A. Project environment: profile of the organisation and local community
The head organisation of the "CARITAS" is a Catholic institution -put simple- tries to help and support people in need. The word Caritas comes from the latin word "carus" which means "beloved or valuable" - this adjectives express also the basic principle of our work. The philosophy of Caritas is based on giving help to people without asking about the cause of their situation, giving help to people who have no voice anymore, giving help to people face to face and giving help without asking for confession, social status, etc. The Caritas is active in various fields of social work: mobile care for old or ill people, education (special schools), family support, long-term support for ill or disabled persons, information and advice in many aspects, refugees home, possibilities for overnight-stays for homeless young people or homeless refugees. Repatriations grants and support, work with disabled persons, regional Caritas centres, and different projects with foreign countries etc.

The "CARITAS Verband Salzburg" is actively involved in the work with refugees. We operate two homes for refugees in Salzburg and Puch, where we mainly focus on the social support of the residents. We want to give shelter to the refugees until the legal proceedings are finished and it is clarified what happens to the refugees. We work together with various other institutions devoted to ease the fate of the refugees: Amnesty International, Refugee Service of the Protestant Church and other initiatives, also within the national CARITAS network and cooperate on an international level with the UNHCR.

The residents of the refugee home (55% men, 45% women and children) are transferred to our house after their status has been cleared in a socalled "Erstaufnahmezentrum".
Our main focus is physical and psychological treatment. We want to empower asylum seekers not to loose their skills or renew their skills to have a selfconfident life in Austria. During their time with us they can clarify their situation and develop perspectives for themselves.
The support and service in our house includes: lodging, food, medical treatment, counselling, sparetime-activities, learing German, general information about Austria, the asylum procedure, Salzburg, and special themes such as: political system in Austria, public transport, social system in Austria, money in Austria, etc.
They can stay until the end of their asylum proceedings.
The Caritas home for refugees would like to introduce young people from Europe into a new learning-. and working field and give them an understanding of intercultural work. We want to raise their interest in foreign cultures and show up the possible difficulties of being "a stranger". The young person will be fully integrated in the home for refugees and can learn new things in the field of intercultural communication, the companionship of people with different nationalities and in the field of leisure time activities/entertainment for our clients (children, youngsters, families, single women and men) being always accompanied and instructed if necessary.

The volunteers are directly involved in the institution of the home for refugees; where even the supervision and instruction of the volunteers takes place. Furthermore, there is the possibility to get to know the whole organisation of CARITAS in Salzburg, with its different institutions.
The volunteer means an additional help for the team, is an additional contact person for our guests and due to the fact that he/she also comes from a foreign country can more easily build up personal relations with this people.
Our volunteers will work in the fields of: Accompanying our residents, developing leisure activities, supporting the social workers with counselling and integration, helping with the running of the house itself, supporting our teacher in the German classes, supporting our team by giving information on special themes (Salzburg and its surrounding, money in Austria, spare time activities), supporting the organisation in another Caritas shelter (mainly for homeless people);

The co-ordinating organisation Akzente Salzburg is involved in the EVS project since 1996 and has lots of experience in coordinating EVS for the volunteers in Salzburg. The system of co-ordinating and local-hosting organisation is very well structured and organized and the division of tasks is clearly defined. Akzente Salzburg is responsible for all administrative and supportive tasks - application, money-issues for volunteers, arrangement of lodging, language course, local transport, medical support, etc.



B. Proposed activities for EVS volunteers
The Caritas home for refugees would like to introduce young people from Europe into a new learning-. and working field and give them an understanding of interculturality. We want to raise their interest in foreign cultures and show up the possible difficulties of being "a stranger". The young person will be totally integrated in the home for refugees and can learn new things in the field of intercultural communication, the companionship of people with different nationalities and in the field of leisure time activities/entertainment for our clients (children, youngsters, families, single women and men) being always accompanied and instructed if necessary.

Furthermore, it exists also the possibility to get to know the whole organisation of CARITAS in Salzburg, with its different institutions.
The volunteer means an additional help for the team, is an additional contact person for our guests and due to the fact that he/she also comes from a foreign country can more easily build up personal relations with this people.

The volunteer is considered as a full member of the team with a special status who supports the activities in our refugees home. Together with the team he or she will be involved in the organisation of the daily live in the home.

According to the interests and abilities (and the needs of the house) the volunteer will be:
" Organisation of leisure activities
" Assistance at the preparation of a German language course, that is offered by a honorary coworker
" Assistance at the general organization of the house life (journal services, distribution of meals, distribution of sanitary articles etc.)
" Company of inhabitants to authorities, institutions or to physicians and hospitals
" Organization of single activities like support at homeexercises for pupils, work-shops with children of our house (painting, playing, ......);
" Interpreting for the office-workers in French
" Company to monthly refugee meetings in an association called "Café der Kulturen"
" Support of house inhabitants with the searching of appartments
" Administrative office activities
" Substituting for the office-staff during team meetings
" Assisting at the organization of a large refugee celebration


C. Volunteer profiles and recruitment process
We expect interest in working with people coming from minorities, interest in getting to know people from an other culture, the ability to "listen" to our clients.
Advantageous would be : driving license B, foreign language skills (eg french,russian..)

D. Special needs (if applicable)
We consider to host volunteers from economical, geographical and cultural differences - and will also offer all necessary support for young people with these backgrounds.
Since our clients are quite unstable when they arrive at our house, it is also necessary, that a volunteer is in a "stable" condition.

E. Risk prevention, safety and protection
First of all, our house can garuantee safe working conditions, as we have to obey Austrian regulations in this field. The volunteer will have a mentor, who will meet on a regular bases to dicuss issues in and outside of the project. Through this, problems can be identified early and solutions found together.

If the crisis result from the work in the team or from the work with the refugees, the "emergency" plan by Caritas will start running, which includes one-to-one coaching but also psychological support for emergency situations.

http://ec.europa.eu/youth/evs/aod/hei_form_en.cfm?EID=32000248614