Association of Young Azerbaijani Friends of Europe (AYAFE)

AYAFE is our partner which is the hosting organization. Association of Young Azerbaijani Friends of Europe (AYAFE) is a national, non-governmental, non-profit, non-political youth organization.
Since 2009 AYAFE has been working together with Ministry of Culture from Azerbaijan and with the Icheri Sheher Museum to host EVS volunteers in providing support in preserving and promoting the cultural heritage of Azerbaijan. From their (AYAFE) experience with Museum, AYAFE has learned that the Museum did not succeed in the previous years to address specifically the young people from Baku in promoting their services and as a consequence young people are not visiting the museum and are not aware of its resources on cultural heritage. Learning from this experiences they decide it to continue this initiative and to increase the number of activities to be organised.

The theme of the project is Cultural Heritage.
Four young people from Romania will benefit of 10 months EVS service in Baku Azerbaijan.

The general objective of the project is to create a  frame where EVS volunteers work together with local volunteers and local partners in developing educational activities for young people from Baku on the theme of cultural heritage.
Activities of the project will take place inside the Icheri Sheher Museum and in highschools in Baku.

Activities developed inside the Museum:

Action Days - presentations of monuments; Interactive Museum tours for individuals and groups; support in preparation of national days; workshops for young people on the importance of world heritage; help Museum personal in preparing promotional materials on the  protection of cultural heritage; Organizing museum nights (visits, different cultural activities, exhibitions, etc.) for young people and the community; creating and managing the web site of the project.

Activities outside of Museum:

promotional activities to attract public to the Museum; Cooperate with teachers from highschools to organize workshops in the Museum and Prepare and run workshops in highschools in Baku on cultural heritage.

Volunteers tasks

 There will 2 types of activities EVS volunteers will be working on:

Activities developed inside the Museum

·    Action Days - presentations of monuments;
·    Interactive Museum tours for individuals and groups in the Museum;
·    Participation in Preparation of national days;
·    The volunteers will organize workshops for young people on the importance of natural world heritage and the knowledge and techniques needed for its preservation. In order to increase the visibility of the site, the volunteers will work in close cooperation with the Administration, which taking place around the site, organising specific workshops to share with the participants and local community information on world heritage sites;
·    EVS volunteers will help Museum specialized personal in preparing promotional materials on the  protection of cultural heritage;
·    Organizing museum nights (visits, different cultural activities, exhibitions, etc.) for young people and the community;
·    creating a web site for the project where to promote project activities, the financier and its support, people and organizations involved in the project, project results, volunteers stories, pictures and reports from activities, resources on cultural heritage
 

Activities developed for outside of Museum

·    Assisting in promotional activities to attract public to the Museum;
·    Working together with teachers from highschools and Universities to organize workshops in the Museum;
·    Prepare and run workshops in highschools in Baku on cultural heritage.
Besides activities presented above, volunteers will have the task to prepare and run dissemination activities in highschools and universities to  present their project and EVS in general as a learning opportunity for young people.
Moreover, volunteers may initiate new projects addressed to the problems of Cultural Heritage protection. AYAFE will help volunteers to define their ideas, develop partnerships, and if necessary find appropriate funding sources in order to get financial support for these projects .
Working hours
The volunteers will be expected to work 6 hours a day -from Monday to Friday. A typical week could be described as follows:
 
Monday
09.00 - 10.00 Planning meeting of the week
10.00 - 12.00 Preparation of activities and of the educational materials
12.00 - 13.00 Lunch
13.00 - 16.00 Planning Work
Tuesday
09.00 - 12.00 Promoting activities of the project
 
12.00 - 13.00 Lunch
13.00 - 16.00 Updating web site of project and organising activities in the museum
Wednesday
09.00 - 12.00 Preparation of the activities and educational materials
12.00 - 13.00 Lunch
13.00 - 16.00 organizing workshops in highschool and in the museum
Thursday
09.00 - 12.00 Preparation of the activities and educational materials
12.00 - 13.00 Lunch
13.00 - 16.00 Updating web site of project and organising activities in the museum and in highschools
 
Friday
09.00 - 12.00 Updating web site of project and organising activities in the museum
12.00 - 13.00 Lunch
13.00 - 15.00 Individual evaluation of the week and reflection
15.00 - 16.00 Evaluation meeting of the week
 
Volunteers will have weekends free to themselves. Activities will be organized occasionally in the evenings or on weekends.
Practical aspects of voluntary service
·    Freetime
Volunteers will have weekends free. Activities will be organized occasionally in the evenings or in weekend, and in this case arrangements will be made so volunteers can have 2 days free per week. For every month of service they benefit 2 days of holidays which can be used anytime they want with previous arrangement with the hosting organization. Staff and mentors from host organziation will assist EVS volunteers in planning the holidays. 
·    Accommodation
The volunteers will live together with the other EVS volunteers in an apartment to be rented by AYAFE. Mattresses and blankets will be provided for the volunteers, as well as basic furniture and kitchen tools. AYAFE will pay the costs for utilities including internet access.
·    Transportation
Volunteer will use public transportation (bus, mini-bus or metro) in Baku to get from home to Museum and to different places where workshops are organised. Volunteers will receive monthly allowance to buy there own transportation cards.
·    Meals
At the begining of each month volunteers will receive from host organization an amount of money for food.
The volunteers will have the opportunity to prepare their own meals and buy daily products such as milk, water, eggs, fruit and vegetable in the city. During lunchtime, they will have free time in order to have a lunch in town close to work place.

Selection criteria:

Quantitative criteria’s:

·    applicants with economical, educational, geographical disadvantages and social difficulties
·    applicants from rural areas
·    young people which never participated in EVS projects before
·    strong motivation to participate in the project
·    geographic balance of volunteers
·    age from 18-30
·    gender balance
·    basic knowledge of English
·    residents of Romania
·     A full application consist of : CV in English, motivation letter created based on our model
·    Some knowledge of Russian or Turkish/Azeri will be appreciated

Qualitative criteria’s:

The volunteers need to show motivation in working with cultural heritage, historical monuments, museums and to demonstrate that they are enthusiastic, creative, and energetic.
• What is volunteer motivation for applying to EVS
• What is the motivation for applying to this project in particular
• If the volunteer have any similar previous experience to the project will be a plus
• What are the skills and abilities the volunteer will bring to the project
• What the volunteer would like to learn from this project

Procedura de aplicatie:

Cei interesati trebuie sa trimita pana la termenul limita de 1 Septembrie  CV si scrisoare de motivatie completate in Engleza la adresa: voluntariat@act.org.ro

Model pentru scrisoarea de motivatie gasiti aici.