PROJECT ENVIRONMENT:

The location of Casa Pia - CED Nossa Senhora da Conceição is in Largo do Rato in the old Convent of Freiras Trinitárias, in Lisbon. It was built in 1663 by Manuel Gomes de Elvas. In 1856 started to shelter abandoned girls working as asylum.

Nowadays, the CED Nossa Senhora da Conceição is one of the establishments of Casa Pia de Lisboa and develop their activities through education, teaching and formation of children and young people. The population of this college is 430 students in half-residential system, which covers de Kindergarten, the pre-school education, the middle education and level 2 of Visual Arts vocational course.

The objectives of Casa Pia - CED Nossa Senhora da Conceição are: improve the social and educational intervention; privilege the early intervention and the development of the students since Kindergarten till the end of the middle education and reinforce the work with the families; increase the network with the community resources and partners.

Casa Pia - CED Nossa Senhora da Conceição develops several projects such as: Formation Centre, Protocols with other organisations, participation in congresses and seminars and act in several areas: early intervention, psychology intervention, parental formation, development of social and personal competences, prevention of sexual abuses, national plan of reading and fight against the Maths failure.

Besides the education activities, there are also leisure activities: sports, European club, choir, computers, tapestry, environmental club, folklore, research activities, school newspaper, music activities (percussion), plastic expression, language club, reading club, latin dances, ping-pong and capoeira.

Lisboa is the capital of Portugal and lies on the north bank of the Tagus Estuary, on the European Atlantic coast. It is the westernmost city in continental Europe. Greater Lisboa has an area of approximately 1,000 km2. The city lies more or less in the centre of the country, approximately 300 km from the Algarve in the south and 400 km from the northern border with Spain.

Portugal has more than 10 million people and half a million are resident in Lisbon council. Everyday, about 2 million people from the Metropolitan region of Lisbon move to Lisbon city to work and make the city very multicultural. Lisbon community is the largest urban centre located in the centre coast of Portugal.

Lisboa offers a wide variety of options to the visitor, including beaches, countryside, mountains and areas of historical interest only a few kilometres away from the city centre.

The capital city is very dynamic and it offers a wide range of places to visit, offering information about history, culture and art, such as: Castle of São Jorge, National Museum of Old Art, Art-tile Museum, National Coach Museum, Centro Cultural de Belém, Lisbon Casino, Oceanarium, Zoo, Basílica da Estrela, Jerónimos Monastery, Belém Tower, etc.

Around Lisbon there are several highlights in Cascais, Sintra, Oeiras and Mafra that can easily be reached by transport connections.

Lisbon has a very dynamic nightlife with discos, pubs and bars around the city and little restaurants where Fado is sang in typical places like Alfama.

In the daily life it is possible to visit many museums, theatres, shopping centres, typical old places like Alfama and Baixa-Chiado.

Lisbon is one of the mildest European capitals. Spring is cool to warm (between 6 °C and 27 °C) with plenty of sunshine and also some showers. Summer months are mostly sunny, dry and hot with temperatures between 16 °C to 38 °C. Autumn is mild and unsettled with temperatures between 8 °C and 23 °C and winters are typically rainy, windy and cool with some sunny days (temperatures between 4 °C and 18 °C), usually staying at an average of 11 °C. Snowfall is a very rare occurrence. On average, there are 3300 sunny hours per year and 100 days with rain per year.

Portugal is well known for good organisation of international events like Expo 98, Euro 2004 and Lisbon-Dakar in 2006 and 2007. This fact brought a lot of tourists to Portugal, mainly to Lisbon city.

The cost of life is considered to be middle-low when compared to other E.U. countries being the services the main sector of production. Its economy is based on the tertiary sector (Services). The access to public transports is quite good, including an underground network, trains, trams and buses either to the urban crown or to the surroundings.

Portuguese is Latin in origin and the third most widely spoken European language in the world. It is the mother tongue of about 200 million people. Portuguese is the official language in several countries: Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, São Tomé e Príncipe in Africa, and Brazil in South America. In Portugal itself a considerable number of people can understand and communicate in foreign languages.

After the Revolution in 1974 that installed the democracy in Portugal, a lot of people that lived in the African ex-colonies came to Portugal, searching for better life conditions that caused an enormous immigration during the 70's. Nowadays, many people from Africa, China and Brazil live in Portugal but a large number of them face difficult economic situation due to lack of qualifications and difficulty in finding a job.

For these reasons a part of these immigrants live in self-made homes or in Council houses where some social problems are more evident like criminality, economic difficulties, unemployment, school abandon, etc.

In respect of working rules of the organisation, all youngsters have the right to maintain anonymous and secrecy must be respected, in order to protect their privacy.

Volunteer principles that are promoted in Casa Pia are:
- Solidarity: responsibility of all citizens in volunteer in Casa Pia;
- Participation: intervention of volunteers and promoter entities in social fields;
- Cooperation: gather efforts and projects of promoter entities of volunteer;
- Complementarily: the volunteers don't substitute the others human resources in the organisation;
- Freeness: the volunteers aren't paid for the activity;
- Responsibility: the volunteer is responsible for its commitment in order to fulfil the expectations;
- Convergence: harmony between the culture and objectives of the volunteer and Casa Pia.

Duties of the volunteers in Casa Pia:
- Respect the ethic code of volunteer activity;
- Observe the rules that regulate the work of Casa Pia and the programmes and projects where the volunteer will be involved;
- Act diligently and with solidarity;
- Participate in the volunteers programme trainings;
- Ensure a good use of resources and equipments available;
- Collaborate with workers of Casa Pia, respecting their opinions and following their instructions;
- Do not assume a representative role without previous authorisation of Casa Pia;
- Assure the regularity and development of the work based on the agreement between the volunteer and Casa Pia;
- Use the Volunteer ID during the activities.

The presence of a coordinating organisation in this project is important for the success, mainly because the hosting organisation don't have experience in EVS projects.

Casa Pia - CED Nossa Senhora da Conceição is involved in a lot of projects and activities where EVS volunteers can be involved and have large experience and a motivated team that will give the necessary support to the volunteer.

ProAtlântico with high experience on EVS projects will take care of the administrative and practical issues, in order to make this project fulfil all the expectation of all partners.

Concerning the stay of the EVS volunteer, the coordinating organisation ProAtlântico - Associação Juvenil will provide the lodging in a flat or in a hosting family. The volunteer might have to share the room with another volunteer.

A monthly allowance is provided by the coordinating organisation to cover food expenses out of the working time. During the working time the hosting organisation will provide meals or an allowance to cover food expenses of the volunteers. The volunteers may find a variety of eating choices in Santarém (small local restaurants, supermarkets, local food markets, etc.). The Casa Pia - CED Nossa Senhora da Conceição members will help him/her become familiar with these resources.

A monthly local transport allowance is provided by the hosting organisation to the EVS volunteer.

A monthly allowance (pocket money) is provided by the coordinating organisation to the volunteer.











PROPOSED ACTIVITIES FOR EVS VOLUNTEERS:

In Casa Pia - CED Nossa Senhora da Conceição the EVS volunteers will be able to develop several competencies, in order to improve their performance. Therefore, the host organisation will provide the opportunity to EVS volunteers to have learning opportunities in different fields, such as:

o 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;

o leadership abilities: 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;

o team orientation: work effectively with others volunteers or with 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;

o 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;

o 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;

o Cultural expression: knowledge about Portuguese culture; willing to show volunteer's culture and spread the multicultural projects;

o Communication in a foreign language: ability to communicate in Portuguese in order to feel more integrated among the others; positive attitude in learning process of Portuguese language; persistence to improve communication in Portuguese language;

In the end of the Activity, the EVS volunteers involved can ask for the Youth Pass in order to get a certification of their learning outcomes.

The volunteers will have the chance to be integrated in Casa Pia de Lisboa and to know an organisation with 200 years with relevant concerns in Portuguese society, giving several competencies, knowledge and sharing values through the presence and daily contact with the beneficiaries. For Casa Pia de Lisboa is an added value resulting from hosting volunteers of different cultures and diverse experiences. This fact will give the chance to the organisation and to the volunteers the opportunity of enlarge their horizons.

In general terms, the EVS volunteers will have to find the best strategy to integrate in a new culture, to learn a new language and to fit in a new reality, but also, will have the opportunity to improve their skills, discover new abilities and talents with a specific target group - social disadvantaged children and young people.

In specific terms, while the volunteers develop their EVS project in Casa Pia - CED Nossa Senhora da Conceição, they will have to deal with conflicts among children and young people, rule breaks and other social behaviour concerns.

In this way, the volunteers must have a proactive role, assisting the other members of the team, which are already running this project and help them in their tasks, by taking part in the animation and carrying out activities with children and young people, having always the necessary support, training, orientation in order to plan activities.

The EVS volunteers will be encouraged to implement their own ideas and experiences, according to their skills and interests, having in mind the team's objectives and the organisation possibilities. We believe this topic is important to the volunteer's integration and adaptation to the dynamics of the organisation, in order to make him/her feel part of the group.

The volunteers will learn important issues in the Youth Work field, in order to become more integrated and informed about other cultures and ways of living, the problems of coexistence of different cultures, deal with possible conflicts among them and find the best ways to use mutual understanding as a tool for tolerance.

The Mentor will assist the volunteer in the definition of his/her tasks and give personal support.

The volunteers will take part in many different tasks, according to their interests, abilities and skills that will be planned together with the staff and the mentor. The target group of the project will be children and young people between 3 and 14 years old.
So, the specific tasks that volunteers can be involved in Casa Pia - CED Nossa Senhora da Conceição are:

- Participation in the European Club: the volunteers will have the chance to inform the young people about European activities they can take part, like youth exchanges, EVS and youth initiatives. The EVS volunteers will have the chance to organise special events dedicated to Europe and also about their culture.

- Participation in the school newspaper: the EVS volunteers will get involved in the school newspaper, helping to write articles, taking pictures, get in contact with youth people to make interviews, etc. Through the newspaper, the volunteers will also give visibility to their project and to YIA programme.

- Leisure activities: the volunteers will promote activities with children, animating and implementing leisure time activities (sports, pedagogical and cultural) for children with an entertaining but also educational purpose. Therefore, the idea is to have a variety of activities where the children can learn, have fun and occupy their free times in a healthy way.

- Outdoor Activities: having activities out of the space of Casa Pia - CED Nossa Senhora da Conceição 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 through environment tours, adventure sports, outdoor games, etc. 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.

- Meals Time: this is the moment for meals and the "family feeling" shall be in the air. The tasks of the volunteer can include helping in giving the meals to the children, but most important, helping in creating a friendly, funny and home environment during the meal time. This can include establishing healthy conversations with the children and youngsters, inquiring about their activities during the day, their problems, their needs, etc.

- Promote European Voluntary Service and other youth activities: the EVS volunteers will give visibility to their EVS activity, in order to motivate more young people to participate on EVS and in other youth activities like youth exchanges. This can contribute to expand their perspectives of the future and participate actively in the society. They can organise exhibitions and presentations in schools and in youth clubs, etc.

- Participation in the planning of the work: the volunteers will attend to 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.

- Personal project: according to the spirit of volunteering, learning and sharing that sets the philosophy of hosting an EVS project, the EVS volunteers involved in Casa Pia - CED Nossa Senhora da Conceição will have the freedom and will be challenged to promote a personal project, like 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 from the staff of the hosting organisation and from ProAtlântico's team.

The tasks weren't designed to achieve profit, because the organization is non-profitable and doesn't intend to make financial gain from its activities.

The volunteers will start Portuguese lessons shortly after their arrival in Portugal, in order to help them to communicate with the children, young people and staff.

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.

During this time the coordinating organisation ProAtlântico - Associação Juvenil will welcome the EVS volunteers and create right conditions for the development of the project, giving the volunteers the opportunity to integrate in the new culture, different environment and new language.

ProAtlântico will provide the language course and will create the opportunity to EVS volunteers to establish the first contacts with Casa Pia - CED Nossa Senhora da Conceição and with the different projects that will be developed during their stay. At the same time, the EVS volunteers will be introduced in the hosting organization, mainly to the working team.

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 volunteers will also participate in activities organised by ProAtlântico - Associação Juvenil for the cultural training about integration in the Portuguese culture and dealing with cultural shock.

After this initial adjustment period, the volunteer will work directly in the tasks defined in Casa Pia - CED Nossa Senhora da Conceição with the staff of the organisation. 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 and be provided by the staff.

At the first sight, it won't be necessary any formal training, just the practical procedures will be trained. Although, if needed, will be possible to have more formation depending on the volunteers needs.

The team will meet with the volunteer two times each month to evaluate the tasks and to check if the objectives are fulfilled.

The schedule of the volunteer will be 35 hours a week, 5 days a week with 2 days off. The volunteer will participate 6 hours each day in total of 30 hours a week. 3 to 5 hours will be used for personal support with the mentor and Language Course given by a school or by a private teacher.

The schedule will be set between the volunteer and the mentor, considering their interests and the kind of activities developed. The volunteers might have to be available during the weekend and in that case will have free days during the week.

The volunteer will have 2 days of holidays per month for the duration of the project, to be taken in agreement between the volunteer and the team of Casa Pia - CED Nossa Senhora da Conceição.

http://ec.europa.eu/youth/evs/aod/hei_form_en.cfm?EID=60000121915