Belgium: ESC: ESC de Hoge Rielen 2027

About the local hosting organization

ADJ (Algemene Dienst voor Jeugdtoerisme - General Department for Youth Tourism) is a non-profit organisation, entrusted with the exploitation of the youth centres owned by the Flemish Government: ● the domain for youth, youth groups and education de Hoge Rielen in Kasterlee; ● the centre for youth, art and creation Destelheide in Dworp; ● the educational centre Hanenbos in Dworp. ADJ is funded by the Flemish Government to offer affordable/cheap stays through the provision of infrastructure and services to youth groups. This funding is based on a grant agreement for 4 years. It’s important that the domains are adapted to the needs and expectations of young people. Participation of young people therefore plays an important role in our organisation, as youth is our biggest and most prominent target group. ADJ consists of 2 entities but encompasses 3 centres at different locations: ● de Hoge Rielen (dHR) - this entity coincides with the centre of de Hoge Rielen, a huge domain of 230 acres. ● Destelheide & Hanenbos (DH & HB) - the entity DH & HB consists of 2 different centres, about 3 km away from each other but they are centrally run. de Hoge Rielen De Hoge Rielen is located in the municipality of Kasterlee, in the province of Antwerp, Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. The municipality is situated about 85 km from Brussels, the capital of Belgium. The domain is 230 hectares in size and as such one of the biggest youth centres in Flanders. On the vast domain you can find 17 residential buildings, 17 campgrounds, a camp tower and a hostel. During a regular year the centre hosts almost 130.000 guests and welcomes more than 30.000 day guests. The educational department coaches 664 workshops a year and provides more than 1.100 loan materials and trunk activities. There is also a sports hall which can be (partly or entirely) rented, suitable for multiple indoor sports. The main objective of de Hoge Rielen is offering and providing qualitative accommodation (buildings and camping grounds) for groups and individuals. dHR mainly hosts schools, youth organisations, sports- and socio-cultural associations, but also families, companies and individuals can rent a building or ground on the domain. De Hoge Rielen takes care of providing good maintenance of the lodges, giving people a warm welcome, preparing meals with attention for ecological principles, creating an active and educational outdoor program. Indeed, the centre also offers groups the possibility to do outdoor activities, exploring and discovering the huge domain. Also groups that don’t stay on the domain are able to book an activity. These activities are developed and organised by N&A. The educational department elaborates new activities and coaches the workshops and the various activities taking place on the domain. The N&A team members also coach the many volunteers - both ESC- and local volunteers. The focus of the educational program is youth leisure and education through sports and outdoor activities. The purpose is to encourage independence, offering opportunities to discover and create unique experiences, reinforcing group feeling and learning new skills. Learning by experience is one of the main driving principles. Destelheide & Hanenbos Destelheide is a centre for youth, art and creation, located in Dworp, 25 km from Brussels. It aims to offer and create an inspiring environment for artistic and creative activities for and by young people (particularly youth work and schools). The ambition is to be an innovator in art education with young people. The centre offers high-quality infrastructure in a green environment. The excellent facilities and services ensure a pleasant stay including catering and lodging accommodation. This spatial infrastructure facilitates the encounters between groups but also between groups and art(ists) in a playful way. Art and design should be an obvious part of the centres' infrastructure. Driving force is Dharts - the Destelheide arts educational department - that cultivates an inspiring environment, develops artistic trajectories with young people and artists and organises moments of art education to support, inspire and stimulate the residents in their own activities. Dharts organises expositions, masterclasses, artistic formations, artistic projects, try-outs from the artists in residence, international youth exchanges, … Dharts realises several exhibitions per year, about 30 residencies of artists of various disciplines, offering about 20 try-outs a year with about 1.000 attendees. DH has a lodging capacity of 240 beds, achieving approximately 35.000 overnight stays per year and 13.599 day guests (in a regular year). Hanenbos focuses rather on recreation within an adventurous outdoor environment. The centre has an adventurous forest with a brand new forest experience trail and a rope trail. Hanenbos hosts about 12.000 overnight stays and 6.000 day guests a year.

Presentation of the programme

We have a long term volunteering project - from 18/1/2027 until 18/12/2027 - for which we are searching for 4 volunteers. De Hoge Rielen is a youth center that has been hosting European volunteers since 2013. It’s an accommodation domain ideal for anyone with a youthful spirit, for multi-day group activities, youth camps, nature classes or weekend breaks. The domain has nature to play and hike in, campfire places, a theatre, a sports hall, meeting rooms and so much more to offer.

About the accomodation

In our project we search for 3 different profiles: workshops guide; communication support; reception & guest contacts. All volunteers are educated in all the different tasks to get a broad working experience, but within your profile of choice you will have a more extended set of tasks.You will live in an intercultural environment with other volunteers, gain work experience in a non-formal learning context, Strengthen your teamworking and communicative skills, gain new capacities and learn to speak Dutch.

About the leisure activities

You will live on the domain of de Hoge Rielen in one of the 2 compact houses with all basic facilities, near the reception.

Requirements

The Participant profile: Each house has separate bedrooms; the bathroom, kitchen and living room are shared.Deadline: 06/09/2026 23:59