The training programme is an element of the EU Aid Volunteer initiative, which provides opportunities to EU citizens and long-term residents, with a wide range of skills and professional backgrounds, to get involved in humanitarian aid projects through deployment and online-volunteering. The overall objective of EUAV is to train and deploy approximately 4000 volunteers by 2020.

The initiative focuses on strengthening the EU's capacity to deliver needs-based humanitarian aid by providing professional support through the deployment of trained volunteers to people in need. Furthermore, it aims to strengthen the capacity and resilience of vulnerable and disaster affected communities ,through the implementation of joint projects between experienced humanitarian actors and local organisations.

As part of a European consortium ASPR co-developed and provided pre-departure training to volunteer candidates pre-selected for positions published on the EU Aid Volunteers Platform. Humanitarian aid experience is not always needed to apply. Volunteer vacancies range from junior positions for those with less than 5 years to senior positions. As part of the selection process volunteer candidates will have to successfully complete the pre-deployment training which consists of an online and a face-to-face component.

The ASPR and three other central training venues organise the face-to-face component. The training curricular is competency based and comprises courses about the EU's crisis response system, an introduction to humanitarian action, managing safety, security and health, project management, intercultural awareness and a variety of optional modules. It also includes a scenario-based simulation exercise requiring candidate volunteers to demonstrate acquired competences. Each candidate volunteer will be assessed throughout the training and at the end it will be determined if they are fit for deployment.