Esperanza is a living community for youngsters between 11 and 18 years. The organisation was founded in 1998 by our leader Martina Kozina. Esperanza is located in Oberndorf an der Melk in Lower Austria. The organisation is situated in a single farmhouse in about 450 metre sea level situated in a beautiful landscape. The next village Oberndorf is about 4 km far away - it has a population of 3.000 inhabitants) The next cities are Scheibbs - about 13 km far away and St. Pölten - the capital of lower Austria is about 53 km far away. There are no direct public transport systems from the farmhouse to the next village or to other cities. The volunteer has the possibility to use the car or the autocycle of the hosting organisation, so it will be profitable for the volunteer to have the driving licenses.
Esperanza is a part of the public body of lower Austria - youth social service (Einrichtung der Jugendwohlfahrt) The base of the work in the hosting organisation is a balanced relationship between animals - nature - people. The team of the hosting organisation developed different coping strategy and problem solving strategy together with children and youngsters.

Practical arrangements for the volunteer:

Board: the volunteer can eat together with the staff and the youngsters. He/ she can also use the kitchen of the hosting organisation (prepare food for themselve)
Loading: The volunteer will live in an single room with bathroom and toilette (the room will be in an neighbouring farmhouse) So the volunteer can go by feet to the hosting organisation. The volunteer will have his/ her own room. The volunteer is responsible for cleaning his/ her room. Visitors are allowed - but he/ she has to ask the staff before.
Language training will be offer by the hosting organisation and depends on the volunteer.
Special Trainings: for the volunteer it´s possible to attend special trainings offered by the hosting organisation. (depends on the volunteer needs)
Alcohol and cigarettes are not allowed in our house. At 10 p.m. it has been quiet. Bedsheeds and towles are in the house.

Proposed Activities for the volunteer:

The organisation Esperanza would like to have one volunteer. He/ she should be involved in the daily work of the organisation. It´s very important that the volunteer will learn more about each working field of the organisation. He/ she should support the staff members, talk with the children and youngsters and support them, take care for the youngsters and support the staff members to organize some different events like camps in the summerholidays, workshops,…

Learning outcomes:

During the evs period the volunteer should learn more about the own personality. We think it is a special experience for young people to work abroad and to learn or to improve a foreign language.
Social competences: develping a common understandig for the children and youngsters and their needs
Creative and individual: develping own ideas, create own projects
Teamwork: to work in a team, to take consideration of others, be flexible
Project and time management: dealing with time and create own projects
Basic knowledge of youth work in austria and knowledge of the main working fields of the hosting organisation

Role of the volunteer:

Our volunteer should assist our social workers and help them to support our children and youngsters by their daily life. The volunteer will not replace a social worker and he/ she will not responsible for administrative work.

Tasks of the volunteer/ activities:

The volunteer will be an active part of the hosting organisation (will be involved in the regular activities) He/she will get the opportunity to create own projects together with the children and youngsters, like different freetime activities, outdoor activities or excursions or special summer activities.
Examples for a typical day in our organisation:
Morning: Start is flexibel, it depends on the schoolstart or der workingstart of the children and youngsters. The volunteer will support the team by following activities: wake up the children and youngsters, prepare the breakfast,
09:00 - 10:00 Regular teammeeting (actvities and tasks of the day, special offers for the children and youngsters - discussing the activities of the volunteer
10:00 - 12:00 Organisation of the day activities (preparing different activities like buying foodstuff for the lunch or the dinner, prepare different outdoor activities or workshops, cooking meals for the children and youngsters, planing projects,…)
13:00 Lunch - together with the children and youngsters and the team
13:30 - 18:00 Support the team by their daily work like care for the children and younsters - support them by doing their homeworks or houseworks like tidy up their rooms, be available for different activities like outdoor activities like riding, hiking, sports, painting, creating projects, spend time together with the children and youngsters,…
18:00 - 19:00 Dinner - together with the children and youngsters and the team
19:00 - 20:00 Rest period for the children and youngsters - they are on their own rooms, time for meditation, reflection of the day, prepartion for the next day
20:00 - 22:00 Support the team by their daily work like care for the children and younsters - spend time with them, doing different activities with them like reading, telling stories, singing, listening to them,…
22:00 Sleep - nighttime peace

Overview of volunteer´s tasks:

" to talk and support the youngsters by different acitivities and tasks (housework, homework, projects for the school,…)
" to assist the staff members by their daily works
" beeing available for questions and problems
" to provide information about the own home country for the children and younsters

Once a week is cleaning day in the hosting organisation - tidy up all rooms (rooms of the children and youngsters, kitchen and living room, toiletts and bathrooms,…)
Once a week there is youth team - this is a special offer for the youngsters in the hosting organisation. So they have the possibility to discuss their wishes, suggestions, problems or plans together with the team. The volunteer should also be an active part of these team.
The volunteer will have 3 free days per week and 24 days holiday (by 12 months evs)
The working hours are very different so the volunteer should be flexible. For example: on two days the volunteer should be available from 10:00 - 21:00, one day from 14:00 - 21:00 and one day from 10:00 - 16:00. the working days and hours and also the free time of the volunteer will arrange together with the team and the volunteer. The staff of the hosting organisation are available 24 hours per day (so a staff roster is very important for the whole team and also for the volunteer)

The working fields for the volunteer are varied and they also depends on the interestes of the volunteer. (so the hosting organisation will create together with the volunteer his/ her tasks)
The leading responsibility for day activities will be the responsible social worker of the day and the volunteer will support them by different daily activities. So the social worker is also responsible for the volunteer.

Volunteers profile

In respect of the general recruitment criteria, we wish to have a volunteer who is interested in working with children and youngsters, he/ she should like animals - he/ she should not be afraid of animals (we have horses, sheeps, dogs, cats, chicken, pigs, donkies, ducks, guinea pigs) It´s also important, that the volunteer is not allergic of our animals. The volunteer should like to live in the country side in an single farmhouse far away from big cities and other evs volunteers or students. So it´s proftiable for the volunteer to have a driving license (he/ she could use the car of the hosting organisation)
Moreover the volunteer shouldn´t have no criminal records. There are no other criterias.
We are open to work with any partners from europe.