EVS Chorwacja E-mail: konjickikv@gmail.com Youth association Alfa Albona Kalic 2 52220 Labin Croatia alfa.albona@gmail.com +38552885003
About the organisation: Youth Association ALFA ALBONA is a non-profit and non-political association of young people, established in January 2011. to promote the interests and activities of youth. The purpose of the association is to encourage involvement of young people to fulfil their needs and create a lasting foundation for the development of communication among young people to promote their interests and addressing the specific problems with which this segment of the population faces. The ultimate goal is to help young people integrate into society in all its spheres to achieve their permanent socio-economic independence. The objectives of the association are: encouraging the development of creativity of young people, guiding young people towards the acquisition of additional skills and knowledge, encouraging young people into organized and meaningful use of leisure time, expanding volunteerism, solidarity and communication among young people, encouraging noninstitutional education of young people in all areas, integration of youth in international educational and cultural trends, protecting the health of young people and especially the fight against all forms of addiction, IT education of young people, encouraging young people to an active involvement and participation in all spheres of public and social life, building partnerships with non-governmental youth organizations and local governments to achieve goals for the benefit of youth. To accomplish these goals the Association is working on the following activities: designing and implementation of projects to improve the quality of life for young people, developing and implementing non-formal education to build a civil society, organizing workshops, counselling, lectures and public discussions regarding the topics engaging young people organizing and coordinating volunteer support network for young people, organizing concerts and festivals for young people, provide information and advisory service to help young people in finding the (first) job, encouraging young people to engage in science, culture, education, entrepreneurship and other aspects of public life, publishing magazines, books, leaflets, brochures, organizing cultural and sporting events, establishing cooperation with other NGOs in the formulation and implementation of programs and activities of common interest and performing other appropriate activities to achieve the objectives of the Association. Youth Association ALFA ALBONA has President, Vice president, secretary and five members. All decision are made by this eight person, and meetings are held every week. As association supports and encourage youngsters and voluntary work it has 10 active volunteers. Volunteers are helping with projects, so they are project volunteers. Personal space of association provides office room with all office equipment (computers, laptop, printer, photocopy machine), wireless internet, telephone, presentation table, storage room, meeting room and private toilet. PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Since we are organizing summer workcamps for youth which theme is nature and enviroment we need volunteers to help us with it, but also with a big summer festival which lasts for 2 months Labin Art Republika. Project itselfs gives space for exploring, using and increasing personal experience and knowledge, learning dimensions, cherishing and developing intercultural dialogue, mutual understanding and civil dialogue among youth and artists from different countries because they will be 8 camps during their staying here and approximately 120 youth from different EU countries and during summer festival there will be several
artists, performers, musicians as well. Through their commitment to this project, we give to the volunteers a sense of responsibility and we offer them an experience which will make them think of their citizenship and the role they can play back in their own community. We are convinced that responsibilities volunteers can take on our projects are giving them a useful experience and encourage them for being more responsible. It also provides them a rich experience for their future social and professional life. SERVICE DESCRIPTION: Volunteers tasks: - the hosting of different groups and the entertaining on the campsite during summer (their role is to make sure that life in the camp is nice for everyone and that everybody enjoys its stay) and to accomplish such mission, a permanent worker responsible for Short-term EVS and coordinating the place will follow and accompany the volunteers, participate in the collective life by taking care of the hosted groups, participate in the organisation of events on the campsite such as international dinners, cultural evenings and games, aimed to promote intercultural open-mindedness. co-animation of environmental activities take part to local events organised by the association - support in the collection of recyclable materials - organize recycle workshops for youth - help youth with workcamp activities: painting, drawing, cutting and sticking, cleaning the beach and the forest - teaching related to the promotion of the country of origin of the volunteers (teaching games, songs, poems, rhymes and words in their native language: bringing their culture and customs into the workcamp - helping with organizing exhibitions for youth - helping with carrying equipment for the concerts, theatre play and performances - doing marketing - promoting EVS...
On a general manner, projects we are running are a great opportunity for discovering collective life and live with other people that they may never has known in an other context. That is how we aim to learn democracy, tolerance and decision-making process. The main motivation for us to host international volunteers is that it gives an intercultural dimension that improves our actions. Intercultural exchanges through concrete work and collective life enhances our projects and encourage a reciprocity in the learning process of all participants in the organisation. Volunteers brings their own ideas, culture and values with their motivation and initiatives. In each activity, volunteers experiment their sense of responsibility and autonomy. Their initiatives are welcome and will be strongly supported by permanent members. We are expecting that volunteers have a great understanding of the global project and that they want to get involved in a collective dynamic. We consider volunteering as an act of exchange between a volunteer who offers his time and his motivation for a collective interest and a hosting community which offers a field of experimentation and personal construction. Volunteers will acquire communicative competence. They will learn to communicate with people from different backgrounds, who are in different emotional conditions, and learn to resolve conflicts and construct a positive atmosphere in the group. Volunteers will have the opportunity to learn about our community and our language and to engage in environmental and art activities. Volunteers can work more hours per day and then replace them for more free days, we are flexible on that. We want to assure that they would enjoy their work and stay here. Participants profile Participants that we are looking for are enthusiastic, self-motivated, self-reliant, responsible, tolerant and open-minded volunteers, who fulfills the following criteria: - aged 18 30 - being a young unemployed / having a hard time with finding a job - interest in youth work, art and culture - willing to participate in the social and community life - would like to help creating and implementing projects and activities for youth
- interested in different cultures and in intercultural learning - mature to work and to relate to other young people with fewer opportunities and willing to develop activities with sense of responsibility - willing to share his/her expriences and culture. We will put particular attention to the motivation letter, CV and to a previous communication (skype interview) with volunteers to clarify different issues and select them taking care of both side interests. Learning dimension This project will contribute to the non-formal learning and personal development of volunteers involved in the project. Hosting organization crew is open and tolerant therefore they are waiting for people with various backgrounds and expecting to exchange experiences with volunteers, to introduce to their and volunteers lifestyle, culture, traditions. During the service they can join activities chosen by their own interest but they are also involved in all those activities that are necessary for the daily work of the international youth camps, and also with activities of the summer festival. Through following bigger and smaller projects and actions from the preparation, implementation and final evaluation, volunteers have plenty of learning opportunities in hosting organizations. At the beginning of actual EVS project, hosting organization will organize workshop about project management, where they will put highlight on the progress of individual phases of the project and the importance of evaluating the acquired knowledge and skills. Volunteers will get to know the field of youth work and volunteering in general. When they will be feeling more independent, they will be encourage for implementing their projects and developing their ideas together with hosting organization assistance and support. Additional information - volunteers will have on arrival training organized by our National Agency - they will have their own mentor and weekly meetings with the mentor and fully support from the stuff of youth association.