All over Europe, there are valuable good practice experiences in creating fruitful collaboration between regional political authorities and the volunteers of civil society in the fight against unemployment  The challenge lies in identifying these good practice experiences and in demonstrating how to transfer them from one particular national, social and cultural context to another.

VERSO (Volunteers for European Employment) is a pan-European development and knowledge-sharing project funded by the European Regional Development Fund, INTERREG IVC. VERSO seeks to improve the quality of life of people across Europe by means of learning and sharing best practice experiences with voluntary work to improve European employment. Four research institutions and eight regional authorites from eight different European countries are involved in the project. The VERSO project was initiated March 2012 and ended December 2014.

[A short introduction to VERSO]

VERSO at Open Days 2014

• Ending or the beginning of a new cycle? A half-day meeting for explaining the three years project Verso to stakeholders in Catalonia. Meeting on 4th December, Barcelona. Region of Catalonie, Spain. From 9 to 14h. (Read more)
• Workshop under European Open Days: Volunteering a route to employment  
  Wednesday 08 October 2014, 14:30 - 17:00
  Venue: The Danish Church in Brussels, Rue Washington 27, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium. Read more

• Celebration of European Cooperation Day 2014 together with Ioannina Lake run
  Ioannina – Region of Epirus – Protecting our environment unites us -  Voluntary Cleanup Intervention by Management Authority of Pamvotis Lake.
  Venue: Ioannina Greece, Lake Area, Plateia Hatzi, 20 & 21 September 2014, 16:00 – 20:00 (Read more)

• The Celebration of Volunteering. Middelfart, Denmark, 2 December 2014, 14:00-17:00 (Read more)

• Final Interregional Conference, 23 -26 September 2014, Zalaegerszeg - Hévíz, Zala County, Hungary. Read more

Other acitivities

• Europe, let's cooperate! Interregional cooperation forum, Bologna, ITALY. 2-3 December 2014. You will be able to follow the web-streaming of the event from 9:45 to 13:00 on 2 December. Read more
• 1st European Social Mentoring Meeting 8 November 2014. Read more
• Human Development in Times of Crisis - Renegotiating social justice
  Conference 2-5 September 2014 in Athens Greece. Read more
• Online seminar about “Volunteering and Employability". How can volunteering act as a tool for employment? How can the volunteering experience become a space to develop employability? This online course answers these questions both from a theoretical and practical approach. The seminar start at 23^rd October to 4^th December 2014 (30 hours).
  Free of charge. Read more and register

European Capital of Volunteering 2014

• Barcelona who is one of the partners in VERSO has been appointed as European Capital of Volunteering 2014. Subscribe to the special Edition of the newsletter "A l'Abast" which highlights contents, reflection and debates on volunteering activities and opportunities in Catalonia and Europe. Read more
• L'abast, Newsletter Barcelona- European Volunteering Capital 2014 23 May 2014

• Presentation of the Project Political Board member Aikaterini Ramioti from the Hellenic Red Cross, Social Welfare Service of Ioannina

• Aarhus University, Department of Education (local VERSO website in Danish)
• Budapest Business School (local VERSO website in Hungarian)
• Municipality of Zalaegerszeg (local presentation of VERSO in Hungarian)
• Gemeente Coevorden (local presentation of VERSO in Dutch)
• Netzwerk Lippe (local presentation of VERSO in German)
• Region of Epirus (local presentation of VERSO in Greek)
• Sofia Municipality (local presentation in Bulgarian)
• Generalitat de Catalunya (local presentation of VERSO in Catalan)
• Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (local presentation of VERSO in English)
• East Riding of Yorkshire Council (local presentation of VERSO in English)

European organisations and networks working strategic with volunteering