• Minimum basic German knowledge!

• Applications shall consist of cv, foto and a motivationletter concerning the project you are interested in. A general motivationletter is not enough. Please explain why you are interested in the project. And please name the project number otherwise it is not possible for me to relate your application to the single project.

The children club Upsala is situated in the district Pankow in Berlin.
Nearby the children club there are 4 elementary schools, one grammar school and one comprehensive school.
The residential estate is marked through old buildings with backyards and this is also a reason for a strong social mixture of the residential estate. There are living a lot of older inhabitants as well as families with children. But we have to mention that a lot of those families remove from our district to Karow (housing estates).
There are only few public places and/or parking areas, where children and youngsters can meet uninterrupted.
The connection to the public transport system is very good. You can reach the Upsala by tram or S-Bahn (20 minutes from Alexanderplatz).
The Upsala children club itself is situated on the first floor of an former kindergarden at the Upsalaer Straße. The second floor is used by the NGO Klax e.V.. Each institution have an seperated entrance.

We also organize sport games and dancing courses. An other focus are creative offers and courses in different workshops (pottery, wood, handicraft, etc.). Each week we offer cooking and baking courses.
In all these different fields/areas the volunteer will have the possibility to gain knowledge, get new experiences and to support the pedagogical staff. The volunteer will get to know the team and she/he will have the chance to work in a team as well as independently.
Our future volunteer will have the opportunity to bring in all their ideas and talents into the daily work. New ideas are very welcome.
The volunteers are provided the chance to chose a focal point according to their interests and talents, for which he or she will be responsible during their EVS (of course always with the favored and needed support).

The volunteers should be tolerant and openminded. They should be interested in working together with children. They should also be interested in sport activities. If the volunteer is not able to speak German at the beginning of the EVS it is important that he/she is open and willing to learn German. The volunteer should be open to show his/her cultural background in the daily work with the visitors and the staff of our institution. But they do not have to arrive with a clear structured concept of their voluntary year, this will be developed together.

Regarding the sending organisation, we have no special wishes.

The expression of interest of the Upsala can easily be obtained by those interested at the internet page of "go4europe". People who are interested can contact our coordinating organisation. Moreover, before the selection interviews with new volunteers, all (accredited) sending organisations are informed by the coordinating organisation and are asked to send them the applications of interested juveniles. As volunteers do not need special knowledge of their EVS in the Upsala, our project can be interesting for a notably high number of adolescents.

In the beginning we would like to refrain from hosting volunteers with fewer opportunities. This is due to the fact that we first would like to try to work together with a young person from a different cultural background and see how this develops. Nevertheless, in the future we are sure that we can host a young person with fewer opportunities.

As soon as the volunteers arrive, they will be introduced to the project, the colleagues and their field of work as well as their personal tutors. The latter will aid them not only with their personal problems but also with difficulties concerning their work. Volunteers can choose by themselves whom to address as their contact person (does not have to be their assigned tutor). This is possible because each staff member is informed about the EVS.

Furthermore, the adolescents will be supported in establishing contact with ex-evs, who can become a second backup next to the people in their actual working position. The VJF will also encourage them to approach other volunteers (e.g. from other coordinated projects).

In addition, frequent feedback discussions should provide them the opportunity to bring up possibly occuring problems immediately and in safe setting, and as a group, they can find a solution together. The second target of these feedback discussions is to attend the volunteer in their personal, social and theoretical learning process and to concretize tasks.

The contact between the hosting and sending organisation will be hold up during the whole duration of the project to ensure the possibility to intervene in case of tensions or crisis.

In the facility, the volunteers are instructed to all areas concerning work and fire prevention. They are also introduced to the particularities of the building and the usable open spaces. Moreover, there will be an extensive introduction to the conditions (fire prevention, escape routes, arrangement of the keys and so on) of their quarters where the volunteers will be accommodated during their staying (together with the VJF).