Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1244/2014 of 20 November 2014 laying down rules for the implementation of Regulation (EU) No 375/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the European Voluntary Humanitarian Aid Corps ( ‘EU Aid Volunteers initiative’ ) Text with EEA relevance

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EU) No 375/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the European Voluntary Humanitarian Aid Corps (‘EU Aid Volunteers initiative’) (1), in particular Articles 9(3), 10(1) and 12(6) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 375/2014, the Commission should establish standards and procedures covering the necessary conditions, arrangements and requirements to be applied by sending and hosting organisations when identifying, selecting, preparing, managing and deploying candidate volunteers and EU Aid Volunteers to support humanitarian aid in third countries. Regulation (EU) No 375/2014 provides that these standards should be adopted through delegated acts and the procedures should be adopted through implementing acts.

(2) All stakeholders of the EU Aid Volunteers initiative, including the volunteers themselves and the sending and hosting organisations should be encouraged to share a sense of identity in the initiative.

(3) It is important that candidate volunteers are identified and selected in a non-discriminatory, fair and transparent procedure, based on partnership between sending and hosting organisations, which meets the real needs expressed at local level by hosting organisations.

(4) Thorough induction should be provided by both sending and hosting organisations to prevent misunderstandings on roles and expectations and to provide volunteers with appropriate, practical preparation for placements. This would lay the foundation for trust and acceptance within host communities taking full account of relevant cultural sensitivities.

(5) Training is an essential part of the pre-deployment preparation that should be provided to all candidate volunteers in a structured programme of mandatory and optional courses. In addition, junior professionals should be enabled, where relevant through apprenticeship placements, to further develop their competences and acquire new specific knowledge and skills relevant for the humanitarian sector. In particular, this should be appropriate to the activities and context of sending and hosting organisations.

(6) An appropriate supervision and management system should be put in place by sending and hosting organisations. They should jointly supervise and assess the performance and achievements of EU Aid Volunteers and provide feedback on their task assignments and objectives. This will help to improve the accountability of the EU Aid Volunteers initiative.

(7) Mentoring should complement supervision and management and provide the EU Aid Volunteer with additional support before, during and after deployment.

(8) A channel for ongoing communication and additional support from the sending organisation should be established during deployment in third countries. Debriefing and end of placement support should be provided to all EU Aid Volunteers.

(9) Provision of adequate working and living conditions are needed to allow EU Aid Volunteers to undertake their assignments in a safe and sanitary environment, and to meet their basic needs without suffering personal hardship, while respecting the spirit of a modest, non-ostentatious lifestyle as a volunteer. Subsistence allowances and other payments allocated to EU Aid Volunteers are not intended to represent a salary for regular employment. Rates for these payments should not be established in the light of professional experience, expertise or the results of the volunteer's task assignment: they aim uniquely to cover living costs during deployment. To ensure a high and equal level of protection, all EU Aid Volunteers should be covered by a comprehensive insurance policy specifically designed to protect them throughout the entire duration of their deployment in third countries and any relevant periods before and after.

(10) Duty of care is of paramount importance and is a shared responsibility. Sending and hosting organisations should, as far as possible, look after the health, safety, security and well-being of EU Aid Volunteers and develop appropriate security, health and safety procedures. EU Aid Volunteers should equally do everything to ensure their own health, safety and security, and that of others, at the workplace.

(11) The monitoring and assessment of the individual performance of EU Aid Volunteers should be an ongoing process throughout the entire placement. It should be based on a supervision and performance management system and provide data that demonstrates to what extent the individual performance of the EU Aid Volunteer contributes — at outcome and impact level — to the objectives of the project and the overall initiative.

(12) A robust certification mechanism is necessary to ensure that sending and hosting organisations comply with the standards laid down in the Commission Delegated Regulation to be adopted on the basis of Article 9(2) of Regulation (EU) No 375/2014 and the procedures laid down in this Regulation. Such a certification mechanism should be based on the principles of simplification and non-duplication, differentiation between sending and hosting organisations, cost-effectiveness, transparency and impartiality, encouraging diversity and accessibility.

(13) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee established by Article 26 of the Regulation (EU) No 375/2014.

(14) In order to ensure a timely implementation of the EU Aid Volunteers initiative, it is necessary for this Regulation to enter into force as an urgent matter as it sets the provisions based on which implementing organisations to deploy EU Aid Volunteers in third countries,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

CHAPTER 1

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1

Subject matter

This Regulation establishes rules to implement the Regulation (EU) No 375/2014 as regards the following matters listed in Articles 9(3), 10(1) and 12(6) thereof:

(a) the procedures to be followed for the identification, selection and necessary pre-deployment preparation of candidate volunteers, including apprenticeship placements, where relevant;

(b) arrangements for the training programme and the procedure for assessing the candidate volunteers' readiness to be deployed;

(c) provisions for the deployment and management of EU Aid Volunteers in third countries, including, inter alia, supervision in the field, continued support through coaching, mentoring, additional training, necessary working conditions, post-deployment support;

(d) the provision of insurance coverage and living conditions of volunteers including the coverage of subsistence, accommodation, travel and other relevant expenses;

(e) procedures to be followed before, during and after deployment to ensure duty of care and appropriate safety and security measures, including medical evacuation protocols and security plans that cover emergency evacuation from third countries, including the necessary procedures for liaison with national authorities;

(f) procedures for monitoring and assessing the individual performance of EU Aid Volunteers;

(g) a certification mechanism ensuring that sending organisations comply with the standards and procedures referred to in Article 9 of Regulation (EU) No 375/2014, and a differentiated certification mechanism for hosting organisations.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation, the definitions in Article 3 of Regulation (EU) No 375/2014 and the definitions provided for in the Commission Delegated Regulation to be adopted on the basis of Article 9(2) of Regulation (EU) No 375/2014 shall apply. The following definitions shall also apply:

(a) ‘Competence framework’ means a framework within the meaning laid down by the Commission Delegated Regulation to be adopted on the basis of Article 9(2) of Regulation (EU) No 375/2014;

(b) ‘Learning and development plan’ means a plan within the meaning laid down by the Commission Delegated Regulation to be adopted on the basis of Article 9(2) of Regulation (EU) No 375/2014;

(c) ‘Trainer’ means a person recruited by the training provider to deliver one or more training modules or to facilitate scenario-based simulation exercises and to assess the candidate volunteers' competences;

(d) ‘Training mentor’ means a trainer, recruited by the training provider, with a coordinating role to assess the eligibility of the candidate volunteer for deployment. He or she is responsible for a group of candidate volunteers. He or she coordinates the assessment of their competences based on feedback from other trainers, and engages with candidate volunteers individually to reflect on their self-assessment and trainers' assessment;

(e) ‘Mentoring’ means a process of informal transmission of knowledge, social capital and psychosocial support relevant to work, career or professional development. Mentoring entails informal communication, usually face-to-face and over a sustained period, between a person identified by the hosting organisation as the mentor, on one hand, who is perceived to have relevant knowledge, expertise and experience, and the EU Aid Volunteer, on the other;

(f) ‘Debriefing’ means a process that provides the sending and hosting organisations and the EU Aid Volunteer with clear information on the results of the assignment, the achievements of the EU Aid Volunteers, and recommendations or learning from their experience, as well as capitalisation, lessons learnt and a positive professional closure of the placement.

CHAPTER 2

PROCEDURES FOR IDENTIFICATION AND SELECTION OF CANDIDATE VOLUNTEERS

Article 3

Identification and selection procedure

(a) Definition of the task assignment, competence profile and selection criteria for EU Aid Volunteers as provided for in Article 4;

(b) Announcement and application as provided for in Article 5;

(c) Assessment, long and short-listing of the applicants as provided for in Article 6;

(d) Selection as provided for in Article 7.

Article 4

Definition of the task assignment, competence profile and selection criteria for EU Aid Volunteers

Article 5

Announcement and application

Article 6

Assessment, long- and shortlisting

Article 7

Selection

Article 8

Assessment of learning needs

(a) Seniority, with the possibility for senior professionals to focus on mandatory modules and to choose the appropriate level of project management training and specialised optional modules;

(b) The needs of the hosting organisation for specific competences, to be addressed through participation of the candidate volunteer in optional modules;

(c) General competences of the candidate volunteer, to be addressed through participation in optional modules.

CHAPTER 3

TRAINING PROGRAMME OF THE EU AID VOLUNTEERS INITIATIVE

Article 9

Training programme