How Paris is prepping its volunteers ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games

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Updated on 14/06/2024

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Apprenticeship from volunteers to 2016
Crédit photo : Gérard Sanz/Ville de Paris

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5,300 volunteers will help out in the City of Paris during the Games. Find out more about Team Paris in this article.
Volunteers will be an essential cog in the success of the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. They will welcome, guide and advise the capital's visitors and ensure they have the best experience. The City of Paris will mobilize the 5,300 volunteers who make up the "Paris Team" volunteers group that will be deployed in the public space, in addition to the 45,000 Paris 2024 volunteers. The application phase closed on May 3rd, and applicants will be notified in autumn 2023.

Who are Team Paris?

The "Team Paris des Jeux" volunteers will embody the face of the capital, with three objectives:
  • commitment from Paris' residents;
  • an exemplary reception for visitors, positively contributing to Paris' reputation;
  • a legacy of solidarity and a positive impact for the city and its residents. This global event will be made richer by the encounters it will create.

What are Team Paris' missions?

Volunteers from the City of Paris will mainly be mobilized in the city and will be responsible for welcoming, guiding and informing visitors. They will not be mobilized directly on the official competition sites. They will play a supporting role in bringing Paris to life, so that the Paris 2024 Games are a celebration for everyone, everywhere in the city.
Their missions are grouped into six categories:
  • Reception, guidance and assistance for spectators, participants and stakeholders
  • Assisting sporting operations
  • Operational assistance for the organization
  • Spectator assistance
  • Assisting medical services
  • Ceremony assistance

Where will Team Paris des Volontaires des Jeux be deployed?

The 5,300 City of Paris volunteers will be positioned in public spaces: in the vicinity of train stations, metro stations and festivity sites, at tourist sites and near Parisian Olympic and Paralympic venues.

Volunteering schedule

The application period to become a volunteer ended on May 3rd, 2023. Here are the next steps :
  • May to September 2023: Paris 2024 and the City of Paris will review bids
  • January 2024 to February 2024: Responding to candidates
  • Spring 2024: training
  • From July 26th to August 11th, 2024: Olympic Games
  • August 28th to September 8th, 2024: Paralympic Games

General questions

For several years, the City of Paris has chaperoned a community, "Les Volontaires de Paris", which is made up of citizens committed to volunteering with the aim of making Paris more inclusive, more supportive and more pleasant to live in for everyone.

Paris wants the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games to be a trigger and an accelerator for civic engagement. Like many host cities before it, it is therefore committed to developing its own volunteering program: the Paris Team of Games Volunteers. The city had already taken a similar approach when hosting Euro 2016 and other major international sporting events.

This is a commitment during which volunteers assist the organization and implementation of Games events in Paris. Volunteers will not be payed as part of their commitment to the Paris 2024 Games. Volunteers will, however, be able to use the city's public transport free of charge. Meals will be provided by the City of Paris.

The City of Paris volunteers' missions will take place away from competition sites, so access to the competitions will not be possible. On the other hand, volunteers will be able to take part in special events.

Application

Online applications, via the Volunteers portal, were open from March 22nd to May 3rd, 2023.
Feedback to applicants will take place from January 2024.

The City of Paris has defined expectations according to the demands of each assignment. In addition to motivation and commitment, these expectations require interpersonal skills, specific periods of availability and, in some cases, specific skills. Applications will be considered on the basis of the information provided by the applicant on the registration form.

Where specific skills are required, candidates may be invited to take part in an interview or additional assessment (a language test, for example).

On the dedicated portal, applicants will be invited to answer questions that will help guide them towards their future assignments. A volunteer relations center will be set up to assist volunteers throughout the process. No specific skills are required, but when certain missions call for specific skills, some candidates may be invited to a second remote interview, or to take a language test, for example.

For organizational reasons, Paris 2024 will give preference to applicants who are available for at least 10 days during the Games period. All applicants will receive a reply from September 2023.

Missions

Based on the answers recorded on the application form, we will direct each volunteer towards the missions that seem his or her skill set. This orientation takes into account motivation, availability and know-how. Candidates can also specify which missions they do not wish to carry out.

From spring 2024 onward, selected Volunteers will benefit from training to ensure they are fully prepared to carry out their mission. The first training courses will be available online (on mobile or computer). As the Games draw closer, volunteers will continue their training at sites where they will be carrying out their missions. Concrete details of this training phase will be issued to volunteers at the end of 2023.

Missions can be adapted to specific needs. To prepare for the Games together, we will take advantage of the application form to collect these specific needs. In this way, we'll be able to devise the best solution to provide the assistance and adaptation required to meet everyone's needs.

Formations

In order to be ready for the Paris 2024 Games, the selected Volunteers will start their training course in spring 2024. This training program will enable them to:

- understand the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games environment
- get to know the specifics of their selected mission
- discover the site on which they will be assigned
- meet other volunteers and the management team

We are committed to making our training courses accessible to people with disabilities. This is why we will ask if any specific needs need to be taken into account during the application phase.

- All our digital content will be produced in accordance with the general guidelines for improving accessibility.

- On-site or remote appointments will enable all Volunteers, whatever their particular needs, to have convenient access to these events.

Practical information

The vast majority of Volunteers will be deployed over the Olympic and Paralympic Games period. This period will run from July 20th to around September 10th, 2024. The City of Paris will also mobilize Volunteers before the Games, notably on test events that will take place between August 2023 and April 2024. Candidates can specify their availability when they register.

Personal schedules will be sent out in the spring of 2024 to enable everyone to organize themselves accordingly. These schedules will be available on the volunteer platform when the time comes.

Accommodation costs will not be covered by the City of Paris. Each volunteer must find accommodation for the duration of his or her assignment.

Volunteers will have meals provided for them when they are deployed. The City of Paris will take care to offer volunteers catering options suited to all forms of diet and dietary restrictions.
Get all the news on disruptions and opportunities related to the Games with the Paris Infos Jeux 2024 newsletter.