International volunteering at Kiwanis Europe

We are looking for 2 volunteers (F/M/X) between 18 and 30 who wish to support our organisation for one year in our European office in Ghent, Belgium,

• one person for whom we received grants as lead organisation from our own National agency
• one person who is supported by a sending/lead organisation that can support the volunteer with approved sending grants from the own country

As volunteers, all your costs are covered by the European Programme 'European Solidarity Corps' (ESC), and we foresee an additional co-financing by our organisation.
The main purpose is that you bring an added value to our organisation, and that you learn from this experience as a once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity.

We are open for all young people, aged between 18 and 30 years to candidate, from a country that is a participating country in the programme:
• all Member states of the European Union (EU)
• non-EU participating countries Iceland, Rep. of North Macedonia, Liechtenstein
• EFTA country Norway
• Partner countries neighbouring the EU that have an agreement with the EU (such as Albania, Bosnia i Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Ukraine...).

The programme is co-financed by the European Union.

We have an own budget for 1 volunteer, with an approved (granted) project under reference 2025-1-BE05-ESC51-VTJ-000346273, and we are looking also for a sending organisation that has approved grants for sending and supporting (lead) 1 other volunteer.

We are sorry that we cannot accept candidates from other countries such as Asian countries, the US, Australia,... as they are not eligible for the ESC programme.
The UK and Switzerland do not participate in this programme. Due to the war in Ukraine, Russia is excluded from participating in the ESC project.

We can select one volunteer that need a visa. The other volunteer, as we count on a lead/support/sending organisation with approved grants, needs to come from a country where a national agency has approved the grant for sending/leading 1 volunteer.

For the volunteer needing a visa, we will need to obtain a Belgian resident permit, which is the combination of a visa and a special work permit for international volunteers. This procedure is called the "Single Permit".
We will manage this procedure, so as volunteer, you don't need to obtain a visa by yourself.
Proof of a blanc criminal records, a health certificate and some other documents will be requested from the selected volunteer in order to obtain this Single Permit.
For some countries, obtaining this Single Permit is a real hassle, which can lead to frustration and disappointments, which is out of our own controle. Be mentally prepared for that!