International workcamps: Legambiente Prato organises each year in july and august several internationl workcamps in the town of Prato.
Working on pathways
Management of Visitor Centre Cantagallo: The volunteers support Centre’s staff in the front-office activities: reception and informations to visitors. Organisation and management of cultural events and environmental education activities.
Avtivities with horse-therapy.
Activities whit the schools: environmental education ( workshop, informal activities, ecc) and TANDEM

Prato is a 97,45 squared km town and it has always enjoyed an international social context, thanks to its important textile industry - which is one of the most important in Europe. Prato alone hosts more than 28.000 people aged between 15 and 29, counting as the 15% of the entire population. During the last few years a great immigration has involved Prato, which nowadays is a very multiethnic town, just as well as many other metropolises in the western world. Today Prato counts about 200.000 inhabitants, the 13% of which are foreigners: a proportion that makes Prato the most multicultural town at a national level.
At an economic level, the textile tradition has reduced its importance: today there is a very strong need to open to other innovative fields, among which culture, communication and spare time services are the most important.

Prato Town Hall web-site: www.comune.prato.it

In the last few years our organisation has built a co-operation network with the Provincia, Prato Town Hall, and with Cantagallo and Carmignano Town Halls in particular.

Cantagallo: it is a little town 25 km far from the centre of Prato. Cantagallo is a little town in Toscana between Prato and Bologna (Emilia-Romagna).
This community has a rich economy based on textile productions and organic agriculture (especially chestnuts). Cantagallo (200 inhabitants, 550 meters above sea level), is easily reachable by public transportation. Since 2002, Cantagallo local administration has allowed Legambiente Circolo di Prato to manage the local visiting centre an the Rifugio Le Cave, inside Acquerino-Cantagallo Natural Reserve. The visiting Centre is right in the centre of Cantagallo and it works as an information point for excursionists who want to discover the pathways leading into the beautiful Riserva Naturale Acquerino-Cantagallo. During school-time, the visiting centre hosts a lot of students for activities concernig environmental education. Rifugio Le Cave is at 795 meters above the sea level. It can be reached walking ( about 45 minutes from Cantagallo ) or by with special cars. The Riserva Naturale Acquerino-Cantagallo is enhancing a new eco-turisitic approach, based on the revaluation of traditional products and old jobs.
In collaboration whit municipality of Cantagallo, legambiente organise each year international and national workcamps.
Comune di Cantagallo: http://www.comune.cantagallo.po.it/

Carmigano: it is a small town (38,59 squared km town, 13.814 inhabitants) about 25 km far from the centre of Prato.
Carmignano is famous for the production of some tipical products: wine (Barco Reale and ll Carmigano ) but also oil and sundried figs.
Comune di Carmigano also takes part to many projects amd activities for young people: Youth Forum, web forum for young pople, activities inside the schools, cinema and concerts
In collaboration whit municipality of Cantagallo, legambiente organiza national workcamps and TANDEM activities.
Comune di Carmigano: http://www.comune.carmignano.po.it/


Legambiente Prato provides personal, linguistic and cultural support to each volunteer involved in the Activity. Legambiente Prato also names a mentor responsible for providing personal support to the volunteers and for helping them to integrate into the local community. The mentor has also an important role in discussing the learning achievements with the volunteers at the end of the Activity. The volunteers can turn to the mentor in case any problem arises. The volunteers will be actively involved in all activities and decision making and will always be supported by Legambiente's staff.
EVS Volunteers will be able to develop several kind of competencies and skills, according to their specific preferences, which will be defined in their single projects. By the end of the Activity, each Volunteer will have acquired the following objectives:
- Awareness and importance of the respect nature and environment
- Activities with mentally, socially, and phisically challenged people may represent an important personal experience for EVS volunteers, because these activities can help them fight prejudicies and develop a sense of tolerance
- Organisation and management informal education meetings and seminars addressed to young people
- Organisation of promotion campaign
- Communication inside and outside the teamwork, group-work management, problem solving tecniques, time and resource management, active listening
- Event organisation and coordination, indipendent work planning and actualizing, results reporting
- Italian language both spoken and written; local history and culture
- Mutual understanding, comprehension and cooperation in different culutural contest
What will be the role of EVS volunteers in the Host Organisation
The EVS Volunteers will be introduced to the organisation as well as the other volunteers. They will be considered as cooperators and will work together with other workers and reference contacts for youth activities. Their roles will be consistent with their project, interests, skills and competencies. Even if they will not replace other people employed in other services, EVS Volunteers will be relatively indipendent in the accomplishment of their job (depending on their tasks at the moment), so that they will be able to develop independance and sense of responsability in work organisation as well as to evaluate their own competencies and skills.
the activities in which the volunteers could be involved and the activities the volunteers could create in your organisation. Please give examples of typical activities for the volunteers.
Legambiente's staff will train EVS volunteers to make sure that all volunteers will participate to all activities of the projects, according to their skills and competencies. Legambiente's staff will also take care of valorising new ideas and projects that EVS volunteers will be willing to implement inside the association.
The mentor will realize individual and group meetings with volunteers to evaluate which the best activities for each volunteers could be, and to make sure that the activities proposed will really meet the Volunteers' skills and competencies.

Activities and projects for EVS volunteers:

Hostel Le Cave

Since 2002 Legambiente Prato, in collaboration with Comunità Montana Val di Bisenzio, has been responsible for the management of Le Cave hostel, situated in the local natural reserve.
Le Cave isn't only a hostel but it is also an environmental and botanic laboratory
Proposed EVS activities:

" management of the hostel: the volunteers will be involved also in practical works (cleaning, cooking, etc)
" organisation of workshops addressed to school students.
" working on pathways

Cantagallo Center

Since 2004, in collaboration with Comune di Cantagallo, Legambiente has been responsabile for the Cantagallo Centre, situated in the local natural reserve.
Role EVS volunteers:

" Front office activities: give information to people who want to visit the natural area
" Back office activities: research of information and reviews related to the natural reserve
" Management of educational areas: laboratory, video-room and training class-room
" organisation and management of excursions

The Volunteers will work with Legambiente's staff to create activities and workshops addressed to school students and focused on the environment ("Biodiversity", "Bees and honey", "Properties of edible herbs inside the reserve", etc.).

International and local workcamps

Each year, during the summer, Legambiente circolo di Prato organizes national and international workcamps in Cantagallo and Carmignano, two small towns in the province of Prato.
Role of EVS volunteers:
" Organisation and management of the workcamp activities
" Working on pathways
" partecipation to workcamp activities

Chernobyl project

Every year since 1994, Circolo Legambiente di Prato organizes a Chernobyl project in collaboration with Ukrainian and Italian public institutions at both a national and local level.
The project provides hosting to some young boys and girls from the areas contaminated by the explosion of the reactor in 1986. Proposed activities for EVS volunteers:

- organisation and realization of social and educational activities for Chernobyl young people ( games inside public parks, activities realized in collaboration with local associations, etc..)
- organisation of summer camps and participation to it's activities
- organisation of one-day trips to the swimming pool and to the sea-side


TANDEM

During the EVS project and in collaboration with the Comune di Prato and Comune di Carmignano, Legambiente runs a project named TANDEM that involve EVS volunteers, schools and the University of Florence.
TANDEM gives the possibilty to realize a linguistic and cultural exchange among participants.
EVS volunteers can create and realize the following activities:

" organization of informal and playing activities to learn language
" elaboration of questionnaires about specific themes proposed by EVS volunteers and/or other participants
" Videoclips or short films in foreign language followed by debates

TANDEM activities will be directly planned and realized by EVS volunteers, so they can express their own creativity



Vegetable garden


Through this project, the Comune di Prato offers the possibility to run a small vegetable garden in order to realize social activities for mentally and socially disabled people.
The objectives of this project are: development of social agriculture and its products, activating direct economic relationships with school refectories, farmer markets, etc.
Proposed EVS activities:
Cultivation of vegetable garden: plowing, sowing, harvesting
Authorized food preparation laboratories
Processing of fruit and vegetables


Work with horses - Ippovia della Val di Bisenzio

Since 2006 and in collaboration with two local associations (Polisportiva Aurora e Crida) that work with disabled people, Legambiente Prato, created a horse pathway (ippovia) inside the Acquerino natural reserve.
The Ippovia, one of the longest horsepathways of Italy, has a suggestive itinerary provided with signs, structures for the horses. The pathways and structures can also host disabled and blind people.
Proposed EVS activities:

" to clean horses and stables
" to help disabled people to perform activities with horses

Natural Science Centre
The Centre, of which Legambiente Prato is a private member, has been founded by Prato Town Hall.
The centre is a multi-purpose structure and a social centre in which to realize many activities, studies and researches about the preservation of the environment.
The centre also includes a museum of natural science and a park with animals.
Each year, the centre also hosts volunteers for the National Civil Service.
http://www.csn.prato.it/

Proposed EVS activities:
- organisation of visits inside the museum and the park
- organisation and management of workshop realized whit schools
- organization of the initiatives promoted by the centre



Practical arrangements (working hours, days off, holidays, food, accomodation, local transport)
During international workcamps, the volunteers will participate to activities for a number of days in a row. The days off will be enjoyed later, in compliance with what each volunteer decided with the mentor.
Once the international workcamps are over, the working hours will be: 4/6 hours per day, 5 days per week with some evening and/or weekend working activities, two days off per week plus 2 days of holiday per month for the duration of the whole project.
Food and accomodation: The volunteers will live in a shared accommodation (apartment). The apartment has 2 independent double bedrooms with shared cooking, washing, laundry. Each month the volunteers will have a fixed budget (500,00 euros) for the food. They will be able to spend this money in local supermarkets offering discounts.
Local transport: reimbursement for urban tickets will be provided as well as for a special card to access bike rental.


The target group is composed of young people, older than 18 and, as indicated in the programme guide, not older than 30.
EVS volunteers must have the following characteristics:
" strong motivation for participating to the project and interest in the proposed activities
" tolerance and spirit of cooperation
" seriousness and reliability
" creativity and initiative
" willingness to learn
It's necessary that volunteers be aware that projects submitted by Legambiente circolo di Prato require many physical activities.
Candidates will be chosen according to following criteria:
" Evalutation of candidates' curricula and motivation
The examination of the curricula will be used to have a complete picture of the information regarding the candidates and to point out the ones more interested in the project, to understand their needs and thus build a personalised project together.
All volunteers who sent their Cv and cover letter will be sent back an information document presenting the EVS project more in detail: beginning and end of the service, lenght of the project, activities involved in the project, a brief description of each activity.
To those candidates who will confirm their availability and interest in the project, Legambiente will send a questionnaire based on specific questions relating to the activities in which EVS volunteers will be involved. In the same questionnairs, the volunteers will be asked about their special needs (food, possible allergies , helth issues, etc. ..). The use of the questionnaire gives us a clearer idea of the motivation and profile of each volunteer.
During the selection, much importance will be given to the motivations of the volunteers, therefore particular attention will be given to the motivation letter, to make sure the volunteers have really understood the project and given a clear picture of their expectations.
" Communication exchange to verify the complete comprehension and sharing of the project aims as well as to elaborate a personalised program based on the candidates' interests and needs
" Sharing of the project with the sending organisations, helping them to sustain the candidates in their choice
No specific peculiarities will be asked from the sending organisation. Additional credit will be given to those organizations which have already performed of activities in the youth field, similar to the ones proposed in this project for the EVS.
Cooperation and communication aimed at the realisation of interesting and postitive experiences for the Volunteers involved will be, of course, appreciated.


The maximum number of volunteers that the organisation is able to host at the same time is 4.

Based on the long-term experience acquired in previous EVS projects and workcamps with volunteers aged both over and under 18, Legambiente can offer well tested conditions of hospitality and work. Possible problems originating from the housing accomodation will be solved and managed with the help of the staff working for the Permanent Centre for Volunteers; similarly, volunteers will be helped with the equipment needed to accomplish their tasks, since much of the work involves the use of manual tools and small machines for environmental jobs. Crucial to every project in which Legambiente is involved, is the safety. Safe procedures will be used both during regular working time and daily life, with special attention to nature-friendly and sustainable lifestyle.
" how you will prevent risks and crises,

Volunteers will be provided with proper assistance during every phase of the project on a personal and linguistic level, as well as during their working activities.
Assistance will be personally guaranteed by the mentor who will welcome the volunteers on their arrival and introduce them to the staff of the association. The mentor will also illustrate the project and the various activities involved.
Each week the mentor will meet with volunteers and organize personal and group discussions that will constantly monitor the progress of the project and its activities.
Thus, the mentor will be able to prevent crisis or intervene in case any problems or specific needs come up at any stage of the project. The mentor will monitor integration into local community, involvement in all activities, personal wellness, learning, accommodation and other practical issues.
Meeting volunteers on a regular basis will provide an important feedback from volunteers that might allow the staff modify activities, if needs be.

A 20-25 hour course of Italian language and culture will also take place, in collaboration with a local association organizing language courses for foreign students.
During each activity, volunteers will be always accompanied and supported by experienced operators specialized in each specific field.