VOLUNTEERING IN COORD. DE BARRIOS
EL PALMAR, MURCIA, SPAIN
A long-term volunteering project to be held from the 9th of September 2019 until the 9th of August 2020 (11 months).
1. THE ORGANIZATION AND THE PROJECT
Coordinadora de Barrios is a Non Profit organization with 29 years of experience in working with people at risk of marginalization and social exclusion. We have a long trajectory on working with youngsters and their families in the frame of the prevention of social exclusion in some of the most marginalized areas of the city of Murcia.
The work focuses mainly on the quality of life and the integration of children at risk of social exclusion in our area through different projects and activities, and on supporting their families.
We work in different areas and municipalities in the Region of Murcia since 1986. The organization is composed by four groups (“colectivos de barrios”) which develop and implement different projects working in specific areas, sadly famous cause of the high risk of social exclusion of its inhabitants: Barrio de Los Rosales in El Palmar, Barrio de Santa Rosa de Lima/San Pedro in Alcantarilla, Barrio Espíritu Santo in Espinardo and Barrio del Polígono de la Paz en Murcia.
Our work started in the 90s as an answer to the needs of children living in Los Rosales: family issues, poverty and economical struggle, no trust in the education system, early school leaving, missing of any space for leisure activities where to have fun and live together.
The objectives of Coordinadora de Barrio are:
- To approach the problems of children, young people and dysfunctional adults, in order to answer to these situations through direct interventions and support.
- To provide support and supervision where needed (urban areas, commissariats, prison, centres for drug addicts, etc.)
- To approach the worries and anxieties of families and people in general and get involved and help them in looking for possible solutions.
- To promote education and raise awareness in the public opinion on these topics, developing critical analysis of the situations that hinder the integration process.
- To coordinate the work in the different areas and cooperate with the numerous organizations or institutions which share the same objectives.
The directive organ of the organization as established by the Statute is the Permanent Commission. It is composed by a Board (President, Secretary, Treasurer) plus, at least, one member of each of the four collective group part of the organization.
2. PROJECT'S ENVIRONMENT
El Palmar is an area with 23.278 inhabitants that belongs to the municipality of Murcia in the Murcia Region (Spain). It is located close to a Mountain range (Sierra de el Puerto which is a part of the Sierra de Carrascoy) and close to the area of orchards near the river Segura. El Palmar is situated South-East of the regional capital: it is 5 Km from Murcia in a strategic location between it and Campo de Cartagena. It has been a crossroad during its whole history and it has seen different cultures converged there.
This project will take place mainly in an area of El Palmar called Los Rosales. The area has been characterized for decades by process of socio-economic decay, seen great problems related to housing and social exclusion as well as a general deterioration effecting many levels: urban, physical and social, issues in social and labour integration of the inhabitants.
The climate is dry and Mediterranean. The annual average temperature is 18,6 °C in Murcia, with gentle winters and very hot summers. In January temperature is between 16°C and 4°C while in August it varies between 34°C and 21°C. The extreme temperature reachable are 0° in winter and more than 40° in summer.
3. ACTIVITIES
Volunteers will be mainly involved in supporting the educational after school program as well as helping in the intervention and supervision of children, young people and adult at risk of social exclusion.
More specifically the activities in which the volunteers will be free to get involved in (and we are open to any suggestion or competence/activities they will share/propose) are:
1. Activities with children and Young people:
To support the educational activities through games – Ludoteca; to support and take part in the workshops for young people at high risk of social exclusion (mainly immigrants coming from Magreb); to support the supervision and after school educational program for immigrants children and young people; to support the educational workshops (Informatics, ceramic, etc.); to support in the community’s activities; to support in the excursions with underage immigrants.
2. Activities with adults:
Family support and supervision; to participate in and support the workshops with women; to help and support the workshops on childhood protection; to participate and support in workshop on gender equality; to help in workshop on natural remedies and intercultural learning.
4. VOLUNTEER'S PROFILE
We can welcome more than one volunteer at the same time. For the kind of work we do we are looking for dynamic persons open to share they opinion, suggestions and ideas and who feel confortable in working with children and adolescents.
We value people with a strong spirit of solidarity willing to share generously their best, who know how to respect and actively stand for the dignity of our beneficiaries and promote their full development with empathy and patience.
It’s very important for us that our volunteers have a certain maturity, emotional balance and flexibility to adapt to the work and the team.
We positively evaluate people who are actively participating and communicative both in the staff meeting as well as more generally with colleagues and in the working environment, who are open to meet new people and do new experiences, who leave the door open to the spirit of initiative and creativity.
Regarding the selection process whomever young person interested and with enough motivation to participate in the kind of work we do, who knows how to respect our beneficiaries and who is responsible enough to commit to our project will be consider suitable. For these reasons we are open to welcome whomever needs the opportunity to express the above characteristics and way of being.
We guarantee that the selection process will be open and transparent and based only on the abovementioned requirements. To fully guarantee so the selection process won’t be done only by our staff but also by the Asociacion Cultural Euroaccion Murcia (coordinating organization of the project), in order to assure that all young persons interested to commit to an EVS and our project will be taken in consideration.
5. ACCOMMODATION AND PRACTICAL ARRANGEMENTS
The volunteers participating in our project will live together with other European volunteers in an apartment situated in city centre and rented by the coordinating organization Euroaccion. Each volunteer will have his/her own room to guarantee privacy and good living conditions. Each month the coordinating organization Euroaccion will transfer to the volunteer’s Spanish bank account (opened at the arrival in Spain with the support of the coordinating organization) the amount of money correspondent to the pocket money and the food money. This money will be managed by the volunteer freely and independently.
The coordinating organization will pay monthly the rent of the apartment and the bills, in order to make volunteers free from these tasks. The apartment will be located around 30 minutes from our organization. There is a bus line that takes the volunteer directly from his house to the place of work and vice versa with frequent passages. The coordinating organization will cover the costs of the monthly tickets for the public transport.
ESC - European Solidarity Corps
As a volunteer the European Voluntary Service allows you to learn through non-formal experiences, improve existing or acquire new skills for your personal, educational or professional development.
The volunteering project covers:
• Your travel expenses from where you live to Murcia and back (return ticket);
• All fees for visa and residence permission;
• Comprehensive insurance (health, accident and liability insurance);
• Free accommodation: a room in an apartment;
• Pocket money in the amount of 150 euros per month;
• Food allowance 150 euros per month;
• Participation in on-arrival and mid-term meeting.
FOR PORTUGUESE VOLUNTEERS: If you are interested in this project, please send us your CV and Motivational Letter to voluntariado@rato-adcc.pt with the subject VOLUNTEERING IN COORDINADORA DE BARRIOS.
FOR UKRAINIAN VOLUNTEERS: If you are interested in this project, please send us your CV and Motivational Letter to evs.stella@gmail.com with the subject VOLUNTEERING IN COORDINADORA DE BARRIOS.