The Associazione Tolbà has its offices in Matera, a southern Italian city with a population of circa 60,500, which is also a provincial capital of Basilicata and the second city in the region. Matera is well known as a touristic destination for its “Sassi”, a picturesque and historical quarter entirely hewn and built from limestone, recognized in 1993 as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Matera welcomes thousands of tourists every year, and it is a city that is culturally very lively due to the presence of the
local University and numerous cultural and volunteer associations that work in the fields of music, cinema, theatre, involving many youths from the city and throughout the region. Additionally, the city is located on the border with Apulia region, 60 km from Bari's Palese Airport, 17 km from Altamura (BA), a city that is particularly rich with youth and cultural activities; Matera is located near various small urban centers that are charming and full of traditions. Nearly 3% of Matera's population is made up of foreigners, many of whom come from China, Rumania, Albania, Morocco and Ukraine, and this makes Matera a multicultural and multilingual city that today boasts a fairly good integration of the immigrants in its community. The city's historical, cultural and social importance have made Matera a candidate city as European Capital of Culture for 2019.

The volunteers will be accommodated in an appartment not far from Tolbà's office and the city center.
During the project the volunteer will acquire self-management and autonomy skills. His /her stay in Italy will allow him/her to get to know Italian culture and local traditions and to learn Italian language
thanks to the support of the association and the interaction with the local community.
Within the host organization, the volunteer will assist in the activities, bringing added value, creativity and innovation in everyday work. In particular, the volunteer will participate actively in the accomplishment of different projects and in intercultural workshops run in schools by Tolbà association operators. He/she will also have the chance to support the activities of “Tolbà library”, from the creation of books to the direct involvment in promotional events to display the contents of the project to the local community; he/she will take part in the organization of public events related to the ongoing projects. Together with the association staff, the volunteer will also be able to learn how to define the teaching methods of multilingual workshops carried out in several schools in the province of Matera and in other Italian regions, as well as to promote interculturalism among children who take
part in them. Once the volunteer will have acquired a good spoken and written Italian level -mainly due to the language lessons that will be held daily at the association- and a sufficient autonomy in his/her
daily work, the volunteer will be able to choose to undertake more complex tasks such as: 1) get to know the Italian legislation about asylum procedures and human rights and compare it with that of his/
her home country, and later on relate in a critical comparison the differences and similarities between the Italian system of immigrants’ rights and his/her home country system; 2) activate a cooperation
protocol with an association, foundation or school of his/her home country; 3) cooperate to the production of multilingual books (graphic editing, management of the relationships with writers and
translators, etc.). The voluntary experience within the activities of Tolbà association is, for the reasons above, full of inputs and learning occasions that respect each volunteer’s timing and skills. Volunteers
will also be given the opportunity and the space to create a small personal project or to develop initiatives to improve the activities of Tolbà intercultural center. Each volunteer will receive all the
support needed by the association operators. The experience with Tolbà association wil have a highly intercultural nature; the association operators guarantee a strong support, both personal and professional, for the volunteer.

The project is open to all the young people aged between 18 and 30 years, without any kind of discrimination. The selection process will be done in a transparent and democratic way together with the
partner and the coordinating organization, whenever the hosting organization will ask for its support.
The volunteer selection will be based on the his/her presentation given by the sending organization and on his/her CV and motivation letter. The project opportunities and vacancies will be promoted through the organization's website and its international network. Tolbà is open to work with any partner.

the maximum number of volunteers that the organisation is able to host at the same time is 2.

The project is open to young people having an economical and/or a geographical disadvantage, and/or belonging to cultures which are different from the european. Tolbà mission is interculturality. Its
staff is prepared to face and manage problems related to cultural differences and is composed of an cultural anthropologist, hosting and integration workers and cultural mediators. The ten-year cooperation with the social services is an added value and complementary to the organization skills.
Tolbà, also, established formal and non-formal networks with other association in the area which work with youth and that could offer a further support to the volunteers in their experience in Italy.

The volunteers will be supported during the whole project, both in their personal life and within the activities. The organization staff is qualified and prepared to offer them a good and individual support
in case of necessity, in order to solve problems, overcome  misunderstandings and difficulties related to the language or to their integration inside the project and the local community. The volunteers
mentor will be identified among the organization workers, so that he/she can always step in. The volunteers, on the arrival, will participate to training meetings, organised by Tolbà, which will include
sessions of crisis prevention and management, so that the volunteers themselves can learn how to evaluate and solve them. All the staff will be always available to assist the volunteers and lead them to solve conflicts and problems. The evaluation meetings regurarly organised by the organization will be an important tool for monitoring the project as well as the support given by the local youth (foreing and not) who will participate every day in the organization activities. Tolbà, thanks to its experience in the field of social inclusion and immigrants integration, is able to offer the volunteers a nice, safe and constructive work and life experience. We do not foresee to host young people aged less than 18.