A. Project environment: profile of the organisation and local community
Local community
The town Kolno has a population of 12 thousand people. It lies in the north-east part of the region called "województwo podlaskie". This is an area typically agricultural. However, tourists find Kolno attractive because of the natural beauty of the town itself and the neighborhoods. Far from the hustle and bustle of large cities, one can and have a rest by being close to nature and by admiring the beauty of the picturesque landscape. Clean, undamaged environment also encourages visitors to stay in Kolno.
Pure water and the air, the richness of vegetation and animal life in the nearby forests has caused the enclosure of Kolno region into so called "Green Lungs of Poland" (Zielone p³uca Polski). No more than 30 kilometers from Kolno there is the Lake District called "The region of thousands lakes" or "Mazury". Apart from the above merits our region is characterized by the sumptuousness of folk culture with its beautiful dialect.
People who visit our region and appreciate relaxation can go hiking, cycling or canoeing in "The River Pisa". Another good place for relaxation is our local sports hall. Opened a few years ago, it is still a state-of-the-art hall with an indoor swimming pool, Jacuzzi, sauna and solarium.
Kolno is affected by unemployment. The level of unemployment in Kolno poviat and in the town itself is considerably higher than the average level in Poland and is currently about 18%. The closing of work places and problems on the local job market causes the increasing number of social pathologies such as crime, alcoholism and abuse of drugs. Parents who are often unemployed and have to contend with everyday problems are not able to bring their children up in a proper way. In our town there are only few organizations that offer help for children and organize their free time. Our European School Club tries to help them cope with such difficult conditions, offers opportunities to develop their interests and prepares to live and work in Poland and Europe.
School
High School nr 1, whose patron is one of the greatest Polish romantic poet - Adam Mickiewicz, is an active school. Up to the present we have focused on organizing international youth exchanges. In the year 2004 we have managed to organize educational holidays in Great Britain where we worked on and completed the project "Poland and England in Europe". The main aims of this project were: classes for both Polish and English students in an English school, becoming acquainted with English customs and traditions, language tasks while sightseeing London, Oxford and Brighton as well as integrating and educational activities during the whole stay abroad.
In 2006 we hosted in our school the group of 17 people from a high school in Jurmala, Latvia. A week later members of our European club paid a visit to Latvia. This way we worked on and completed the project "Educational systems in Poland and in Latvia". The main aims of this project were: social contacts between youth from both countries, the exchange of educational experiences between teachers from both countries, lessons observations and getting to know the natural beauty of the regions. Conversations were in English. Both schools expressed the willingness to develop further contacts and reach agreements concerning youth exchanges in the future. School systematically works on various local projects and takes part in national-level projects.
European School Club
European School Club in 1st Adam Mickiewicz High School in Kolno has been actively working for the school and local community for 5 years. The priorities of our activity are:
- spreading knowledge about the European Union especially the common values joining this organization as well as the cultural and national heritage or the members of the European Union;
- bringing up young people in openness, tolerance and understanding for other people which are essential to live in the EU
Our organization has been involved in preparing and realization of different projects and programmes which are aimed at helping our school and local community. These are international seminars, local and regional European meetings, public debates for the wide spectrum of people, contests and international students exchanges. We use the knowledge and abilities that has been acquired through contacts with other cultures. We are against racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, intolerance and violence. We motivate others to act together for the purpose of tolerance, equality and respect for dignity and human rights. We try to make our students understand and respect other opinions and ways of life. We have great experience in intercultural education. We got the knowledge and abilities concerning intercultural communication through active participation in different forms of activity. Respect for human dignity and conviction that there are not barriers between people and nations are very important for us. We want our students to be free from prejudice and to fight stereotypes existing in our country. We teach them understanding for other nations and cultures and we enable them to make friends with their peers from abroad.
We encourage them to develop their personalities, interests and to learn foreign languages. The members of our Club have succeeded in many competitions connected with the European education and many of them are students of prestigious European universities.
Communal room "Stokrotka" - "Daisy"
A part of his/her time a volunteer would carry out also in the communal room. This room has been operating since 1998 and there are 95 children aged 6 to16 who make use of this room at the moment. These children come from pathological families mainly with alcoholic or violence problems. There are 6 pedagogues, psychologists and other specialists who help the children overcome their emotional problems by participating in various activities such as computer, art, theatre or music classes, which also develop their talents and skills.
The Local Center for Cultural Activities
We suggest that a volunteer could spend also a few hours a week working at the Local Center for Cultural Activities. Here various amateur activities take place. There is an amateur theater group, there are art and music clubs, chess and bridge clubs. This center organizes and arranges different kinds of performances, concerts, shows and plays on its stage and at its cafeteria. These are both amateur and professional events. Language and dance courses are also available at the Center. It also offers entertainment for crowds of people as well as whole families for example: "Welcome to summer", "Farewell to summer" and family fiestas. The Local Centers for Cultural Activities cultivates local traditions and customs by organizing handcraft workshops and presentations of folk groups. We hope that a volunteer will join some of the activities offered by the Local Center for Cultural Activities, which will allow him/her to develop his/her interests, talents and skills as well as having a good time simultaneously.

B. Proposed activities for EVS volunteers
A close contact with a volunteer would be, in our opinion, a very useful experience for our local community. By using the methods of non-formal education we would like him/her to help us with organizing different activities for our European School Club and to involve the volunteer in the everyday school activity. We would like him/her to help our teachers to prepare materials that can be used during lessons of different subjects for instance history and geography as well as social studies and possibly organize a course of his/her native language for the students and teachers in our school.
During the stay in our town the volunteer would also spend time with children with difficult problems in our local common room and with young people in the Local Centre for Cultural Activities. We think that hosting a volunteer will turn out to be a valuable experience for both parties. As a host organization we will provide a volunteer all necessary help and support. We will also organize for him/her free time activities such as: tours including visiting the most interesting places in Poland, sport activities in our local sport centre (swimming pool, gym, fitness club, climbing wall), a Polish language course, opportunity to participate in different activities according to the volunteer's interests (climbing course, dance course, training in our karate club, life guard course). Moreover, we will provide any kind of help in all activities e.g. while creating and leading workshops, conducting activities with children etc. Also we will provide a carer and a mentor who will integrate volunteer into life of the school. What is more, they will eagerly give any help and advice while adaptation in a new community and help to solve every day life problems.
The volunteer will have a chance to get to know Polish culture, learn Polish language and work with children and teenagers. We hope that a close contact with a volunteer will make us more open and tolerant and help us understand united Europe.
Proposed volunteer's activities:
The activities are going to be mainly connected with the activities of European School Club 'EuroAdaœ' which functions in 1st Adam Mickiewicz High School in Kolno. Nevertheless, few hours a week, the volunteer will have the chance to take part also in the activities of the local common room in the Local Center for Cultural Activities in Kolno.
Concrete examples of the proposed activities for the volunteer are following:
1. Presenting matters bothering teenagers in contemporary Europe while meetings, conversations, discussions concerning:

¢ culture, customs and people's life style in a volunteer's homeland,
¢ ways of spending free time,
¢ educational system of volunteer's country,
¢ culture heritage of Europe,
¢ life conditions,
¢ career prospects for the young people,
¢ problems of contemporary youth,
¢ prejudges and stereotypes ingrained in young people's mentality.

2. Participation in local, nationwide and international undertakings:

¢ helping with an organization of the international exchange of students,
¢ taking part in a realization of nationwide projects,
¢ helping with and participation in realization of local projects,
¢ helping teacher to create materials that will be used during lessons of different subjects,
¢ preparing workshops concerning minorities, racism, anti-Semitism, xenophobia, intercultural upbringing and problems challenging 21st century Europe.

3. Popularization of European School Club in a local community:

¢ helping in updating the club's Web site, its chronicle an cabinet and looking after its room.
¢ current cooperation with local press, reportages of the Club activities,
¢ cooperation with local authorities while celebrations concerning European matters.

4. Participation in activities of a local common room:

¢ helping to organize and conduct activities for children,
¢ teaching volunteer's mother tongue to children
¢ sharing knowledge about volunteer's homeland culture and tradition.

5. Participation in activity of The Local Center for Cultural Activities:

¢ helping to popularize local culture heritage,
¢ creating workshops based on volunteer's interests, talents and attitudes, e.g. musical, linguistic, photographic etc.

All these proposed activities for volunteer are suggestions of European School Club in 1st Adam Mickiewicz High School in Kolno. It is worth mentioning that this is not obligatory to participate in all of the activities mentioned above. We highly acknowledge and respect the difference of personalities and interests of each volunteer, so he/she will be able to choose to do the things that interest him/her the most. Moreover, the volunteer is welcomed to create and implement his/her own projects if they want to. The members of the Club will try to support the volunteer in all possible ways.
The general working hours of the volunteer will be Monday to Friday for 6 hours per day from 9.00 to 16.30 with a half an hour lunch break. Saturdays and Sundays are free from work. As the tasks of the volunteer might sometimes involve work also in weekend or extra hours of work per day, the volunteer will have the chance to take some a free day some other day. All National the Polish holidays will be day-offs for the volunteers.
Basing on the needs of the volunteers and the hosting organization, the both parties will arrange the timing for holidays of the volunteer. The hosting organization will be flexible regarding the needs of the volunteer to have free time, but it will also expect that the volunteer will be flexible regarding the working time. Should the club need extra help, it will inform the volunteer in advance about it and they will plan the weekly timetable together.

C. Volunteer profiles and recruitment process
The desirable volunteer's features:
- willing to cooperate with children, teenagers and teachers;
- experience in working with young people would be useful but not essential,
- he/she should be an active and responsible person ready to face new challenges
- we do not have any requirements concerning the sex, age or the country of origin;
- he/she should be English speaking person at least at the basic level (German as a second language is also welcomed)

E. Risk prevention, safety and protection
The club has already experience with organizing international projects, so the people responsible for the project there are aware about the possible dangers for the volunteers while doing the EVS project. Thefore, the hosting organization will put all the efforts to make sure that the crisis situations do not arise. If, however such situations would appear, the hosting organization will make sure that they are solved in the manner that could satisfy all the parties. The host organization we will provide a volunteer all necessary help and support from his supervisor and mentor while adaptation in a local community and afterwards.
In case, when the conflict could not be solved by the host organization, the sending organization and the coordinating organization might be involved in the solving of it.

http://ec.europa.eu/youth/evs/aod/hei_form_en.cfm?EID=58000367426