European Solidarity volunteering in Ecovillages and Ecoprojects
Your travel, accommodation and even pocket money is funded, so you don’t need to be out of pocket to travel abroad and discover community living. You’ll be assigned a mentor to help you get the best out of your experience, and there’s even free language training! Many of our member ecovillages and ecoprojects offer an opportunity to volunteer in their communities – explore them here!
Ecovillage Suderbyn
Suderbyn is an intentional community of 15-25 people from all over the world, living and working together to create a socially and environmentally sustainable lifestyle. It is a pilot site for creating small-scale regenerative society through a holistic approach. Suderbyn’s non-profit NGO, “Relearn”, works locally and internationally on projects focused on education and holistic models of social and environmental sustainability. It is located in Gotland, an island in the middle of the Baltic sea, which has been appointed as pilot region for the Energy transition of Sweden.
- The “Earth Keepers” program, where most of the time is spent in the permaculture garden and the forest garden.
- The “Roof Keepers” program, where most of the time is spent with the infrastructure team, to improve our current facilities and build new ones following natural building principles.
- Duration of Volunteering
12 months
- Usual start/end time
Beginning of March 2025
Link to News/Call/ESC Website/EU portal entry: https://www.suderbyn.se/greenskills
Landsforeningen for Økosamfund – Danish Ecovillage Network
Organisational affiliation: Danish Ecovillage Network (LOES)
Hosting community: www.hallingelille.dk
- Gardening, administration, Erasmus+ and other International Project Coordination & Educational Activities, Communications, and practical work in the ecovillage.
- Projects in Ghana, Ukraine and Erasmus+ (with the project coordinator in LOES, Camilla) and Educational activities (with both Signe and Camilla). Once every fortnight, the whole team will have an office day together. Apart from working with LOES 3 days a week, 2 days will be in the hosting ecovillage, where tasks can include everything from cooking shared dinners in the community with the cooking teams, assisting in the gardens and running activities in a nearby asylum centre.
Read more here: https://okosamfund.dk/aktiviteter/projekter/european-solidarity-corps-esc/
- Length of Volunteering
8,5 months
- Usual start/end time
Once a year: From 1st of March 2025 – 31st of December 2025
- Link to News/Call/ESC Website/EU portal entry: https://youth.europa.eu/solidarity/opportunity/40441_en
- Contact info: camilla@okosamfund.dk
Sieben Linden Ecovillage
Sieben Linden is a large ecovillage with a small ecological footprint, housing 150 people living on 100 ha of land, since 1997. The community contains sustainable gardens, renewable energy concepts, and straw bale houses. Visiting their ecovillage will impart techniques on community building, personality development, ecology, non-violent communication and more. They host a wide range of seminars, and have a rich selection of online webinars on their website.
Organic Vegetable Gardening
- 8 months: 1st of March – 31st of October (2 places)
- 12 months: 31st of March – 28th of February (1 place)
- Link to the webpage for applications: https://siebenlinden.org/de/european-voluntary-service-europaeischer-freiwilligendienst/
- Link to interview of past ESC volunteers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u3NL-lsnEo
- Contact details for applicants and application deadlines: Lorena Castro as ESC-Coordinator: freiwilligenkoordination@fk.siebenlinden.org
Netherlands Ecovillage Network – Bergen Ecovillage
Ecovillage Bergen covers an area of 15 hectares and is located in the northwest of the Netherlands,
close to the sea. The terrain is a former war airport, now transforming into a place of peace and creativity. The community consists of a group of about 25 people. The common focus is living with a low ecological footprint in a natural environment.
You may expect shared housing, common facilities and diverse social activities. There is an events terrain, a vegetable garden, a giveaway shop, a small bulk shop and many green areas of smallwilderness.
The Hosting Organisation is GEN NL.
- Different areas
- Duration of Volunteering
4,5 months
- Usual start/end time
1 September – 15 January
Ecovillage Bergen: www.ecodorpbergen.nl
GEN Netherlands: www.gen-nl.nl
Contact details for applicants and application deadline questions to Petra : info@ekostam.nl
ESC application form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdg5ddsMKhvRSa9JMR10tdl9F97DfbrVOxSgxFgQ72Loe_mMg/viewform
Sunseed Desert Technology Ecoproject
Sunseed Desert technology is an ecoproject, and non-formal education project for the transition towards sustainability. They dedicate themselves to realise, demonstrate and communicate solutions that support a low-impact lifestyle.
- Sunseed is a multifaceted project developing and experimenting with various topics from non-formal education, sustainability, biodiversity and self-sufficiency. As a volunteer you can join different fields: Sustainable Living, Organic Gardens, Ecosystem restoration, Appropriate Technology, Eco-maintenance, Office, Education, Communication.
- Length of Volunteering
6 months
- Usual start/end time
Beginning of March or September
