All European Solidarity Corps volunteers have the right and responsibility to attend trainings in order to receive information, support and tools that will help them achieve as much as possible in the time of their service.

In the region of Western Balkans, including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia, the trainings are organised by SALTO SEE.

The Training and Evaluation Cycle offered by SALTO SEE to volunteers consists of three trainings:

1. On-arrival training (only for volunteering activities lasting 60 days or more, travel days excluded*) and
2. Mid-term evaluation meeting (only for volunteering activities lasting 6 months or more - more precisely, 180 days or more, travel days excluded).
3. Annual Event for former EVS/E+/ESC volunteers (only for volunteers who have completed their service and returned back home, in the Western Balkans)

In the Western Balkans, these trainings are organised at regional level, bringing together volunteers from the whole region on one such training. This arrangement gives them the opportunity to meet other volunteers doing their service in the region and to get to know different realities within the region itself.

Hosting organizations in WB are required to report to SALTO SEE the arrival of new ESC volunteer that needs training. 

4. Pre-departure training

In order for the volunteering projects to be successful and experiences to be positive and enriching for the volunteers, it is crucial that the Supporting organisation (formerly known as sending or coordinating organization) adequately prepares volunteers prior to their departure. Volunteers need to be presented with following documents:

• the Info Kit, prepared by European Commission
• Information about insurance for volunteers
• Information about Youthpass as a learning support

*For projects having 59 activity days or less, hosting organisation has to provide On-arrival training and trainings that are adapted to the needs of the volunteers and/or to the type of volunteering activity.

More information on each of the above-mentioned support activities is available in the Programme Guide, section "Training and evaluation cycle", available on the European Solidarity Corps web page.

Contact for more info: Andrej Troha, + 386.1.430 47 47, andrej.troha@movit.si 

In the effort to support quality in Volunteering projects, SALTO SEE is organizing supportive activities for all organizations in the Western Balkans region holding a Quality Label for ESC volunteering projects. These activities are taking place in the framework of TEC for organization, in accordance with the guidance provided in the European Solidarity Corps Programme Guide. 

These supportive activities in the form of residential and/or online meetings are taking place annually from 2017 on and gather in the same place volunteering coordinators, mentors and/or other support persons involved in the work with European Solidarity Corps volunteers. The meetings offer an opportunity to reinforce supportive communities in each country and on the level of Western Balkans, to share experiences and good practices in sending and hosting volunteers, to discuss obstacles and plan common steps to overcome them.

Important note: each year SALTO SEE invites all QL holders in Western Balkans by email to apply to attend these meetings.

Information kit: Providing On-arrival training to short-term EVS volunteers Organizing On-arrival training for short-term volunteers (those that are hosted in the organizations for 2 months or less) is a task of the hosting organizations. To support you,  SALTO SEE has prepared a short guide that can help you in organizing this training for your volunteers. 

Preparing the volunteers for their volunteering projects within EVS/Erasmus+/ESC is the responsibility of the sending/supporting organizations, So to support you, SALTO SEE has prepared a short guide that can help you in organizing this. In supporting your sent volunteers, please use: Information kit: Preparing the volunteer for the project abroad.

SALTO SEE as an institution coordinating the process of the Quality Label within Western Balkans has a role of checking and supporting the performance of organizations, which hold a Quality Label, allowing them to be active in volunteer exchange within the European Solidarity Corps program.

With this measure, SALTO SEE aims to:

• to check whether organizations are implementing ESC volunteering projects in accordance to the their Quality Label granted to them by SALTO SEE RC;
• establish regular contact with and provide feedback and tailored support to the organizations;
• contribute to the continuous rise of the quality of ESC volunteering projects implemented in the region.

Description of the process

The process is implemented mainly through the following three methods:

• Email communication & Telephone contact 
• Online questionnaire
• Control & supportive visits of the QL organizations

Visits are implemented by our team of Quality Label assessors, with the aim to assess past performance and support future work of the organization. In general, two experts visit the organization – principle of four eyes. Usually, several organizations in a certain area are visited within one monitoring round (clustering method). After visiting experts produce a report and share it with SALTO SEE. To finish the process, Result letters with findings and recommendations are produced by SALTO SEE and shared with visited organizations.

• Progress report

In case SALTO SEE needs information on how a QL-holder is implementing their ESC projects or a QL holder itself needs to ask for changes to their currently valid Quality Label, SALTO SEE can issue an automatic request via Beneficiary Model to a QL-holder. In this report, an organization is able to report how they are performing ESC projects and in case needed ask for any necessary changes to their approved QL, such as change activities proposed to their hosted volunteers, add/remove an activity location, decrease/increase number of hosted volunteers, etc. In the assessment of this report, SALTO SEE can include an assessor from the team of our Quality Label assessors. Based on assessment results, SALTO SEE accepts or rejects, partially or in its entirety, the Progress report and changes requested from the organization.

Please note that in 2026 this measure is not available. Below is the description of the measure as was implemented in 2025. 

Support measure from SALTO SEE: ESC buddy-support system for 2025

This measure is designed by SALTO SEE to support quality and quantity of volunteering projects within the European Solidarity Corps (ESC) in the Western Balkans (WB). In the first stages it provides capacity building support for the ESC organizations in the WB, followed by a stage aimed at ESC volunteers exchange for those who have conditions fulfilled.

The measure aims to support one of the following two aspects:

• enhancing quality in ESC projects
• enhancing partnership creation (matching an in-experienced organization from WB with an experienced organization from ESC participating country holding a Quality Label for lead role in the ESC)

The measure addresses the needs of following types of organizations:

• Primarily, in-experienced or less experienced organizations from WB, holding a Quality Label for the ESC, which would like to (re)start being active within ESC
• experienced organizations holding a Quality Label for lead role from an ESC participating (program) country, which is interested in creating a new partnership with the organisation from WB (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia) for joint volunteering projects.

How does it work and Overview of timeline and phases

The ESC Buddy Support System for 2025 is designed in two stages. First stage includes only ESC organizations from Western Balkans who have the motivation and conditions fulfilled to start being active in the European solidarity corps. In the second stage, the organisations from ESC program countries with the lead role are joining the process, with the aim to establish ESC volunteer exchange with ESC from Balkans that prove ready for this. 

For more information please contact us at: andrej.troha@movit.si