Comhlámh, along with 3 other volunteering organisations – Volunteering Matters (UK); INEX-SDA (Czech Republic); and finep(Germany) are working an Erasmus + project exploring how organisations support international volunteers in long term active citizenship. The opportunity of having a strong European dimension will further deepen an understanding of global citizenship for returning volunteers, and co-learning alongside peers from neighbouring European countries will hopefully set the conversation and resulting action on active citizenship at a European level.

Comhlámh are involved in the European Union Aid Volunteers Initiative, EUAVI. The EUAVI is a new project of the European Union which allows EU citizens to volunteer and contribute to providing humanitarian aid in the form of local capacity building, disaster risk reduction and recovery.

The aim of the initiative is to deploy 4000 EU citizens to work on humanitarian projects, provide 4400 non EU citizens with capacity building opportunities and provide opportunities for 10,000 online volunteers between 2015 and 2020.

The more we give, the happier we feel. Volunteering increases self-confidence. You are doing good for others and the community, which provides a natural sense of accomplishment. Your role as a volunteer can also give you a sense of pride and identity. People choose to volunteer for a variety of reasons. For some it offers the chance to give something back to the community or make a difference to the people around them. For others it provides an opportunity to develop new skills or build on existing experience and knowledge.