Articles by Academy volunteers
Your voice matters. Ideas, stories and opinions written by our volunteers.
At EVEC Athens we believe young people have important things to say. Volunteer Voices is where our volunteers, many of them young people, share their experiences, ideas and questions about volunteering, their communities and the world around them.
Read their articles below. Every article here is written by a volunteer in the EVEC Volunteer Academy. If you are 15 or older, you can join the Academy and write for Volunteer Voices too.
Aged 15 to 17? A parent or guardian registers you. The sign-up form is for people aged 18 or over.
Articles
Latest articles
Each article shows its author’s own views, not the official views of EVEC Athens. Whose views are these?
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Environmental Volunteering in Greece: Pick Up a Bag, Plant a Tree, Change a Place
One plastic bottle on a beach feels tiny, until a few hundred people pick up a few hundred of them in a single morning…
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Environmental Volunteering in Greece: Clean-Ups, Trees and Fire Prevention for Every Age
Every summer we watch Greek forests burn and Greek beaches fill with plastic, and feel there is nothing we can do. There is.
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Volunteering with Older People in Greece: Small Acts Against Loneliness
What if one phone call, a shared activity, or a little help with a smartphone could make someone feel less alone?
About these articles
Whose views are these?
Every article belongs to the person who wrote it and shows their own views. These are not the official views of EVEC Athens, and we do not always agree with them. Publishing an article does not mean that we support everything in it.
So why do we publish them? Because we want young people’s voices to be heard. We work hard to make sure they are, including views we do not share, as long as they are respectful and lawful.
EVEC Athens is the publisher of this section, so we take care with it. We read every article before it goes online and check it against our editorial rules. If something needs changing, we send the article back to its author with our remarks before we publish. If we get something wrong, we correct it openly.
Write for us
Write for Volunteer Voices
We would love to hear from you. Every article in Volunteer Voices is written by a volunteer in the EVEC Volunteer Academy, EVEC’s free online programme for volunteers aged 15 and over. You write and send your article in the Academy, and the steps below show how it gets here.
We do not accept articles sent by email. Write your article and send it in the Academy.
Who can write
- Volunteers in the EVEC Volunteer Academy, from age 15. Joining is free.
- If you are 18 or over: join the Academy on our Volunteer Academy page.
- If you are 15 to 17: a parent or guardian first registers you for the Academy, on the Academy’s page for parents on evec.org.gr. We publish your article only if your parent or guardian gives permission.
- Already in the Academy? Sign in and open the Article writer card on your dashboard.
What you write about
Each week the Academy posts an article task on the Article writer card. It gives the week’s theme, for example the environment and nature, or older people and loneliness. It also says who the article is for, what to put in it and how long it should be. At the moment, every task asks for an article that makes readers want to volunteer.
How to write and send your article
- Write in English if you want your article in Volunteer Voices. This website publishes articles in English only.
- Write your article in your own Google Doc.
- Follow the week’s task and our editorial rules. Write simply, for the readers the week’s task names, and in your own words. Copied text is not accepted.
- Use real facts and real examples only, and say where each one comes from. If you name an organisation, programme or event, add a link to its official website. Never invent facts, numbers, organisations or quotes.
- Do not include names, photos or personal details of real people without their written permission.
- If your article is approved for publishing, other Academy volunteers get the link to your document, so that they can read it and make a picture for it. Google may show them the name on your Google account. If you do not want that, say so in your note when you send your article, and our team gives them a copy instead. For the same reason, keep your own name out of the document’s title and text.
- Share the document as ‘Anyone with the link’, with ‘Viewer’ access, never ‘Editor’.
- In the Academy, open the Article writer card, paste the link to your document, add a short note and press Send. The Academy checks that your document opens. If it is private, the Academy tells you how to fix the sharing.
What happens next
- We read it. An adult on EVEC’s Academy team reads every article. Your Article writer page shows where your latest articles are, for example ‘Being checked’, ‘Returned for changes’ or ‘Published’.
- Approval for publishing. If we would like to publish your article, we approve it for publishing and decide how many drachmas it earns. Drachmas are the Academy’s points, not money. The Academy tells you. Approval means we plan to publish your article. It is not online yet.
- A picture for your article. Our team can then open a graphics call. For usually 3 days (72 hours), other Academy volunteers can each send one picture for your article. While the call is open, they can read your article (see How to write and send your article).
- Choosing the picture. After the call closes, you can usually see the pictures in the Academy, marked A, B, C, without the names of the people who made them. Give each one 1 to 5 stars, and report any picture you think breaks the rules. Our team chooses the picture or pictures that go with your article.
- Last changes. If something still needs changing before we publish, we send your article back to you with remarks. You see them on your Article writer page. Make the changes in your Google Doc and send it back from the same page.
- Publication. We publish your article in Volunteer Voices, with your name shown as explained below. The Academy tells you, and your Article writer page shows the link to it.
- Drachmas. You get your article’s drachmas when it is published. The volunteers whose pictures were chosen get theirs at the same time.
Not every article is published. If we decide not to publish yours, your Article writer page shows it. If we stop an article after approving it, we tell you why. You get no drachmas for an article that is not published.
You can change your mind at any time before we publish: tell us in the Messages tab in the Academy. After we publish, you can ask us to remove your article from this website at any time, by writing to academy@evec.org.gr. If you are under 18, your parent or guardian can ask too.
Your article stays yours, and you can use it yourself too. We publish it here only if you have given us permission to publish it on volunteer.org.gr. If you are under 18, your parent or guardian gives this permission. The publishing tick on the Academy sign-up form does not name volunteer.org.gr, so this permission is needed as well.
How your name appears
- Your name appears with your article only if you agreed to have it shown on volunteer.org.gr. If you are under 18, your parent or guardian decides this. Ticking ‘My name on the website’ in the Academy does not cover this website on its own.
- If you are 18 or over: we show your first name and the first letter of your surname, for example ‘Maria K.’
- If you are 15 to 17: we show your first name only. If your parent or guardian agreed for you, we keep showing only your first name after you turn 18, unless you tell us otherwise.
- If nobody agreed, the article says ‘EVEC Academy volunteer’ instead of a name.
- The volunteer who made the picture for your article is credited in the same way.
- To change your choice, or to have your name taken off an article, write to academy@evec.org.gr. If you are under 18, your parent or guardian can ask too.
- We never publish an author’s full surname, email address, phone number, social media accounts, photo or bio. We never publish the school or home town of an author under 18.
What the Academy keeps about you while you write is explained in the evec.org.gr privacy notice. The Academy’s rules are in its code of conduct. What we publish on this website is covered by our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use.
Aged 15 to 17? A parent or guardian registers you. The sign-up form is for people aged 18 or over.
Editorial rules
Our editorial rules
We want Volunteer Voices to be a place where young people can speak freely and where everyone is treated fairly. You are welcome to share opinions that we, or other people, may not agree with. But we do not publish articles that:
- say untrue things about real people, schools, companies or organisations, or accuse them of doing something wrong without strong proof
- insult people or make fun of them
- encourage hatred, discrimination or violence against anyone because of their race, colour, religion, descent, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability
- share someone’s private information or photos without their permission (for people under 18, their parent’s or guardian’s permission too)
- copy text, photos, videos or music that are not yours without permission
- tell readers how to treat, prevent or cure an illness, or give legal or financial advice
- advertise products, businesses or political parties, or include links that earn money for anyone
Facts and opinions
Facts must be true and checkable, so please give your sources. Make it clear when something is your opinion, for example by writing ‘I think…’ or ‘In my view…’. If your article criticises a named person or organisation, we may ask them for their side before we publish.
Health, food and science
Articles about health, food or science need extra care, because readers may act on what they read. We do not publish one until we have checked its facts and sources and a person with the right knowledge has read it. We do not publish any claim that a food or plant treats, prevents or cures an illness, and the article must say clearly when a finding comes only from laboratory or animal studies. If something needs changing, we send the article back to you. These articles carry a health note.
Editing
Before we publish, we read your article carefully. If something needs changing, we send it back to you with our remarks, and you make the changes in your Google Doc. We publish your article with your title and your words. We may correct small spelling and punctuation mistakes, and we add the picture and the note that goes on every article. We do not change anything else you wrote without your agreement.
After publication, we do not change your words without your agreement. If we receive a complaint and reasonably believe that a passage breaks the law, we hide the article while we ask you about it. If you agree to a correction, we make it. If you do not agree, or we cannot reach you in time, we keep the article hidden or remove it. You can also ask us to remove the whole article at any time.
Keeping young authors safe
- For authors under 18 we show only a first name, and only if their parent or guardian agreed to have it shown on volunteer.org.gr. Otherwise the credit reads ‘EVEC Academy volunteer’. We never show their photo, bio, school or home town.
- We do not publish anyone’s contact details.
- Before we put a photo online, we remove any location details stored in it.
- If anything about Volunteer Voices worries you, write to erasmus@evec.org.gr or call +30 21 2104 2017. If it is about the Academy, use Report a problem in the Academy, or email youth@evec.org.gr and mark the message Safeguarding. It reaches Mrs Mirlena Charisi, who is responsible for safeguarding.
Corrections and complaints
Corrections and complaints
We want Volunteer Voices to be fair and accurate. If you think an article contains a mistake, is unfair to you or to someone else, uses your work or your personal information without permission, or breaks the law, please tell us. Anyone can do this, not only authors.
How to tell us
Email erasmus@evec.org.gr with the subject Volunteer Voices: correction or Volunteer Voices: complaint. Please include:
- the link to the article
- what you think is wrong, and why
- your name and email address
- if the article is about you, the correction or the short reply you would like us to publish
What we do
- We reply to confirm that we have received your message.
- If the problem looks serious, for example a possible false accusation, someone’s private information, hate speech or a risk to someone’s safety, we may hide the article while we check.
- We ask the author for their side of the story.
- We never give the author’s contact details to the person who complained, or theirs to the author. We contact the author through the Academy.
- We decide as quickly as we can.
- We may keep the article as it is, add a dated correction, change the article with the author’s agreement, publish your reply under the article, or remove the article. A correction appears at the top of the article, with the date, and is as easy to see as the part it corrects.
- We tell you and the author what we decided and why.
If you disagree with our decision, reply to our email and we will look at it again. You can also contact the competent authorities or courts. If your complaint is about your personal data, you can also complain to the Hellenic Data Protection Authority (www.dpa.gr).
Your right to reply
If an article mentions you and you think it is inaccurate or offensive, you can ask us to publish a short reply. If your reply is respectful and lawful, we will publish it under the article as soon as we can.
FAQ
Questions about Volunteer Voices
Who can write for Volunteer Voices?
Volunteers in the EVEC Volunteer Academy, from age 15. Joining is free. If you are 15 to 17, a parent or guardian registers you first, and we publish your article only if they give permission.
Who can write shows how to join or sign in.
Can I send my article by email?
No. We do not accept articles sent by email. Write your article in your own Google Doc, then send the link from the Article writer card in the Academy.
How to write and send your article explains each step, including how to share your document.
Can I write in Greek or another language?
Not for Volunteer Voices. Write in English if you want your article in Volunteer Voices. This website publishes articles in English only. See How to write and send your article.
How will my name appear with my article?
Your name appears with your article only if you agreed to have it shown on volunteer.org.gr. If you are under 18, your parent or guardian decides this. If nobody agreed, the article says ‘EVEC Academy volunteer’ instead of a name.
If you are 18 or over, we show your first name and the first letter of your surname. If you are 15 to 17, we show your first name only. If your parent or guardian agreed for you, we keep showing only your first name after you turn 18, unless you tell us otherwise. How your name appears has the details.
Can I change my mind or have my article removed?
Yes. Before we publish, you can change your mind at any time: tell us in the Messages tab in the Academy. After we publish, you can ask us at any time to remove your article from this website.
To have your article removed, to change how your name appears or to have your name taken off an article, write to academy@evec.org.gr. If you are under 18, your parent or guardian can ask too. See What happens next and How your name appears.
How do I report a mistake or a problem in an article?
Anyone can tell us, not only authors. Email erasmus@evec.org.gr with the subject Volunteer Voices: correction or Volunteer Voices: complaint. How to tell us lists what to include, and What we do explains what happens next.
If you are worried about someone’s safety, see Keeping young authors safe. If someone’s life or safety is in danger, see In an emergency.
Where do I find the articles?
Under Latest articles, at the top of the Volunteer Voices page. If the list is empty, no article has been published yet.
Would you like to write one? Find out how to write for Volunteer Voices.
Looking for something else? See all our questions and answers in one place.
Get involved
Ready when you are
Aged 15 to 17? A parent or guardian registers you. The sign-up form is for people aged 18 or over.