The youth training and community center Hirschluch is part of the project structure of the association for youth welfare services and social work (JuSeV - view to coordinating organisation) in the department of non-formal youth education; it is located in a small town called Storkow, about 60 km southeast of Berlin. There is staff working in home economics, technical and maintenance work as well as in the field of pedagogics. The center is opend all through the year. The target group for the youth training center are mainly young people from the Federal State of Brandenburg, but there are also guest groups of every age being hosted, coming from Berlin, Brandenburg and farer places.

The center is like its own small "district", outside the center of the town of Storkow in landscape conservation area near the borders of the town district. The Federal State of Brandenburg is not very densely populated and Storkow with its 6,500 inhabitants is a rather small town. The distance to the town center (market place, church, etc.) is about 4 km; that can be easily gone by bike within 15 minutes (every volunteer will be provided with a bike). In town there are supermarkets, banks, post office etc.; there is a local youth club, a large lake with swimming and water sport opportunities, bowling, mini golf and other leisure time activities available.

There is a direkt train line to Berlin; buses are running to Bad Saarow and Fürstenwalde.

In the youth training and community center there have not yet been international volunteers but German (long term) volunteers in social and ecological projects.

Tasks

For the process of a united europe it's importend that young people are able to express their own experiences and wishes. The best way to reach that is in implementing personal contact with a foreign language, culture and the people in a different country. Our aim is to give young people the possibility to get experiences in working abroad, to help to develop their personality and new interests. The work in a local project is not at all a artificial and theoretical exchange between cultures, indeed it's practical learning of culture, language and acceptance.
We see the cooperation with european volunteers as a step in cultural understandig between people.
The volunteers will live in a flat together with other volunteers, so they do not only get in contact with the german culture but with different nationalities. They will experience also the living together in a community with others. We will provide language courses for the volunteers on their personal level.
Our organisation has implemented a monthly volunteer day, where the young people will have excursions together lead by a colleague (tutor). They can decide themselve what they want to see. The volunteers of the different projects in our organisation have the possibility to get in contact with each other and exchange their experiences and have a good time together.
Volunteers are particitpating in our internal further education programmes.

The youth training an community center having young people as its target group offers a wide variety of opportunities to make contact with German youth and therefore to have a platform for intercultural exchange. More than an opportunity, it is part of our working conception in Hirschluch, that volunteers may get to know and discuss culture and lifestyle of youth in Germany.

On the background of being a training center for non-formal education of young people in Brandenburg, situated in a kind of a park in the midst of a forest, we offer to the European volunteers a number of working fields, that are coordinated and supervised by our pedagogical staff:
- ecological and media projects, together with youth from our training courses or with national volunteers and members of the civil service;
- programmes for leisure time activities for children that are part of familiy guest groups in the house;
- participating and cooperating in the preparation and conduction of non-formal training courses for young people;
- participating and cooperating in the preparation and conduction of international youth exchabge programmes, that take place in Hirschluch and in other places (e.g other countries);
- lectures about the home country of volunteers as part of other educational programmes.

The working hours are irregular (also during weekends) and oriented toward the relevant projects. We take care that in the average they do not exceed the amount of 30 -35 hours a week; usually there are free days as a balance for longer training courses and projects.

Target group

In principle, we are open to cooperation with all sending organizations. However, our main focus lies in the cooperation with central and eastern European countries.

The volunteer should like to communicate with other young people; he/she needs pretty good knowledge of English and also some knowledge of German, should be able to act on his/her own initiative, be reliable and able to work in a team.

It would be nice if the volunteer had som interest in ecology, media (computer) and pedagogics of non-formal learning. He/she should be able to live on his/her own (doing his/her own household), because he/she will live in a separate flat (eventually together with other volunteers).

http://ec.europa.eu/youth/evs/aod/hei_form_en.cfm?EID=6000708999