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Lithuania

2. Voluntary Activities

2.7 Social inclusion through volunteering

Last update: 24 January 2025
On this page
  1. Support to young volunteers
  2. Community building
  3. Tackling societal challenges
On this page
  1. Support to young volunteers
  2. Community building
  3. Tackling societal challenges

Support to young volunteers

Social integration through volunteering

A young person with fewer opportunities is a young person who does not have the same conditions as their peers to develop their competences and activities, because they live in unfavourable conditions or experience social, economic, educational, cultural, geographical difficulties, have a disability and/or health problems.

An inactive young person is a young person who is not in education, not studying, not working under an employment contract or self-employed, does not have other legal relationships equivalent to employment relationships, does not carry out unpaid employment activities, and is not looking for work.

The sources of information on groups of inactive and disadvantaged young people, entities providing information, and the procedure for collecting and disseminating information are set out in the Description of the Procedure for Collecting Data on Inactive and Disadvantaged Young People, approved by Order No. 2V-6 (1.4) of the Director of the Agency of Youth Affairs  in 5 January 2022, which can be found HERE. The annual percentage of inactive young people in Lithuania is determined based on the official statistics portal (more - here).

According to researchers, one of the most important areas of volunteering is social inclusion, because through volunteering, professional and other necessary skills are provided/acquired, which facilitate employment opportunities, reduce/can help reduce social exclusion, and volunteers are also included in general social activities.

The social inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities is mainly ensured through the voluntary activities of the European Solidarity Corps, which provides additional resources. Support is intended not only for cross-border, but also for voluntary activities within the country.

Meeting the needs of volunteers

When the volunteer and the representatives of the host organization meet, the expectations of both parties are coordinated live: tasks, scope of activities, schedule of implementation of activities, communication. Both parties must sign a bilateral voluntary agreement. Volunteering in Lithuania can take many different forms, which meet the different needs of the volunteer, and the volunteer himself can decide where he would like to volunteer and how much time he can devote to it (read more here).

Volunteering of young people with disabilities

Volunteering in organizations that gather people with disabilities is not new for several years. Young people with disabilities are encouraged to participate in voluntary activities not only in Lithuania, but also abroad. For example, the Youth Center in Panevėžys city has been mediating young people with disabilities to volunteer in various European countries and in various fields for several years. One of the most important skills these young people gain through volunteering is self-reliance. Representatives of the organization say that all the non-governmental organizations that were approached very kindly accept young people with disabilities who want to volunteer, helping them discover their strengths (read here). Organizations in other territories encourage more volunteering in their municipal organizations: they look for opportunities to volunteer and accompany them to the place of volunteering: e.g. in libraries, canteens, bars. Volunteering is done not only in organizations, but also individually, e.g. for seniors who are unable to perform certain actions (read here).

Organizations' responsibilities for inclusion

According to the description of the 2020 Youth Voluntary Service (YVS) implementation quality and supervision procedure, in order to implement the Youth Voluntary Service with quality, the curator of the host organization must help the volunteer to integrate into the Host organization by including the volunteer in the Host organization's activities, meetings, outings, etc.

Community building

Volunteering in larger cities is a common and quite widespread activity. There are many different organizations in cities that engage in different activities and offer a wide range of volunteering opportunities. In smaller settlements, community centers are an important place where people gather or can organize themselves for volunteering. There are many community organizations in Lithuania, which usually have their own premises.

Tackling societal challenges


In the face of the 2020 pandemic, volunteer activities contributed to solving societal challenges. In order to help non-governmental organizations (NGOs) safely organize volunteer activities during the pandemic, as well as in other extreme circumstances, share experience, lessons learned, and develop the initiated closer cooperation between state and municipal institutions with NGOs, the Public Institution "Europos namai" has prepared methodological recommendations for NGOs, municipalities, and state institutions (here) (source).

The SAVA platform has extensive experience working with NGOs. SAVA provides organizations hosting volunteers with the ability to conveniently create a schedule of activities for registration, create volunteer lists, approve or reject volunteers, and inform about the location, time, and changes. The calendar and challenges that need to be addressed are published here.

On December 5, International Volunteer Day, every year since 2021, volunteers, projects and organizations are awarded in 11 categories in the country. The Volunteer Awards are intended to thank and honor those who have distinguished themselves in the field of volunteering, have accomplished the most and have become inspiring examples of volunteering. The awards are organized at the initiative of the Ministry of Social Security and Labor of the Republic of Lithuania. The awards are organized by Sava Platforma (Všį, Sava Visiems) together with sponsors.

Info about digital international volunteering initiatives is here: