For the moment we are urgently looking for a volunteer for an approved project: 2006-PT-2

The volunteer should be able to start around the 19th of August for 6 months.

We prefer somebody from 23 years or older and with a strong motivation to work with children, young adults with special needs and disabled people.

In this project we are also planning to make a DVD and video clip about EVS. 

Objectives:
¨ Giving an European dimension to our organisation and our projects, finding motivation and ideas to new projects and to widening perspectives.
¨ Living the intercultural in a practical way, and using it like a learning tool to promote mutual knowledge, tolerance spirit and attitude and to fight against discrimination and racism.
¨ Giving a concrete example of European Citizenship to other young people and motivate them to be more active and to participate more- and why not?- to incentive them to make an European Voluntary Service or other kind of international activities (work camps, exchanges..)
¨ Making the promotion of the voluntary work for all the community and for young people particularly (information sessions at schools).

The members of our organisation are mainly children, youth and young adults and from the beginning we have a special sensibility for the youth problems and realities. Hosting a young European is a good opportunity to sensibilize the local community and especially young people to the importance of intercultural activities as a way to exchange knowledge, practises and to experience different activities. Hosting an European volunteer represents a helpful human resource and can help to motivate more our collaborators. At the same time, we know that this volunteer will be also considered like “something special” for the town, people and institutions.
We hope that the volunteer can also be a new way for information for the young people of Lousã: in fact, the young people living in isolated area sometimes don’t know the possibilities offered by the youth programmes and it’s one of the reasons of their no- participation. Besides, there has been already an EVS project running in Lousã, quite successfully, promoted by another private organization and it would very useful if two projects occurred at the same period, for both the volunteer and the promoting organizations.

Tasks of the volunteer

¨ Intercultural dimension
The volunteer will work mainly with Portuguese children and young people, with children, youth and adults with a handicap and/or risk of social exclusion and their families and with the team of workers. He/She will share the same flat of other European volunteer and will be helped and supported by an ex- EVS volunteer living in Portugal and who is collaborating regularly with the organisation. He/She will participate in all the activities developed by the organization concerning the target group, namely cultural activities, leisure time occupation, sports, visits.

¨ Variety and balance of the tasks

The volunteer will have tasks mainly based in:
· Communitary, social and cultural animation work (children and young people)
· Project management (local or international)
· Volunteering and citizenship promotion.
· Responsibility

When the volunteer participates in the activities , he will integrate the team of the monitors and consequently will have the same support (except at the beginning, because of the language barriers). In case of the project management (leisure time activities for the young people, youth week-end…) he will have the support of the project coordinator of the association and of the collaborators. For all the activities, the responsibilities will be shared in a team and the volunteer will be never be alone to organise an activity.
¨ Individual project
During the week, the volunteer will have the opportunity to work on his own project, the association providing him some special training to help him in this process (project methodology, financial resources, contacts partnerships and networks…).
¨ Type of the work and tasks of the volunteer:

In will be defined in parts:

A) Leisure Time Centre Activities: the target group includes about 200 children between 6 and 10 years old in five different schools, during the periods when children haven’t classes (morning or afternoon). The volunteer will work with the team of monitors.. There is an annual activities Plan structures with the monitors, including activities like music, body expression, plastic expression, nature activities, sports, thematic discussions and others. During the school holidays, the activities run during the day and the volunteer can choose to work also during the same period. The volunteer will also participate in trainings offered to the monitors and organised by our organisation or by others associations who gives formation in the most important areas required to develop this kind of project..

B) Activities for disadvantaged young people and for young people with Special Educational Needs: the main objective is to support a small group of disadvantaged young people and young people with disabilities or special educational needs and propose them some activities, motivating them to participate more in future projects. The activities are flexible and can be adapted to the talents of the volunteer: language courses, music lessons, theatre, drawing, computer lessons and much more things that the volunteer can propose. If the volunteer doesn’t have a special request or capacity to think and animate a special activity , we can propose him some concrete ideas relating to our capacities and resources. These activities will be a good way to keep in touch with this target group, to know them better, to define their own needs. The volunteer can also work in collaboration with our accommodation program in the unities of male, female and couple accommodations giving personal, social support and leisure time occupation for children, youth and adults with a handicap and/or in risk of social exclusion.

C) Other punctual activities: beside these daily activities, the volunteer will be able to participate (preparation, realisation and evaluation) in other activities like the Youth week-end, organization of fairs and exhibitions, school information sessions…

D) Individual project: During the voluntary service, the volunteer will have the opportunity to conceive, prepare and execute his own project with the help of the tutor and the other members of the association. A special and regular time during the week is defined to achieve this objective, with special training if necessary (methodology of project, budget skills, communication….for example). This project can be executed partially or finished during this specific Project of EVS.

E) Support to the staff The volunteer can also help the other staff in “small daily things” like shopping, logistic work; it’s always a good way to know the city, the important places and can help and motivate the volunteer to practice his Portuguese knowledge in a very concrete way.

Estimative in %:

1- Leisure Time Occupation Activities: 60%
2- Youth activities: 20%
3, 4- Other activities and individual project: 15%
5- Support: 5%

N.B.: In some occasions, this average can change when the volunteer will be involved in one specific activity- like an exhibition or a week-end, for instance; in this case he will participate in a full time level (100%)

More information at

http://ec.europa.eu/youth/evs/aod/hei_form_en.cfm?EID=60000066614