012 as an initiative of a few individuals who recognised the need for social change. During its activity, more than 30,000 people have participated in the organisation, who received and gave knowledge, values, and unique moments.

"Go Out - Bring In" is an activity under Key Action 1, volunteer actions, which was co funded in 2020 by the Greek organisation "Youth and Lifelong Learning Foundation," (an entity governed by private law operating in the wider public sector). The Hellenic Youth Participation organised and carried out the event, which brought young people and society into contact with the environment. Volunteers, organizations, the local community, young people with fewer opportunities, and people with financial difficulties had the opportunity to evolve, develop skills, be active, learn about, and appreciate concepts like volunteering, participation, lifelong learning, and non-formal learning.

The activity took place in Athens, with the participation of 2 volunteers from Italy and Poland. The volunteers were young people with fewer opportunities (unemployed) and were chosen because of their willingness to learn and evolve at a personal and professional level.

The activity was attended by two bodies operating in Athens with children from disadvantaged environments, refugees and immigrants, and young people of the local community, with different origins and cultures, who were active and sensitised to issues concerning the environment.

The Greek organisation provided assistance to the young volunteers in the form of a shared flat. The house was fully equipped with common rooms (kitchen, bathroom, etc.). For local transportation, volunteers received a card for unlimited use of buses, metro, tram, etc.

Community Building

To the best of our knowledge, there are no top-level policy measures or initiatives aiming at developing and strengthening social cohesion and inclusion in the communities where volunteering projects take place, both at national level and in the context of cross-border mobility.

Tackling societal challenges

The Greek Scouts, as Ambassadors of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals, chose World Wildlife Day (3 March) to officially announce the launch of a one-of-a-kind initiative that expresses, as a structure, the Greek Scouts' strategic choice and effort to expand social interventions and participation in our country regarding the collection of injured, orphaned, and abandoned mammals, birds, reptiles, marine organisms, and so on.

The programme for the formation and training of the "Wildlife Rescue Scout Group" is managed by the Ephorate for the Implementation of Environmental Programs/SEP, it is practically supported by the organisations ANIMA, ARCHELON, ARKTOUROS, ARION, MOM, ACTION FOR WILDLIFE and is fully financed with 50,000 € from the "Green Fund", (Decision No. 148.3/2018) of the measure "Innovative actions with citizens" and the financial programme "Natural environment and innovative environmental actions."

Building on existing experience and proposing and sharing our know-how, this initiative seeks to:

• to strengthen environmental awareness
• to increase the information and participatory process on the value of preventive action in favour of wildlife
• to maximise the capacity and effectiveness of the 270 trained volunteer Rescue Scouts active in 100 locations throughout Greece.

The Hellenic Red Cross has created the Refugee Information and Support Hotline which operates in the context of the Multipurpose Center for Social Support and Integration of Refugees of the Hellenic Red Cross. The hotline is: +30 210 51 40 440

The services provided concern:

Providing correct, up-to-date information, guidance, support and advice in the mother tongue of refugees and immigrants living in Greece.

Information is provided on:

• Refugee and asylum seeker issues (asylum procedure, residence permit, legal issues, etc.)
• Information about agencies, services and their respective benefits
• Mediation and facilitation of agencies and services
• Telephone interpretation.
• Support and directions

Through the Telephone Line, communication takes place in the following languages:

• Greek
• English
• French
• Arabic
• Farsi
• Pashto
• Darry
• Russian
• Swahili
• Urdu
• Kinyarwanda
• Kirundi

The telephone line operates from Monday to Friday from 9.00 am. until 20.00 p.m.