Project environment: profile of the organisation and local community

The project activities take place in Pinhal Novo, a small town with close to 30.000 inhabitants, located 40 kms from Lisbon to the south-east.

Pinhal Novo (literally: "New Pine Forest") got its name from the many pine trees that are abundant in this region. At first a little countryside village, Pinhal Novo grew along with the railroad to become an important town south of the river Tejo (the river that bathes Lisbon), with increasing industrial activity (car industry and wine production are the two dominant sectors) and population growth.

All the essential services are available: state-run health center, private medical clinics, banks, schools, several sports structures and pavillions, fitness centers, a swimming pool, supermarkets, restaurants, bars, shopping places , a library, a cinema and many cafés.

An extensive transportation network ensures the connections to just about everywhere. Lisboa is accessible by train (45 min), bus (30 min) or car (25 min), as are other big cities like Barreiro and Setúbal (just 13km from Pinhal Novo). Setúbal is known for its Tróia Peninsula with its nice beaches and for the beauty of Arrábida´s Natural Park. And one should not forget the various castles that can be reached in less than one hour.
Pinhal Novo is fairly close to the sea and, as a consequence, the winters are moderate, very rarely getting below 0 ºC, while summers are usually very warm, often getting above 30 ºC.

Lodging support:
The volunteers will live in the centre of Pinhal Novo, approximately 5 minutes by foot from the main public spaces and services, such as the railway and bus stations, banks, the post office, the local police office, schools etc…
-The places where the projects will take stage are all close to each other - ensuring cooperation and team work among volunteers - and to the volunteers' residences.
-These residences - two of them, with 3 bedrooms each - will have 1 room per volunteer, while the living room, bathroom and kitchen will be shared by all. All the necessary tools to everyday living - for example: refrigerator, washing machine, kitchen set, TV/DVD, radio/sound system and so on - will be available. One of the residences will be a flat and the other will be a house.

Proposed activities for EVS volunteers

The various components of the projects for the volunteers will be roughly distributed according to the following basic structure:
1-Personal Project: 15%
This is the part of the project in which the volunteer has free reign to develop and execute activities, according to his/her interests/competences. For example, a volunteer with a music background could organize a workshop in a given musical instrument.
2-Team Project: 15%
This is the part where the volunteers (4, in our plan) work together in a common project of their own. For example, a camping trip could be made where one volunteer is in charge of the games and other physical activities (walking, hiking, etc…) for the kids/youngsters, two volunteers deal with the entertainment schedule and performances (music show at night, other forms of arts etc…) and another volunteer is responsible for filming, taking pictures and all the editing afterwards and provides backup for the other three.
Language Course: 20%
Besides taking language classes, each volunteer will also have time to study the language individually. This percentage may of course be subject to changes according to the language learning skills of each volunteer.
Daily activities of AJCOI: 20 %
The volunteers will take part in the regular activities of the host organization, as described above in the AJCOI profile.
Partnership activities: 15 %
The volunteers will be working in/with some of the partner entities listed below. For example, someone with interest in journalism might go to the town radio station and conduct some vox pop interviews about what kind of perception do Portuguese people have of the volunteer's country/culture. Someone with interest in children education might go to the children daycare center and participate/create activities/games and so on.
Special Projects:15 %
These are events involving several associations and destined to large-scale audiences:
- FIG: an international festival of street arts with participants from different countries.
-Concurso de Música Moderna: A music contest involving bands from all corners of Portugal, which compete in 3 different groups of 4 bands each, with the winner of each group and the best second place moving on to the final. Several well known bands in the portuguese music scene gained their first spotlight in this music contest.
- Pinhal Punk: punk music festival.
- Festas do Pinhal Novo: the traditional celebrations of our town´s and region´s folklore, which take place every year in june.
AJCOI helps with many things, such as setting up the media/Tv circuit, edit the celebration´s official magazine, organizing concerts/games etc…

Our plan calls for 6 volunteers, belonging, roughly, to 6 skill/interest groups. Interchanging of functions is of course allowed and encouraged. Following are some tasks scheduled for them.

Volunteer 1: Media and Computers
AJCOI´s website maintenance and development, filming, video editing and production, technical equipment assembling, graphics design and illustration, text writing for the news bulletin, logistics support.

Volunteer 2: Arts and Entertainment
Working with the theatre groups (stage theatre, street theatre, comical sketches) of AJCOI and Pinhal Novo´s highschool, both as an organizer (sceneries, wardrobe, light, sound and other technical support) and as an actor.
Working with the street art group: circus, juggling, fire arts, balloon sculpture etc…

Volunteer 3: Children and Teenagers
Working for AJCOI's youth groups as an assistant for kids and teens in activities like trips to the beach, cultural visits (museums, castles etc…) and walks in the countryside.

Volunteer 4: Music and Studio
Support for music events in the town Radio Station (Popular FM) and AJCOI.
Street interviews, audition and selection of demo tapes for the Concurso de Música Moderna and Pinhal Punk music festivals.
Demo tape recording and mastering.
Setting up of light and sound equipment.
Backstage support staff for the bands.
Music selection and execution (example: DJ) for the daily activities of AJCOI (theatre, etc…) and for other volunteers´s projects.

Volunteer 5: Sports activities
Planning, organizing and taking part of several sports activities of the school sports group at the local high school, such as rapel, slide, mountain hiking, football, basketball, map orientation games and athletics.

Volunteer 6: Social activities coordinated by the local Town Hall
Support work in the local projects for social intervention; working in the local Ludoteca (where games and entertainment activities are conducted for kids and teens), ATL (where extra-curricular after-school projects are developed), local library and developing social inclusion programs for foreign families, especially their younger members.

Partner Organizations:
Câmara Municipal de Palmela (Gabinete de Juventude e Acção Cultural) - This is the town hall´s youth office.
Junta de Freguesia de Pinhal Novo - This is the local governing body.
Centro de Ocupação Infantil - This is the children daycare center.
Escola Secundária de Pinhal Novo - Pinhal Novo´s high school.
90.9 Rádio Popular FM - Pinhal Novo´s Radio Station.
ATA (Acção Teatral Artimanha) Companhia de Teatro Amador - The main theatre company in our town.
Núcleo de Orientação/Desporto Aventura - the group for orientation and adventure sports.
FIG Festival Internacional de Gigantes - the international street arts festival.

Volunteer profiles and recruitment process

We will select the participants among the received curricula and the motivation application forms based on the following criteria:
- Enthusiasm, motivation to participate in our specific project
- Willing to develop new projects in a young staff team
- Skills and knowledge to plan and manage projects
In a first phase, the recruitment and selection process will be conducted by the project's general coordinator together with AJCOI's board; in this phase, the applications that don't fulfill the program's and project's criteria will be discarded. The approved applications will be directed to each section's responsible according to the interests expressed by the volunteers, and the different project coordinators will then place - and answer - any technical questions relevant to the task at hand.

Risk prevention, safety and protection

Please describe how you will guarantee a safe living and working environment for the EVS volunteers, how you will prevent risks and crises and how - in the case of EVS volunteers aged 16 or 17 - you ensure appropriate supervision, child safety and protection.

Although the planned activities are not intrinsically dangerous, the tutors, as well as all other team members, will take special care to prevent any possible risks that might come up during the course of the activities, some of which - e.g. work with children - will still have extra insurance coverage for all involved personnel, logically including volunteers.

http://ec.europa.eu/youth/evs/aod/hei_form_en.cfm?EID=60000099030