Casa do Parque is based in Oeiras Municipality, in Carnaxide.

Oeiras is an important Village (45,8/km2) that offers the dynamism of large number of habitants (162.124) mainly young, near Lisbon the capital of Portugal (15 minutes), and 20 minutes from Sintra - World Patrimony, and 10 minutes from Cascais bay.
Oeiras has got many infrastructures of economic development such as TagusPark, LagoasPark and Quinta da Fonte (business centres). The Cultural opportunities are guaranteed not just because of the village environment and heritage (such as the Palace of Marquês, the old gunpowder Factory, the Poets Park and the recreation harbour) as for the preservation and good use of the space by the local authorities. The Shopping Center Oeiras Parque is a good example of an infrastructure that provides entertaining activities (shopping, cinemas) and rapid access to basic primary products to the inhabitants of the municipality.
Carnaxide is a big village, part of Oeiras municipality nearby Lisbon. As far as public transportation is concerned, bus is the only service available, offering several regular connections to several train stations of the two lines (Cascais and Sintra) and that allows EVS volunteers to reach easily to the Lisbon (5 min), Sintra (35 min) and Cascais (40 min).
According to the last statistics information from 2001, the village of Carnaxide (6,44/km2) has 21353 inhabitants.
In terms of social-economic context, the economics activity of Carnaxide reflects a typical urban structure. The creation in the last decade, of large business and commercial structures, has strongly contributed to the development and urbanism of the village, which has grown from a rural border area to a more dynamic place.
It is an area where most population can be considered high economic class, but has also some population with low financial incomes, existing more needs near to some neighbourhoods where poverty is more concentrated. Casa do Parque is situated inside of one of this places where people have less oportunities, concerning to economic, cultural and social issues. However, this area is supported by several sports infra-structures, like a swimming pool, which provide to the children healthy activities, with the technical support of volunteers.
Nowadays, Carnaxide has several restaurants, mini-markets, banks, sports groups, cultural associations, police departments, fire department, doctors, pharmacies, privative clinics, library, dance company, primary schools, public and private kindergartens, occupational youth centres, an extension of the Health Center, a municipal swimming pool.
It has a Mediterranean continental climate with very hot Summers, long and rigorous Winters with low precipitation levels. The proximity with the sea, provides good aqua activities (surf, bodyboard, windsurf, sailing, etc) along 20 km length beaches from Oeiras to Cascais.
Concerning the stay of the EVS volunteer, ProAtlântico will provide the lodging in a rented flat, and money to buy the food. He/She may find a variety of eating choices in Oeiras (self-services, small local restaurants, supermarkets, local food markets, etc.). ProAtlântico members will help him/her become familiar with these.
In respect of working rules of the shelter home, there are two basic notes: all children and youngsters have the right to maintain anonimous and secrecy must be respected, in order to protect their privacy.


In APDMF/Casa do Parque the EVS volunteers will be able to develop several competencies, in order to improve their performance. Therefore, APDMF/Casa do Parque will provide the opportunity to EVS volunteers to have learning opportunities in different fields, such as:
- approach to the tasks of the project: develop responsibility for the project; become more open to new ideas; develop the sense of initiative; ability to plan and organize activities to the project; flexibility/adaptability and coping to new challenges; proactive attitude and independent work
- leadership abilities: ability to face problems; ability to manage conflicts; develop positive attitude in difficult situations; positive attitude in order to take pride in team performance; team work with colleagues to achieve desired goals; ability to maintain open communication; ability to contribute to an environment of motivation
- team orientation: work effectively with others volunteers and other members of the team; active attitude to contribute to the achievement of group and organizational goals; acceptance of shared responsibility and ownership of projects; maintenance of open communication among team members; assume commitment to team success; consistent contribution with new ideas to the organization / new projects;
- innovation and creativity: ability to develop and implement innovate ideas to the projects; ability to provide unique/different perspectives to improve activities; ability to encourage innovation in themselves and others;
- Personal characteristics: maintain a positive attitude on the work; ability to act responsibly; ability to share information willingly; ability to make judgement and to make decisions;

The specific tasks that volunteers can be involved in Casa do Parque are:
- Participation in the planning of the work: the volunteers can attend the planning meeting where the specific objectives and activities are defined on a regular basis. In these meetings they can propose ideas to implement, propose solutions for specific problems, become aware of the working methodologies of the organisation, place their doubts or questions about the work, evaluate, etc.
- Supporting the children and youngsters during their study moments: this task includes the supervision of the youngsters, the support in their doubts and most of all motivating the youngsters for their studying tasks. The volunteers tasks can include monitoring and helping the children and youngsters in their homework and study hours, helping more intensively in areas where he/she feels more comfortable (for instance: English language tutoring, Maths, Geography…), but also motivating them to study and to complete their objectives.
- "Leisure hour": this activity aims at animating and implementing leisure time activities for the children and youngsters, with an entertaining but also educational purpose. Therefore, the idea is to have a variety of activities where the children and youngsters can learn, have fun and occupy their free times in a healthy way.
These activities include cooking workshops, fashion shows, photos exhibitions, thematic conversations, etc. The task of the volunteer can include helping the team with planning the specific activities, help the staff to implement the activities, give ideas and ask the children and youngsters for opinions on what they would like to develop, look after the children and youngsters and help them to develop their tasks, develop techniques with the group such as painting, drawing, building or modelling, cuttings, music, etc, according to the plan and to the volunteer's skills.
- "Dinner Time": this is the moment for dinner. It is important in the dynamics of the groups of children and youngsters because it is in a way a "family moment". The tasks of the volunteer can include helping in giving the dinner to the children and youngsters, but most important, helping in creating a friendly, fun and home environment during the meal hour. This can include establishing healthy conversations with the children and youngsters, inquiring about their activities during the day, their problems, their needs, etc.
- Supporting the children and youngsters in health routines: help the staff in assuring that the youngsters take care of their health routines (shower, washing teeth, etc), setting the rules and teaching them hygiene habits.
- Preparation of parties and special events: as in all family houses, in Casa do Parque there are moments and occasions to celebrate or to have a relaxed, fun and happy moments. The volunteers will be involved in planning, creating and proposing new ideas for this kind of events.
- Preparation and monitoring of going outs: having activities out of the space of Casa do Parque is also foreseen in the activities plan. It is important for the youngsters to diversify their horizons and to develop their knowledge of the surroundings. The volunteers can plan different and new activities for these "going outs", visits, define places to go, etc. During the activity, they can also be responsible for monitoring the group and leading the activities.
- Personal project: according to the spirit of volunteering, learning and sharing that sets the philosophy of hosting an EVS project, the volunteers involved in Casa do Parque will have the freedom and will be challenged to promote a personal project, an original idea or whatever they desire that comes in accordance with the regular philosophy of the institution, either in the formerly mentioned areas, or in different ones, for which they can count with support and monitoring of the Casa do Parque's technical team.
The schedule of the volunteer is based on the principle that the children/youngsters of Casa do Parque have more free time to participate in leisure activities during the weekends. Therefore, we propose that the volunteer is available on Saturdays and Sundays to participate in the activities. The schedule of 6 daily hours can take place from 15h till 21h, or from 9h till 15h between Wednesday and Sunday, once in this period of time the children/youngsters are more time in the house. In this way the volunteers would have his/her free time on Monday and Tuesday.
However, this schedule may be changed sometimes acoording to the needs of Casa do Parque, mainly when there are some activities like going-outs.
One extra hour will be used for personal development as language course, in order to help the EVS Volunteer in the process of integration into the Portuguese Culture. The duration and frequency of the trainings will depend on personal needs and abilities of the Volunteer.
The first few weeks after the volunteer's arrival will be considered as a period of preliminary induction, during which the volunteer will be introduced to the project team and will gain familiarity with the new living and working environment. After this initial adjustment period, a more comprehensive induction programme will be formulated together with the volunteer.

As for the calendar of the activities, the project is defined in two periods:
This first period will be under the responsibility of the coordinating organization, ProAtlântico - Associação Juvenil, which will guarantee that the right reception is given to the EVS volunteers. During the first period, which include the first month after arrival, the main objective is to create the right conditions for the development of the project, giving the volunteer the opportunity to learn the Portuguese language, in a basic language course, the opportunity to have the first contacts with the local community, with Casa do Parque and with the different projects that will be developed during their stay. The volunteer will also participate in activities organised by ProAtlântico - Associação Juvenil for the cultural training, the integration in the Portuguese culture and dealing with cultural shock. In this period, the EVS volunteers will have the opportunity to settle down, observe and plan the tasks in which they will be involved.
The second period, will begin in the second month until the end of the project, during this time, the volunteer will work directly in the tasks defined in Casa do Parque, with all the support of his/her Mentor and all the staff of the shelter home. Before the beginning of each task, the EVS volunteers will have the necessary briefing and/or training by qualified people to obtain the necessary knowledge to perform well in their functions. During this process all the training will be structured according to the needs of the EVS volunteers.
Every EVS Volunteer will have a Mentor that will be directly responsible for his/her training, personal support and language training and to whom he/she can turn in case of problems. They will be able to talk with their mentor about what their weekly activities will be.


In order to receive applications of candidates to this project, Casa do Parque will promote a transparent recruitment process with support of ProAtlântico, by taking different actions:
- sending information about the project to European networks, to National Agencies by e-mail
- creating a website that can give information about the project and all the selection process.
We will create a selection group that will make a pre-selection of the participants, firstly based on practical issues (selecting only the candidates that had the CV, motivation letter, and sending organization). After reading the CV and Motivation letters, the selection group make a choice, considering the interest of the volunteers to work with, children and young people, their commitment to volunteering service, and the reason presented to have chosen our project.
During this process all the information about the candidates, the selection process and the results will be available in the Internet site.We will choose volunteers, who can bring something of their own experiences and culture, to enrich the hosting projects and local community.
Our project is totally based in activities, that are free to the participants. Therefore, the presence of EVS volunteers can't be at any moment seen as job substitution.
The profile of the volunteer will have general requirements: self-motivated, dynamic, versatile, good mood, flexible, with self initiative, experienced in children work, willing to take on new challenges, and open to working with people of all backgrounds and cultures, with ability to manage and solve conflicts in a creative way; enthusiastic to participate in the project; mature to work and to relate to a group of children/youngsters of the mentioned ages; willing to develop new activities and with sense of responsibility.
Personal interests could be: about different cultures (specifically the African), sports, like karate, capoeira, hip-hop, dance and football, and music like rap, hip hop, pop. The ideal situation would be that the EVS volunteer would have previous experience, specially in a related area before departure, in voluntary work with children/youngsters with similar social background, either in the sending organization or in other structures (foster homes, youth centres …) in his/her country.
This will strongly benefit the volunteer's participation in the project. Therefore we prefer to work with sending organisations which have activities with children/youngsters with similar social backgrounds or in the same situation.
We will look for volunteers who are interested in working with, young people with a commitment to volunteering and more specifically youth work, and, had chosen our project because of the experience and development they will gain not only because it's in Portugal.

To prevent risks, the EVS volunteers will always be accompanied by a member of the shelter home team, who will also help the volunteer to intercede in case of conflicts between children/youngsters.
Every EVS volunteer will have special training about: the organisation working methods; relationship and attitude among children/youngsters; prevention of risk behaviours. The volunteers will also inform the team about situations that put the children/youngsters in danger.
In order to guarantee safety and protection of EVS volunteers, they will know the general procedures in case of a dangerous situation. The volunteers will also be informed about the main telephone numbers and localisation of useful services like, national emergency number, fire department, police office, hospitals, and pharmacies. They will also be aware about the contact people inside the organisation like mentor, children/youngsters monitors, etc.
The volunteers will also be covered by health and accidents insurances, in order to guarantee their safety and protection.
In order to prepare the hosting of EVS volunteers will be created a Welcome Guide, which will provide information about the lodging, cleaning of the flat, consumption of supplies (water, electricity and gas), transports available, money issues (food, transport and pocket money), training and formation, extra information: map between ProAtlântico's office and the flat, services available nearby (restaurants, pharmacies, shops, etc.)