We wanted to move from interest in hosting to safe, confident, and well-structured hosting. Both FACK and VKC were ready to open their organisations to ESC volunteers, but we were also concerned about the specific risks of rural and, at times, discriminatory environments: in Altenburg, potential hostility and exclusion for visibly foreign volunteers and LGBTQ+ volunteers; in Varėna, the high risk of isolation and the challenge of coordinating many staff across a network of cultural centres so that responsibility does not sit on one person alone. Concretely, we aimed to (1) build organisational capacity to host withclear roles, routines and escalation pathways; (2) strengthen mentoring competence and inclusion sensitivity so volunteers are supported emotionally and socially throughout their journey; (3) learn from experienced actors through study visits and peer exchange, turning insights into locally applicable practices; and (4) co-create a transferable catalogue and working tools (e.g., planning grid, onboarding/information pack logic, mentoring essentials) that help other rural hosts reduce risk, improve volunteer wellbeing, and increase the positive impact of ESC on communities and organisations.
We applied because our organisations were increasingly confronted with a gap between the promise of ESC volunteering (inclusion, solidarity, safe learning) and the concrete realities of rural and, at times, discriminatory environments. In Altenburg/Thuringia and the Varėna region, we saw that international volunteers can face heightened risks: social isolation, language barriers, strong dependence on the host organisation for daily life, and especially for visibly “foreign” volunteers or LGBTQ+ volunteers. At the same time, rural communities can and should benefit from European volunteering, but not at the cost of volunteer well-being or programme quality. Our needs were therefore organisational and practical: we wanted to build internal competence and clear support structures before scaling up hosting (roles, onboarding, mentoring separate from task supervision, crisis awareness, communication routines), and to align the whole support framework (hosts, mentors, coordinators, sending organisations, peers) so responsibilities are not left to chance. We also needed practical, transferable tools that staff can use immediately, and a peer learning process through study visits and training.