Proposed activities for EVS volunteers

" Describe what you can offer to volunteers in terms of service and learning opportunities.
There are no special knowledge, qualification needed from the volunteer. Full training will be provided.
The volunteers will have special guidance and support from the staff and the members of the municipality and from the coordinator organization, in all the cases of highly demanding tasks. From the staff the volunteers will get a high standard support and training, they will prepare them for the activities.
In order to facilitate their work and integration, volunteers will join an obligatory Greek language training from the begining of their voluntary service.
The mentor and the youth advisor will give them a high standard personal support.
We would like also to develop the volunteers' responsibility, creativity, knowledge, and skills and to help them to be prepared if the wish to work in this field. They will also gain more self-esteem and compassion through creative work.
The certification of the volunteers' experience, achievements will be included in the YOUTHPASS certificate at the end of the project.
Our goal the volunteer to acquire during their stay is: European awareness - they will work with national and international youngsters in teams and through this intercultural experience they learn to be tolerant, working in team, to cooperate and communicate.
In addition, they will acquire experience and skills, which may prove useful skills for their professional future. Our objectives to host volunteers are to introduce them to the local community, to develop the understanding of the European and international cultural context, to provide informal intercultural education and experience to youths, encouraging their social integration, their active participation and to offer them new means of expression and communication through the voluntary work.

" Please, explain what will be the role of EVS volunteers in the host organisation.
The EVS volunteer's role will be to provide additional support to the instructors and other staff at the centre, working closely with qualified staff who will provide support and supervision at all times. This will provide the opportunity for the EVS volunteer to share their own culture with children and young people staying at the centre, the centre staff and with the local community. This will bring a new, international dimension which will benefit everyone.
The aim of hosting international volunteers is to establish an exchange of knowledge and to let young people know about this opportunity that the Youth in Action program provides. International volunteering is good to bring different cultures together, to diffuse the existence of development projects and to exchange experiences and knowledge. A volunteer from a foreign country could be an excellent opportunity for our local community, mainly for the youngsters to overcome language and cultural difficulties and to learn from each other. Moreover this project gives great opportunities for cooperation with the staff and the members of Ä.Á.Å.Â. and will be benefit for our local volunteers, because by working together with someone who comes from a foreign country, they will learn the values of tolerance, equality and acceptance.

" Describe the activities in which the volunteers could be involved and the activities the volunteers could create in your organisation. Give examples of typical activities for the volunteers.
The tasks for each volunteer will be adjusted to his/her personal abilities and needs. We would like to stress that none of the tasks can be seen as employment substitution, moreover we would like to stress the importance of giving ideas, taking initiatives by the volunteer. The host and the coordinating organization is open for new ideas and support the initiatives.
Kindergarten project:
The voluntary work takes place in the kindergarten of Municipality of Velo. In our school can participate children in between 2- 5 years old. Our motivation to host EVS volunteers is the support and help in the every day work of the kindergarten. This includes helping in the fine-art workshop, painting lessons, theatrical workshop, playing games with the children, to take part in the workshop in the subject of tastes (sweet, salty, bitter and sour), join the trips, excursions and helping in the kitchen of the kindergarten. The volunteers will assist the staff in the daily childcare and organise his/her own small project depending on his/her skills and ideas (e.g. music, handicraft, theatre, games etc). A further important aspect of the project is to give the volunteer the opportunity to put into the practice his/her ideas and to reflect upon this with experienced staff of our school. Our main aims are the introduction of new activities taken by the volunteers for the daily life of the children, the promotion and contact with new cultures, especially from the volunteer origin, moreover to develop the artistic abilities of the children and to help the teachers in their activities.

1. Participating in the fine-art workshop (the volunteers will work in the field of handcraft using materials such as pastel, paper, different kind of nuts, collage, clay…etc. and they will help to make constructions. The staff of the school welcome new ideas and initiatives from the volunteers)
2. Taking part and help in the painting lessons (the volunteers will help the children to use pencil, water- color. This lesson has the goal to prepare the children for writing, to give the motion of writing in their hands and fingers.)
3. Workshop about the four tastes (sweet, sour, bitter, salty) - in this workshop the staff and the volunteers will carry out non-formal tasks for the children to make them understand and realize the differences among these tastes.
4. Theatrical workshop (they will help to organize theatrical games from fairy tales, puppet shows, they can give their ideas for the best materialization of the performance)
5. Music- kinetic workshop (the volunteers will help the staff to realize games in order to develop the motion culture of the children.)
6. Games with the children (these games are organized by the teachers and the volunteers and have the role of non-formal learning experiences and acquire everyday attitudes by processing situations taken from the everyday life appropriated to the child's age. This activity can include open air actions such as making a small garden with the children, planting flowers, vegetables…etc. There is a big play-room with many toys, table-games, facilities for painting, handcraft, they can find man-sized dolls that show different kind of characters like the mother, father, actor, princess…etc. Furthermore we have small cars in order to imitate the traffic in the big play-ground.)
7. Take part in trips, excursions (these trips and excursions are leaded in zoo, theatre, in the nature but also we visit local preliminary schools in order to help in the first contact of the children with the school.)
8. Helping in the kitchen of the kindergarten (this task includes helps to prepare and share the breakfast and the lunch for the kids moreover they have the possibility to learn how to run and manage the kitchen of a kindergarten, furthermore to learn recipes from the Greek cuisine but also they have the opportunity to cook food that is characteristic of their country such as cakes, some sweets, traditional meals...etc. All the materials and tools are provided by the host organization.)
9. The volunteers will participate in the work of the Information office in Velo, which provides information about the Youth Program. The volunteers with the staff will give information about the Youth Program, make the voluntary service more attractive for the Greek youngsters giving live example with their participation.
We would like to stress that we are open and we welcome ideas and initiatives from the volunteers. Our goal is to develop the international understanding of the children, we would like to give them the way of thinking from this early age when they can adopt new things easier that they can cooperate and communicate with people from other countries by overcoming language difficulties and cultural differences. In this way we can fight against racism, xenophobia and discrimination. We would like to encourage the volunteers to come up with ideas and carry out in cooperation with the staff of the school for the benefit of the children, the teachers as well as the volunteers themselves and we would appreciate if the volunteers brought games, music, short movies, pictures from their countries, about their countries.
The volunteers will work every day (Monday to Friday) from 8:00 to 14:00. If it's needed sometimes their working time will be extended but in these cases they will take day off by arrangement. During the voluntary service the volunteers have two weeks vacation and the Saturdays and Sundays are free as well. The volunteers have the possibility to take the breakfast and lunch in the kindergarten with the teachers and the children.

Athletic centre project:
The voluntary work takes place in the Athletic centre of the Municipality of Velo.
EVS volunteer will provide additional support to the educational staff team, which includes qualified and trainee teaching staff and activity instructors- such as basketball trainer, volleyball trainer, mini-soccer trainer, tennis trainer and a secretary - and will be involved extensively with the groups who visit the centre.
The centre has been successfully running for three years with all the departments like:
-basket: 3 departments, participating from 6 years old to adult, there are two teams; - volleyball: 2 departments for women; mini-soccer: 2 departments, participating from 6 years old to 14 years old; -tennis: 6 departments, participating from 6 years old to adult.
The centre staff will welcome the opportunity to support international volunteers at the centre as a way of broadening the horizons of their work as well as of the local community and the members.

Activities that the volunteers could be involved:

The volunteers will work directly with the groups who visit the centre for most of their working time.
- They will help and support the trainers' work
- They will take part in the training sessions
- Helping to organize competitions in basket
- The volunteers will help in the promotion of the centre in the schools, local community
- They will make presentations and join the activities of the Youth Information Office