Volunteering Teams in High Priority areas are large scale, high impact projects supporting voluntary activities carried out by young people from at least two different countries coming together to express solidarity by implementing short-term interventions that address common European challenges in policy areas defined each year at EU level.

Activities by Volunteering Teams in High-Priority Areas will aim to:

• address clearly defined unmet societal challenges in the area of “relief for persons fleeing armed conflicts and other victims of natural or man-made disasters” and/ or “fostering positive learning experiences and outcomes for young people with fewer opportunities”; promote solidarity across the participating countries; enable the young people to gain skills and competences which are useful for their personal, educational, social and professional development;
• provide tangible benefits to the communities within which the activities are carried out;
• ensure a direct contact between the participant and the beneficiaries of the solidarity-related activities, to enable the participant to gain skills that are useful for their educational and social development;
• reach out to young people with fewer opportunities, including refugees, asylum seekers and migrants;
• promote diversity, intercultural and inter-religious dialogue – and the EU values of human dignity, freedom, equality and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities – as well as projects enhancing media literacy, critical thinking and a sense of initiative among young people;
• reinforce the capacities and international scope of the participating organisations;
• raise young volunteers’ awareness and understanding of other cultures and countries, offering them the opportunity to build networks of international contacts, to actively participate in society and to develop a sense of European citizenship and identity.