The Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict (IFHV) is part of a European consortium that will train young people as humanitarian volunteers across Europe.

The European Voluntary Humanitarian Aid Corps initiative is part of the European Solidarity Corps, a program funded by the EU Commission to bring young Europeans together to promote social cohesion and solidarity across borders.

It is open to people aged 18 to 35 who reside legally in a EU Member State or in a third country associated to the Programme (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Turkey and Republic of North Macedonia) and who have registered in the European Solidarity Corps Portal. 

The IFHV has won the tender together with a consortium of European humanitarian centers of excellence, namely Bioforce (France), Punto Sud (Italy) and IECAH (Spain) – all under the consortium lead of Lattanzio KIBS, an Italian consulting firm. 

The program aims to train up to 1000 young Europeans in 2023 - and up to 4000 over the lifetime of the project until the end of 2025, with part of these trainings taking place in Bochum.

"With the NOHA Master's Degree in International Humanitarian Action, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, as well as our academy for humanitarian action (aha) founded in 2020, Bochum is already Germany's center of excellence in humanitarian training" says Prof. Dr. Pierre Thielbörger, Executive Director of the IFHV. "To be part of the consortium that will train humanitarian volunteers across Europe in the future is now another great international recognition of our capabilities."

In addition, the volunteer program fits perfectly into the IFHV's training portfolio. "Young Europeans can now come to Bochum in a first, low-threshold step and familiarize themselves with humanitarian issues and gain first practical experience in organizations. Then, once their fire for the humanitarian cause has been lit, they can come back later and perfectly prepare themselves for entering the workforce in a professional two-year master's program," says Robin Pass, Institute Manager of the IFHV.

Once the volunteers have registered on the EU portal, they must first undergo an online training of around 20 hours and pass a final exam before they are then intensively prepared for a week at one of the four European locations in a face to face training. In addition to Bochum, training sessions will be held at the other partners' locations in Madrid, Marseille and Milan.

"We have developed all training content, online and face-to-face, in close collaboration with our consortium partners Bioforce, Punto Sud and IECAH," says Dr. Katrin Radtke, academic coordinator of the NOHA master's program at IFHV. "Focus topics are climate change, food security and the protection of vulnerable groups, especially children." After successfully completing the online and face to face training, the young Europeans become part of a pool of volunteers who can apply for selected projects, either individually or as part of a team.

"These projects are an excellent opportunity to get involved as active citizens*, to show solidarity with people in countries outside the EU that have been affected by humanitarian disasters or need to improve their preparedness for possible future disasters, and at the same time to learn new skills, cultures and ways of life," says Dr. Katrin Radtke.