CESIE – European Centre of Studies and Initiatives – has opened applications for the project “Voices from around the world III” (application deadline: 15 October 2011). This project is about voluntary service in several non-European countries and focuses on topics such as sustainable development in communities, intercultural dialogue and creative non-formal learning.
A group made up of 12 volunteers coming from Austria, France, Estonia, Hungary and Italy will be involved in development projects in Nepal (7 months) and in Senegal (6 months).
A life experience leaves its mark on both the volunteer and the local community, and this is why Voices from around the world III gives everyone the opportunity to personally contribute to community development, and to know and experience a new culture, completely different from one’s own.
Programme:
Deadline for applications: 27/02/2012 h. 13,00
Final selection will take place on 02 march 2012 at CESIE, Palermo. Personal attendance is compulsory.
Start of the projects: beginning of April
Duration: 6 months, coming back on beginning of October
Return: October 2012
Group: 2 Italian volunteers will leave together with an international group of volunteers coming from France, Hungary and Estonia. The group will be made up of 6 volunteers from these countries.
What is European Voluntary Service (EVS)?
European Voluntary Service aims at developing solidarity and promoting tolerance among young people, mainly to strengthen social cohesion in the EU, to promote active citizenship and to improve mutual understanding among young people.
European Voluntary Service (EVS) is one of the most interesting opportunities that European Commission gives to young people aged from 18 to 30 to have a significant life experience in a foreign country for a limited period of time. Its primary aim is to give them the opportunity to live an intercultural learning experience in non-formal contexts. Through the experiences of non-formal learning, young volunteers improve and acquire new competences for their personal, formative and professional development and also for their social integration.
If compared to other activities, European Voluntary Service offers many more advantages, as young people can travel to a foreign country and experience interculturalism and active citizenship. All this will be done under the new perspective of the “traveller looking for new experiences and personal challenges”, giving a personal contribution and enriching himself/herself from a human and relational point of view.
EVS covers the activities organized by the partnership of legally founded organizations which send or host volunteers to operate in a different nation. In fact, he/she will move to another country (nowadays it is possible to do European voluntary work in every country of the world) to work in the host association. All the expenses are covered (food, lodging, insurance, travel, language course) and the volunteer will also have a monthly allowance (that may vary depending on the host country) for personal needs. EVS may last from a minimum of 2 to a maximum of 12 months.
For further information, visit the website of Agenzia Nazionale per i Giovani (National Agency for Young people) or the database of the European Commission.
Where? In Senegal!
Two Italian volunteers can apply for an EVS project in Sedhiou, in the region of Casamance, Senegal. They will do educational activities with children, adolescents and adults, animation activities in schools, awareness-raising campaigns and activities for the valorisation of the territory. The project will last 6 months, starting from December 2011.
The host organization is “Enfance et paix” (Childhood and peace), an NGO active since 1992 and based in Dakar, the capital of Senegal, in West Africa.
It also works in Casamance, a region in the south of Senegal, mainly in the small city of Sedhiou. It focuses on school education for children, local and regional entrepreneurship and dissemination of knowledge about nutrition, food security, health and wellness.
In Sedhiou is already present a group of volunteer, from the same countries that will facilitate the integration of the volunteers.
Profile of the volunteer: age: 18-30. Openness and interest in other cultures, strong adaptability to different social and cultural contexts. Motivation in spending 6 months in a country that is completely different from one’s own. Interest in the activities proposed by the organization. Creativity and curiosity, independence and autonomy, resistance to frustration, knowledge of the French language, interest in team work.
Topics of the project: youth participation, intercultural dialogue, sustainable development of the community, environmental and health education/awareness.
Activities and role of the volunteers: educational activities with children and adults: giving classes at school, doing activities in a nursery school, doing intercultural and linguistic workshops. Activities regarding health: promoting awareness-raising campaigns for diseases such as malaria. Activities regarding micro-credit: training on micro-credit for local cooperatives. Activities regarding environment and agriculture: raising awareness and motivating farmers to let them use available resources, improving the systems while respecting their knowledge and their cultural opinions; collaborating in organic farming; doing creative workshops on environment and recycling. They will also take part to activities regarding social development and public health, education, animation for children, valorisation of the territory.
Practical information
Working hours: 6 hours a day, from Monday to Friday
Days off: every national holiday and two days a month. The volunteer can also choose to accumulate his/her days off and use them in a specific period.
Lodging: the volunteer will live with a local family that will make his/her integration in local community easier.
Food: the host family will provide the volunteer with 3 meals a day. He/she will also have some ‘pocket money’ and a little ‘food money’ to buy bottles of water and other food.
Insurance: the volunteer will have a medical insurance with AXA, which will refund any medical cost (after having showed a certificate).
Local transport: “Enfance et paix” will pay for any transport required by the activities done.
For further information, visit the site of our volunteers who are currently in Senegal.
How to apply
If you want to apply, first take some time to think about the reasons why you want to leave and your interest in the project. Only then, you will be ready to apply. This is necessary because it is an extremely hard experience in a context that is completely different from the one you come from. Send your CV with your motivation letter, both in English, choosing the project you prefer, to: sve@cesie.org and to mobility@cesie.org
After having sent your CV and the motivation letter, fill in the form you find in our website.
Deadline: 27 February 2012, h 13,00
Selection: the first selection will be based on CVs and motivation letters (CVs and motivation letters written in Italian won’t be taken into consideration); those who pass the selection, will participate to a group interview (that is obligatory) on Monday 24 October in Palermo.
To submit the candidatures and for further information, contact Roberta Lo Bianco at mobility@cesie.org and Andrea Vacha sve@cesie.org. applications must be sent to both addresses.
