Location: in the city area Fonteta de Sant Lluis, Valencia, in a library in premises belonging to the Church. We are not a religious organisation.
Valencia: about 800,000 inhabitants; Fonteta: about 4,000 inhabitants. Public transport: 2 bus lines to the city centre and train station. The new area of Valencia, the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias (Arts and Science City), as well as 2 shopping centres with cinemas and many leisure offers, is at a 10-minute walk. The sport area of Fuente de San Luis, with running track, basketball field, in-door pool,..., is also at a 10-minute walk.

The people in the neighbourhood have a middle-low economic level; working class. In the past years, the area has received a lot of immigrants, so it is now a very intercultural area. This is why we have special interest to develop this project.

The area has a Health Centre, several bars and shops, a supermarket, several banks...
There are about 8 youth associations: La falla (special feast of Valencia), banda de cornetas y tambores (corn and drum band), jubilados y pensionistas (retired people), amas de casa (house wifes), scouts, the school's parent's association, Caritas y the clavarios of San Luis Beltrán and our association (Asociación Cultural Amigos de la Biblioteca). Local feasts: 2nd half of July; Fallas of Valencia, in March; 9 October, feast of Valencia.

The activities of volunteers will take place in 2 places: the library and the park. We don't want to stay in the library because many children are not attracted by it, so, when the weather is nice, we will do a lot of open-air activities. Punctually, we will collaborate with other organisations (La falla, retired people and the school's parent's association, mainly).

Hosting and lodging: in shared flats (individual rooms), sharing kitchen and bathroom. With this, we want to make their integration in the community easier. We find this alternative better as a residence for students or a youth hostel. Food: volunteers will receive a monthly allowance. The mentor will check that there are no nutrition problems, but we consider it better if they manage their "home economy". They will receive a pre-paid mobile phone to make communication easier and cheaper. Language training: at a school for adults, supported by private classes in the neighbourhood. They may also learn Valencian if they want to (private classes).

Mentorship: weekly meeting with all volunteers. The mentor will carry out constant follow-up to detect any problem and guarantee the success of the activities and the satisfaction of all parts.

-Accommodation (rules and conditions):

In a rented flat in Fonteta so volunteers are near the library where the activities will take place. We consider that volunteers will have the chance of knowing about other European cultures because they will all share a flat. This will also make their integration easier.

What we can offer to volunteers in terms of service and learning opportunities.

Our volunteering project offers a new way of life to the children of Fonteta. In our city area, there are many cases of dis-structured families. Children suffer the most from it and we want to improve their quality of life working directly with them using workshops, games and leisure activities, so they learn such values as respect, co-existence, Peace,...

Regarding learning opportunities, we are a library, that is, a cultural centre, so all opportunities to learn are related to social and cultural entertainment. Thus, volunteers may participate in workshops and courses about group dynamics, open-air activities, reading activities, championships and value education workshops.

-Support our activities. We would like them to make our activities European. Their only active participation fulfils the task. Nevertheless, as we know that volunteers can provide a lot more, we want to involve them in the whole process of our activities. They will actively participate in all the stages of the project: from preparation of workshops, games and activities, through implementation and evaluation. We want them to be with us all the time, accompanying the volunteers of our organisation and enriching our offer to the city area.

-Activities in which the volunteers may participate and activities they can create in the organisation: Examples of typical activities for volunteers.

Volunteers may participate in 2 sorts of activities: Open-air activities at the park and activities in the library.

Open-air activities: sports, games and streetart (capoeira, graffiti, street dance,...) Time: afternoons and weekends. Free activities. This offers an alternative to other activities, such as sitting on a bench, smoking and drinking. Volunteers will support the leaders in all tasks (planning, implementation, putting things away).

Activities in the library: more varied. Volunteers will have a bigger choice. During the week our main activity is school support (help with homework, help studying,...). Time: lunch break and afternoons (out of school hours). As a complement to this, we offer handicraft workshops, table games, Internet, language, music (guitar) workshops,... The activities depend on the demand and time of year. Volunteers will support leaders (organisation of games and activities, helping children with their homework). Weekends: we usually carry out leisure activities: parties, gymkhanas, games, workshops,...

Example of activity 1: Support in sport workshop (Tuesday and Thursday, from 6-7:30 p.m.). Preparation of game space (limit and ensure area). Warming up. Sport games (jumps, races, throwing elements,...). Stretching. Gathering and putting material away.

Example of activity 2: Support school support (Monday to Friday, from 5 to 7:30 p.m.) Prepare place (tables, chairs, open windows,...). Solve questions of children doing their homework. Search in the Internet exercises for the children without homework. Search colouring material for the youngest children in Internet. Put things away and clean.

Example of activity 3: Support at the Peace Feast (one Saturday, end of January) Paint and prepare the posters and decoration. Decorate the library and the park. Handicrafts workshop. Games to liberate stress. Paint faces. Put things away and clean.

Volunteers have 2 free days/week Usually Sundays and Mondays, but this depends on the activities and on the volunteers.


Depending on the season, we have special activities. During the Summer, the time-tables are adapted to the holidays. In Summer (July-August), we organise a Summer school and a camp in collaboration with the parent's association and the Scout group. In Easter and Christmas we also have camps and schools. We also organise other punctual activities: Peace Day (end of January), Carnival (end of February), Fallas (March), Book Day (end of April), end of school year (June), return to school (September), Community of Valencia (9th October) and Halloween (November). For all of them, decorations, disguises, handicrafts,... are needed.

We would like volunteers to contribute with their culture, so if they want to, they can also celebrate feasts from their countries. This way, we will make the area part of Europe, with the folk elements from different European countries.
We are also open to new workshops, games or sport activities, for the Park or the library.

Profile of the volunteer(s) and selection process:

Volunteers: communicative people, interested in knowing other cultures, with team working skills, responsible and interested in carrying out their own initiatives and projects (related with our aims).
People who like working with children and youth, who like to do handicrafts and workshops, as well as sport and open-air activities; with imagination to carry out the activities.

Organisation: anyone, especially those working with children and youth in sport and game leisure.

Number of volunteers hosted:
4

Prevention of risks, security and protection:

Volunteers are covered by the insurance AXA. We will also include volunteers in our existing civil responsibility insurance. In case of conflict, the mentor will intervene. We also count with the collaboration of the leaders and educators from the scout group, with a lot of experience dealing with youth, in case there are conflicts in the neighbourhood.
In case of accident or illness, we have a health centre and a hospital nearby.

Volunteers will be in daily contact with the mentor and the people in the organisation. This is another guarantee to solve conflicts and prevent crisis.

The Asociación Cultural Amigos de la Biblioteca de la Fonteta (Cultural Association Friends of the Library of Fonteta) was founded 5 years ago. The initiative came from a Youth Programme Youth Initiative, promoted by the scout group in the neighbourhood. The leaders of the scout group saw that there was a need for a cultural and social place for youth and children to meet during the week, as the only offer was the Saturday afternoon scout meetings, as well as its Easter and Summer camps. So they decided to open an old library, closed a long time ago. That initiative was an enormous success and its cultural activities were very well accepted. The library became a reference for children on weekdays. One year after that, the scout group decided to get apart from the library, as the leaders considered it would be better for its running. The Cultural Association Amics de la Biblioteca de la Fonteta was created. Since then, the association has coordinated the activities of the library and it has continuously grown.
Right now, the library is not only used to borrow books and read, but it is the cultural centre of the neighbourhood, where many activities are organised. Thus, we consider that EVS volunteers can provide interculturalism to our activities and make them more interesting. With their support, we can multiply the number of activities we offer and improve the services to the community.

The organisation is new in the EVS, but some of our members are ex-volunteers and some have been mentors. Furthermore, we base our work on volunteering, so we consider we can do a good job hosting and sending volunteers. We consider we can act as coordinating organisation, though our idea is only to host volunteers in our organisation for the first years. At a short term, we do not plan to coordinate other projects. Maybe in one or two years... Regarding economic matters, we know the costs we will incur in and we have foreseen the co-funding of our projects. Regarding the "human" management of the project, apart from the mentor and the coordinator of the activity, volunteers will be supported by all members of the organisation, leaders aged between 20 and 30 years, so they will be able to feel comfortable with us.
As sending organisation, we can help youth in our city to have an excellent European experience, as through the scout group we are in contact with many scout leaders interested in the YiA programme. As hosting organisation, we can show our way of working and our city to many European youth. This is also very motivating for our local youth.
We are aware of the duties and responsibilities involved when hosting and sending volunteers. We accept them. Furthermore, we want to further promote the values of YiA and EVS, as well as active participation of youth, European citizenship, interculturalism, dialogue, mobility,...
We also know the EVS Charter, the principles of the EVS, the quality rules and financing of the programme and we accept them all.

Aim of the organisation. organise social and cultural activities in the city area of Fonteta de Sant Lluis Beltran, in Valencia. There are no cultural offers in the area, so children and youth can only go to the park or the shopping centre. We offer workshops, games, parties, courses, talks, Internet, school support, theatre, languages, youth training and any other thing users ask for. We are a very dynamic organisation and adapt to the current needs. We are all volunteers concerned about the youth in our community. Age of our members: from 18 to 50 years old; secondary school and university students and parents of school students.
Our target group: children and youth. 80% of our activities aim children and youth aged between 6 and 25 years. 20% of the activities are for other people in the neighbourhood: adults, elderly,...