As an organisation of 26 AFS member organisations in Europe and beyond, we support our members in their work and provide them with valuable opportunities, programmes and resources. We support and empower them in their advocacy efforts at national level, in diversifying and improvind their intercultural learning offer and in developing their volunteer networks.
Our work
We work to expand access to inclusive and high-quality intercultural mobility by increasing inclusivity, diversification and quality of intercultural learning opportunities and fostering active citizenship through volunteerism and intercultural learning experiences, while supporting our member organisations and creating partnerships with like-minded organisations.
Our areas of impact
Volunteer network
We foster active participation of volunteers through active citizenship education, intercultural learning, and mobility opportunities. We aim at providing them with opportunities to share, learn and network with other volunteers from all over Europe and beyond, and to build a solid European network of volunteers that support each other and work together towards the advancement of the AFS mission.
Supporting schools on internationalisation through non-formal education
We help schools and teachers boost their skills in intercultural learning and advance in internationalisation of schools. We work on the implementation of several externally funded projects and strategic partnerships reinforcing our need and ability for cross-sectoral cooperation in the field of intercultural learning and global citizenship education.
PEACE - Active citizenship
We work to promote active citizenship and young people’s sense of initiative as well as intercultural dialogue, recognition of diversity and promotion of tolerance. With that purpose, EFIL organises the PEACE Programme (Peace through Exchange and Active Citizenship Education Programme), a secondary school trimester exchange programme which aims at empowering and enabling young people to become active citizens.
External projects
We are part of multiple projects in collaboration with external partners with the aim of advancing in the fields of intercultural learning, global competences, internationalisation of schools and communities or active citizenship.
Global Competence for Teacher Education
Erasmus+ funded project to develop future teachers who are globally competent and have the skills to develop global competence in their students.
Expanding Learning Mobility
Erasmus+ funded project to explore cooperation between schools and pupil mobility organisations within Erasmus+ to make mobility more inclusive.
European Education Policy Network
Europe-wide network bringing together education policymakers, practitioners, researchers and other stakeholders to promote cooperation and the development and implementation of education policies.
Empowering teachers for automatic recognition
Following up on the work carried out by the “Expert Network on Recognition of outcomes of learning periods abroad in general secondary education” in 2020-2021, the ETAR project aimed at implementing the European Council’s recommendation on automatic recognition.