EYVOL

Empowering Youth Volunteers Through Sport (EYVOL) is a transnational and multi-sectoral cooperation initiative co-funded by the European Union within the Erasmus+ programme, involving partners from the Olympic Movement, the United Nations, Academia and civil society, working together to develop and implement innovative educational methods to train youth volunteers on how to utilise sport to promote inter-cultural dialogue, peace and socio-economic development.

Focusing initially on the enlarged Mediterranean region, the main objectives of EYVOL are:

Promote increased civic participation of young people by developing the concept of sport volunteerism for social inclusion through the attractiveness of sport activities.

Internationally collect and disseminate good practices on the use by youth and civil society organisations of sport as a tool for social transformation with a focus on intercultural and inter-faith dialogue, equality, peace and conflict resolution.

Promote sport volunteerism as a way to develop skills of youth also in view of future employment opportunities in the sport field, including but not limited to the organisation of major sporting events.

Deliver training action plans on social development through sport for the following target audiences:

• Young sport volunteers to help them implement social inclusion activities grounded on their knowledge of sport and its values.
• Youth leaders and civil society activists, not necessarily familiar with sport, to help them to achieve their objectives in fields such as the prevention of radicalisation, dispute resolutions and inclusion of most vulnerable persons.

Analyse existing normative and practical conditions, and formulate policy recommendations to promote sport volunteerism at the international, regional and national levels.

Inspired by Save the Dream, EYVOL is coordinated by the International Olympic Truce Center (IOTC) and jointly implemented with the Comité Olímpico de Portugal (COP), the Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano (CONI), the International Council for Coaching Excellence (ICCE), the European Platform for Sports and Innovation (EPSI), the European Non-Governmental

Sports Organization – ENGSO Youth, the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, the Universitat de les Illes Balears, Fundación del Centenario del Sevilla FC, Orama Neon – Youthorama and garagErasmus Foundation.

The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and the Association of IOC Recognized International Sports Federations (ARISF) are official supporters of this initiative, which also envisages the participation of Roma Cares Foundation and Al Sharq Forum.

EYVOL officially started its activities on the 22nd of January 2019, in Athens and was announced for the first time from the United Nations Headquarters in New York in November 2018, on the occasion of the 8th Global Forum of the UN Alliance of Civilizations. Its outcomes are expected to be presented in Brussels at the end of 2020 during the Final EYVOL Conference.