A. Project environment

Children's Home is in fact an imprressive 18th century palace and park complex, of a unique atmosphere and tranquility. Children live in mixed groups in specially adapted parts of the Palace. Each group, of around 16 persons, occupies a section with bedrooms, social room, kitchen and bathrooms. Every group has two tutors.

Mosty is a beautiful little village, located in north-west of Poland, close to Goleniów. The village is inhabited by around 2000 people. Relatively small, Mosty has everything of a social infrastructure: a a kidergarten, a primary and junior high school, a bar, a disco, a post office, and a catholic church. Minibuses operate regularly to Goleniów. There is no problem in getting a lift with somebody of our staff or neighbours to Goleniów, or other town. Biking is also possible, the institution has some bikes to be used by the volunteers. For long-distance walking amateurs there is a train station 3 km away. People are very kind and open, although language barrier can sometimes create some difficulties.


Goleniów
A quiet town in northwestern Poland with over 22 000 inhabitants. It is situated in the centre of Goleniów Forest, which makes it a perfect place for hiking and biking tours. Vicinity of Szczecin, Baltic sea coast, and international airport (located just a few km east of Goleniów) make it a good place for living and visiting.
Our project is meant for kids and nature lovers who prefer crickets chirping the to the hustle and bustle of city life. However the vicinity and easy connection to Szczecin (the main city of North-West Poland) allows to keep sound balance between urban and rural life style.
The volunteers will share an apartment in Mosty or Goleniów. Single rooms only.


B. Proposed activities for EVS volunteers

Volunteers benefits

The volunteers will be offered:
- an opportunity to enrich the lives and personalities of young people, who often have suffered abuse and negliegence and who are at risk of making destructive choices and taking on destructive behaviours
- an insight into a a reality of childcare insitution and a chance to gain professional experience in social work with minors
- guidance and coaching from our staff and coordinating organisation (in terms of planning and desiging activities, dealing with challenges of pedagogic work, organising various events etc)
- Polish language lessons, an insight into polish culture
- to take part in actities outside of the centre, be it holiday trips or any activities they could be interested in (along with residents and individually)


Volunteers tasks

Our volunteers will:
- support tutors in everyday activities, this includes: assiting to and from swimming pool and other afterschool activities, helping with homework (e.g. with foreign languages), engaging in evening and weekend meals preparation
- organize leisure activities (workshops, excursions, games) for afterschool time, holidays and weekends. Some of the suggestions are: sport and dance activities, use of computers for educational purposes, internet use and website designing, photography.
- provide a positive role model for young people through obeying the rules of the house (e.g. being on time)
- cooperate with our partners in organisation of various events ( weekend workshops, Christmas academies, summer camps etc)
- attend the meetings with staff regarding their responsibilities


Work schedule
The schedule will be rather flexible and will depend on the time of the year. The animation work will be done when the children are not at school (weekdays' afternoons, weekends, holidays).

According to EVS regulations the volunteers will work up to 35 hours a week. About 60 % of time will be dedicated to preparation and running activities for residents (individually or in cooperation with other volunteers and staff members). About 40 % of the time will be dedicated to assistance tasks. Number of language lessons, if desired, can be increased.


The proposed weekly schedule:

SCHOOL YEAR

Tue-Fri
Morning off
13:45 - 14:15 lunch
15:00-18:00 running activities for residents
18:30-19:00 dinner
19:00-20:30 mostly support work (e.g. assisting in bed-time preparations) or continuation of afternoon activities

Saturday

Approximately 5 - 7 hours of running activities and supporting the staff. This will vary depending of the time of the year etc. (e.g. workshops, sport games, bonfires, hiking, and bike trips…) 1,5h Polish lesson

Sun-Mon off


Upon previous agreements, the days off can be shifted so that volunteers have full weekends off. Similarly, volunteers can be asked to stay with residents throughout the weekend and have working days off instead.

Volunteers will have autonomy to organise their schedule, however will need to take into account the everyday routine, the suggestions of the staff regarding the duration of the activities, groups composition etc.

Note: The proposed schedule refers to Mosty residents (3-18yrs); activities for Goleniów section (16-18yrs) will be decided individually.

SUMMER TIME schedule will differ significantly from the school year's.
Volunteers will be expected to work flexible hours, attend excursions, engage in organising youth exchanges, camps etc. Early morning waking up, and late night preparations included. On the other hand more flexibility in arranging days off.


C. Volunteer profiles and recruitment process

Taking into consideration the delicate settings of the project Volunteers should first of all have experience in working with kids and/or youth and be truly motivated to work with these groups.They will need to be mature, flexible and reliable.

Maturity - their behaviour will be closely observed by the kids, constatnly judged and possibly followed, so our volunteers need to remember that they will be role-models, and they need to set proper example. (E.g. no alcohol, drugs consumption can be accepted within institution premises and while with residents.) Another aspect is ability to develop relationships with boundaries in order to avoid favouring some kids to other and emotional over involvement.

Flexibility - the educative process and life in our instiution is dynamic, even though the sound routine is established, many situations will bring change and demand both understadning and cooperation of our volunteers.

Reliability - by that we understand that:
1. the volunteer will be of true support for the Children's Home staff, and will comply with the rules of the house
2. the volunteer will be aware of their capabilites and promise only what is capable of and keeping their promise towards the young residents

Knowledge of English or German will be usefeul since these are the languages residents learn at school (residents need both motivation and support in linguistic development). These languages will be also helpful during the initial period of stay with communication with the staff and coordinating organisation. Motivation to learn Polish will be very welcome.

Volunteers will need to have initiative. Any artistic or sport skills and personal interests will be thus of a great advantage. Volunteers will base on their own knowledge, interests and skills while designing activities for the residents.

Interest in pedagogics, social work with young people and social inclusion issues along with driving lincence will be helpful.
We rely on our partner and coordinatoing organisation - CIM Horyzonty in all the issues related to recruitment of profiled volunteers. We will do our best to keep gender balance while recruting volunteers.


D. Special needs

We are open to host volunteers with fewer opportunities. However every case will be considered individually. Not every social and personal limitation is of neutral influnce towards the minors.Our priority is well-being and safety of our residents. Serious mobility limitations will be a barrier until 2010 when we move to a modern builiding.


E. Risk prevention, protection and safety

Mosty and Goleniów area is a safe living environment. Working condition in Children's Home also present no physical risk. Beforehand and upon arrival we will discuss with volunteers all potential conflict factors. We will make sure both parties understand what they can expect. While hosting we will organise regular meetings with volunteers to listen to their feedback, and react in the beginning of any conflict or discouragement if such arises. We will do our best to choose mentors who will be able to provide proper support to our volunteers. Taking into consideration the delicate and demanding settings of our institution we will spare no effort to create an open and trust-based atmosphere, and provide our volunteers with any support they might need.

Hosting under-aged EVS volunteers will happen only after successful completion of EVS projects with adults and will be thoroughly prepared with sending organisation. We will make sure our staff will be available for the volunteers. We will take the most of advanced planning visit to prepare all parties involved.

http://ec.europa.eu/youth/evs/aod/hei_form_en.cfm?EID=58000509310