ESC QUEST was a KA1 mobillity for youth workers project, consisting of two mobilities/activities, implemented by DFC Spain and partner organisations to enhance cooperation in the field of volunteering and developing quality volunteering projects under the ESC Programme and beyond. Q.U.E.S.T. stands for Quality, Understanding, Evaluation, Support, and Trust. The initial project idea was developed among our team members when exploring the possibilities of volunteering projects and their great impact not only on the hosting organisations but on the local communities and the young people themselves. By developing the idea and trying to understand better how to implement a quality project we received support from trusted partners that expressed their interest in establishing a common ground of cooperation and understanding of the ESC Programme to support young people in the best possible way. What was commonly identified that led us to apply and implement the project was that even though improvements took place through the years in the field of organising international volunteering activities, organisations around Europe still regularly meet some challenges while implementing them. Although organisations are willing to provide everything necessary to the volunteers that they either host or send, they can often miss practical skills and attitudes, trustful partners that they will implement quality learning activities or that they could support and prepare young people towards their learning journey. That often leads to young volunteers not being well prepared in what to expect from a voluntary project and not being aware of their rights and responsibilities. Moreover, volunteers often face a lack of support during their projects and so the opportunity to transform these learning experiences into a development process. The ESC QUEST had as its main aim to develop the capacities of partner promoters (in particular: youth workers, volunteers coordinators, supervisors and mentors) in developing and ensuring understanding and greater quality within the ESC Programme. The focus was placed on: promoting volunteering opportunities at the local and international level, developing strong and sustainable partnerships, volunteers’ management and mentoring and ensuring greater impact on the volunteering projects for all actors involved. To achieve the above aim, the team set the following objectives: our guidelines through the implementation of our project and activities. Objectives of "ESC Q.U.E.S.T." : - To better understand the background, needs and challenges related to volunteering activities across the partnership - To provide a meeting point for organisations to exchange information, develop cooperation and establish international partnerships for future cooperation - To understand the concept of Volunteering Opportunities and youth volunteering initiatives within the European Solidarity Corps Programme - To raise awareness of the learning dimension in volunteering projects and provide tools for learning support for the mentors and volunteers - To strengthen the competencies of coordinators and mentors (both professional and personal) - To provide practical tools and best practices in the areas of volunteer management: volunteer recruitment and selection, creating volunteer job/ task description, mentoring and supporting volunteers, supervising (evaluating, addressing issues, motivating, etc.) - To create an inclusive learning environment for the attendees to share their own best practice, inspire and motivate one another - To improve the capacity of practical realization of voluntary projects in the frames of Erasmus+ and to provide up-to date information about the programme. The above objectives were met by using the fundamentals (tools and practices) of non-formal learning. The organisation team alongside the facilitators created a safe sharing and creative environment, promoting peer-to-peer learning as means of encouraging human and organisational capacity building within youth NGOs, developing and exchanging innovative tools empowering, mentoring and supporting innovation in the youth field and promoting cross-sectoral cooperation. In ESC QUEST participants (coordinators, supervisors, project managers, mentors) had the opportunity to meet in person with their potential future partners, discussed with them all potential blocks that might occur during their future cooperation, developed problem solving methods, planned together quality projects and explored their rights and responsibilities, upon which they made agreements. Last but not least participants understood the value of volunteering and together explored ways of supporting young people in their volunteering journey. Should be mentioned here, that partner organisations included not only participants from their organisations but also their local network bringing higher potential in the project activities for networking and knowledge exchange.