European Solidarity Corps Projects Responding to COVID-19: Implications for Future Crises

Authors

  • Jakub Dostál College of Polytechnics Jihlava

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.20899/jpna.9.2.224-260

Keywords:

Public Projects, Nonprofit Organizations, Volunteering, COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world in an unprecedented way, affecting various areas of the economy and society, including nonprofits and volunteering. However, nonprofits and volunteering did not just face challenges due to the pandemic; they also played a role in dealing with it. This article focuses on the European Solidarity Corps (ESC), an EU initiative that promotes solidarity through volunteering in countries worldwide. There was a content analysis of all the ESC projects with pandemic-relevant keywords. Though the ESC requests for proposals in the first year of the pandemic did not address the pandemic, about 8% of projects explicitly named the pandemic as either a main or secondary reason for the projects. The ESC projects represent a way to relatively flexibly allocate public funding for local and international volunteer projects dealing with various humanitarian crises, such as COVID-19 or the war in Ukraine.

Author Biography

Jakub Dostál, College of Polytechnics Jihlava

Jakub Dostál is a nonprofit researcher and practitioner with a specialization in economics and management of volunteering. His academic experience covers universities in the Czech Republic, Estonia, and the United Kingdom. He also worked for the ADRA Czech Republic, where he co-founded a volunteer center. He currently works as an assistant professor at the Department of Economic Studies, College of Polytechnics Jihlava.

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Published

2023-08-01

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 2 (2023)

Section

Research Articles

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