The volunteer workforce in Europe has an essential role in keeping many community facilities running and in the growth of new services. This is particularly true for projects that support opportunities for children. Many services working with children and young people operate in deprived areas and the children, parents and families benefit from quality provision for play in their community. Routes to employment in this sector are often through voluntary work as applicants are able to demonstrate their transferable skills and active participation, particularly appropriate to women returners. Prior to the VIPER project, there was no EU volunteer play training programme that provided training for volunteers in this vital area of providing for children’s play whilst also building social and civic competences.The Viper project met all it's objectives during the project and worked very well as a partnership.