Xylokastro is situated on the coast of the Corinthinan Gulf, 30 km West from Corinth, in the Peloponnese (South Greece). Xylokastro is a destination for tourists, because of the acient monuments and the "night life" opportunities that offers. The surroundings are very green and most of the locals are employed working in fields (vineyards, citrus fruits). Some small tourist enterprises are also in the region.The county of Corinthia is situated only 50 km west of Athens and it is very easy and comfortable to travel back and forth.
The volunteers will stay in a full-equipped flat and with all the facilities for cooking.
There are no special knowledge, qualification needed from the volunteer. Full training will be provided.
The volunteers will have special guidance and support from the staff and the members of the municipality and from the coordinator organization, in all the cases of highly demanding tasks. From the staff the volunteers will get a high standard support and training, they will prepare them for the activities.
In order to facilitate their work and integration, volunteers will join an obligatory Greek language training from the begining of their voluntary service.
The mentor and the youth advisor will give them a high standard personal support.
We would like also to develop the volunteers' responsibility, creativity, knowledge, and skills and to help them to be prepared if the wish to work in this field. They will also gain more self-esteem and compassion through creative work.
The certification of the volunteers' experience, achievements will be included in the YOUTHPASS certificate at the end of the project.
Our goal the volunteer to acquire during their stay is: European awareness - they will work with national and international youngsters in teams and through this intercultural experience they learn to be tolerant, working in team, to cooperate and communicate

The aim of hosting international volunteers is to establish an exchange of knowledge and to let young people know and participate in conservation activities in a natural environment. International volunteering is good to bring different cultures together, to diffuse the existence of development projects and to exchange experiences and knowledge. A volunteer from a foreign country could be an excellent opportunity for our local community, mainly for the youngsters to overcome language and cultural difficulties and to learn from each other. Moreover this project gives great opportunities for cooperation with the staff and the members of Ä.Å.Ê.Ô.Å.Î. and will be benefit for our local volunteers, because by working together with someone who comes from a foreign country, they will learn the values of tolerance, equality and acceptance.
The volunteers will have the chance to broaden their horizons by living and learning in a foreign country and working in a team of international and national people. In addition, they will acquire experience and skills, which may prove useful skills for their professional future. Our objectives to host volunteers are to introduce them to the local community, to develop the understanding of the European and international cultural context, to provide informal intercultural education and experience to youths, encouraging their social integration, their active participation and to offer them new means of expression and communication through the voluntary work.

" Describe the activities in which the volunteers could be involved and the activities the volunteers could create in your organisation. Give examples of typical activities for the volunteers.

The tasks for each volunteer will be adjusted to his/her personal abilities and needs. We would like to stress that none of the tasks can be seen as employment substitution, moreover we would like to stress the importance of giving ideas, taking initiatives by the volunteer. The host and the coordinating organization is open for new ideas and support the initiatives.

Activities in which the volunteers could be involved:

Centre of creative work with children

The voluntary work placement will be in the Centre of Creative Working with Children (Ê.Ä.Á.Ð.). In our Center can be participated children in between 5-12 years old. Our Centre employs four educated, specialized employees (a nursery-school teacher, a specialist for creative working with children, a theatrical pedagogue and a music pedagogue) who are responsible for the workshops, and they will give every support for the volunteers what they need.
In our value has a big role to create an environment where qualified experienced staff can develop themselves and continuously give their best performance in the classroom and develop in children the knowledge, skills, attitudes and concepts in key learning areas.
Our goal is to provide learning experiences that are appropriate to a child's age, learning readiness, stage of development and level of maturity. We believe that we must help children to appreciate each child's individuality, while developing their ability to work and play together. Our target group are children aged between 5-12 years old that we would like to give a high standard care and at the same time to give a learning experience with several workshops that the children can take part in such as handcraft, painting lessons, theatrical games, music workshops, moreover we go for excursions, trips.
1. The volunteers will participate in the theatrical workshop/theatrical games (they will help to organize theatrical games with puppets, shadow play, help in organizing the stage, give ideas in directing in cooperation with the teacher, pantomim, extemporization, dramatization of fairy tale etc.)
2. Help in the fine-art workshop (the volunteers will work on the field of handcraft, to use different kind of materials such as clay, lime etc., they will help the children to make constractions, collages, paintings etc.)
3. The volunteers will participate in the music-kinetic workshop (they will organize music-kinetic games, sound stories, singing, playing on musical instruments, using the equipments of multimedia such as CD, video, television, slides)
4. Out of the workshops, in the free time of the daily schedule the volunteers will look after the children (table games, see movies, listen music, slides. The volunteers will have opportunity and we would like them to bring international touch in their activities with the children: singing songs mainly from their country, in their language, play games typical from his/her country)
5. The volunteers will participate in the outdoor activities like sport events, excursions, museums etc.
6. The volunteers will organize cultural events, activities with the staff and the children like theatre, prose (poems, monolouges etc.), chorus.
7. They will help the children to use the computer in basic programs and to be involved in the world of the new technology.
8. The volunteers will make presentations,leaflets about our Center and our activities in cooperation with the staff, highlighting the values of our work.
9. The volunteers will participate in the work of the Information office in Xylokastro, which provides information about the Youth Program. The volunteers with the staff will give information about the Youth Program, make the voluntary service more attractive for the Greek youngsters giving live example with their participation.
The Center of Creative Working with Children is opened in a different schedule according to the season. In summer the Center is opened from 8:30-14:30, the winter from 14:00-20:00. On this way the timetable of the volunteers will be different in summer and in winter.
A typical winter timetable: Monday 14:00-16:00 free activities; 16:00-17:00 fine arts, paiting, constractions; 17:00-18:00 theatrical games; 18:00-19:00 pedagogic activity (reading, conversations, environmental courses, fairy tales, mythology); 19:00-20:00 use and constractions of musical instruments
Tuesday 14:00-16:00 free activities; 16:00-17:00 pantomime; 17:00-18:00 pedagogic activities (reading, conversations, environmental courses, fairy tales, mythology); 18:00-19:00 chorus, singing; 19:00-20:00 table games (logical games) Wednesday 14:00-16:00 free activities, 16:00-17:00 fairy tales, history; 17:00-18:00 puppet theatre 18:00-19:00 making collage; 19:00-20:00 sound stories
Thursday 14:00-16:00 free activities; 16:00-17:00 music-kinetic courses; 17:00-18:00 handcraft workshop; 18:00-19:00 dramatization of fairy tale 19:00-20:00 use the multimedia equipment (video, computer lessons, CD etc.)
Friday 14:00-16:00 free activities; 16:00-17:00 handcraft workshop (using clay) 17:00-18:00 chorus, singing, using musical instruments; 18:00-19:00 constructions (with paper, wood etc.); 19:00-20:00 theatrical games.

http://ec.europa.eu/youth/evs/aod/hei_form_en.cfm?EID=34000133401