In recent years, Trócaire led two exciting projects as part of the EU Aid Volunteers initiative that focused on building local capacity and deployment of volunteers to contribute to building resilience of disaster–affected communities, both co-financed by the EU.

The EU Aid Volunteer initiative brings together volunteers and organisations from different countries, providing practical support to humanitarian aid projects and contributing to strengthening the local capacity and resilience of disaster-affected communities. The initiative provides opportunities for citizens from the EU to volunteer in humanitarian aid projects worldwide.

Through the REACH project, Trócaire worked in partnership with Caritas Austria, and with country offices and partner organisations in Honduras, Guatemala, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, the Philippines and Nepal, to facilitate the deployment of a total of 19 volunteers. They worked on a range of capacity building initiatives and projects across such areas as communications, resilience, climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction, protection and safeguarding.

The EU Aid Volunteers initiative also supports humanitarian organisations by strengthening their capacity to prepare for and respond to humanitarian crises. Working in partnership with Cordaid and local country offices, Trócaire implemented the Strengthening Capacities for Local Organisations to Respond Effectively in Emergencies (SCORE) project, which helped build the capacity of 12 local civil society partner organisation in Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo to be better prepared to respond quickly and effectively in the event of a crisis.