Project environment: profile of the organisation and local community

" Outline the project environment for the suggested voluntary activities, including the local community where the project will take place (e.g. geographical, social and economical environment).

" If the host placement is located in a live-in community, please include the rules and conditions that apply also for the volunteer.

Most of the projects of the organisation are aimed at the young people in the town of Draganesti-Olt and its surrounding villages, to which it is strongly connected. The area is very peaceful, a combination of urban and rural, in which the two ways of life specific to each culture interlace in a very interesting way.

From an economical point of view, the area is not a very well developed. The few industries which existed before 1989 are now being closed or working at low capacity. Most of the residents work in agriculture, commerce and food and textile industry.

If we were to refer to the ethnical diversity of the area, we would have to mention the Rroma community. It is quite an important community which over the years developed a good relation with the rest of the residents of the area. In this context it would be appropriate to mention that in the recent history of Draganesti-Olt there is no recorded incident concerning inter-ethnical disputes.

Activities developed are going to be:
Conducting a research work about the life of Roma minority in the local communities, observing their life style, their problems, their mentalities, their traditions
POSTCARD FROM DRAGANESTI" POSTCARD FROM EUROPE: it's a project started by the other volunteers with the youngsters inside the schools. They tried to put in contact the youngsters from our schools with the others from the schools in their countries, by creating a bridge between them with the help of the postcards, made by them. The youngsters created the postcards and sent them to the others from the partner schools. In this way they managed to create a very good connection between schools from Romania, Italy, Poland, France, and Germany.
PRINCIPAL FOR A WEEK: it's another project developed by our volunteers. For a week you are going to take the principals place, observe the things inside the school, give advices, elaborate some plans that you think that can improve the things in the school, in short words you are going to be the chief of the school (you will have to consult with the real principal of course before making some major changes ?);
LETTER FROM MY EUROVILLAGE: it is a project that, together with the POSTCARD PROJECT, will even bring closer the youngsters coming from different backgrounds, societies, economical environment, social and ethnic, and will contribute at promoting better understanding and collaboration among them;
ECOLOGICAL CAMPAIGNS (PHOTOS AND EXHIBITION): as resulted from other volunteers research and observations, youngsters doesn't seem to care much about this vital issue for European Society and the whole world, which is the environment. That is why with this ecological activities we are trying to motivate them, to make them more responsible and more concerned related to this. Also the photos and the exhibition, that will gather all the photos, is going to stimulate their creativity, innovation and involvement.
PUPPET THEATRE: Puppet theatre is a project that will contribute in improving and developing new abilities to all the persons involved, both volunteers and youngsters.
EuRo GAMES: will have the role to teach the youngsters about the European Union, about its values, about its countries
ARCHEO ACTIVITIES (activities made at the museum, with the kids from here, discovering objects and artifacts in archeological sites): the area where our project is going to be implemented has numerous sits and archeological artifacts. Together with the youngsters and under the guidance of the Museum Director you will have the chance to go back in time discovering old civilizations.
YOUTH NEWS PAPER: the volunteers will have the chance to put the basis of an newspaper, where they are going to be the coordinators an the editors. They will have the chance to learn or improve their artistic skills, in creating the layout of the newspaper, and their journalistic abilities.
DRAGANESTI - begin of the journey: it is going to be a small travel guide that will contain information about the journeys that you made around the country, tips and advices about some of the experiences that you had on your traveling and other information that you would like to share.
EXTRA ACTIVITIES: besides the activities that we described you, your ideas about other activities that you would like to develop here will be most than welcomed and put into practice.

Volunteer profiles and recruitment process
Please describe the profiles of volunteers you would like to receive in your organization. Include information on how you ensure an open and transparent recruitment process as well as the overall accessibility of EVS to all young people. Consider further information about the type of sending organisation you want to cooperate with. This information can help the match-making between volunteer candidates, sending organizations and your organization.
The organization's recruitment process will not be influenced by the gender, nationality, race or ethnicity, educational level, religion, sexual or political orientation of the candidate. Any volunteer who has the necessary abilities and experience required by our projects is more than welcome to work with us. Unfortunately, the local infrastructure of Draganesti Olt is not suitable for people with mobility problems, situation which makes hosting this type of volunteers very difficult for us.

Special needs (if applicable)
If your placements are open to hosting volunteers with fewer opportunities, please provide information about the competence, experience and infrastructure and (human or other) resources available in your organization to accommodate and support them.
The organization is able to provide assistance to persons with health problems trough the medics from our local hospital. Hosting them will depend on the problems each of them face, as we consider that is not a good idea to get involved in situations which we are not sure we can deal with. Unfortunately, the local infrastructure of Draganesti Olt is not suitable for persons with mobility problems, situation which makes hosting this type of volunteers very difficult for us

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 only few isolated incidents occur in the area, we are very careful when it comes to the safety of our guests. This is why we developed a set of measures that will help us eliminate any unwanted situations which may occur as much as possible. These measures include:
" Releasing a local guide which will contain information regarding sites of interest, national and local customs and traditions, areas which should be avoided and phone numbers that volunteers should call in case an emergency occurs.
" A presentation tour of the area, in which our guests will get to know the environment in which they will live and work.
" Formal and informal meetings with the local youth.
" Existence of a person who will be available at any time and who will help the volunteers overcome any situation which may occur.
" Holding weekly meetings with the volunteers in which they will present the report of their activity, their plans and the difficulties which they faced or think they will face.
" In exceptional situations, counselling from the school counsellor will be available.

http://ec.europa.eu/youth/evs/aod/hei_form_en.cfm?EID=62000157101