VOLUNTEER IN COPEDECO
IN 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
Copedeco (Cooperative for Community Development) is a non-profit cooperative of social initiative. It works since 1989 in the field of social intervention, developing projects which primary objective is the integral development and improving the quality of life of people at risk of social exclusion.
The values that stand behind our initiative are:
1. To generate wealth valued in economic, social and societal terms.
2. To create appropriate conditions to promote processes of social and community development.
3. To make sure that our actions proceed from the reality of people and from the perspective of their location in a particular territory.
4. To base our strategy on cooperation (social and economical) and on the principles of solidarity and sustainable economic development.
5. To encourage the promotion, training, integration and improving the quality of life of our employees, as they are the main capital of the organization.
These values are delimited by the conceptual framework for the development of the organization: voluntary and open membership, democratic management, economic participation of members, autonomy and independence, education-training-information, cooperation and interest in the community.
The groups we work with are:
- Children and Young People: within projects focused on leisure time, socio-educational activities, school support, programs preventing risky behaviors, university volunteering, job promotion, international exchanges, etc.
- Families: within projects of social and family intervention, training support, schools for parents, positive parenting programs, counseling and educational guidance.
- Women: through courses and workshops on health (healthy eating, physical activity, health care for women, etc.), leisure time, personal growth and development.
- Elderly: by developing workshops of memory training, positive thinking, tai-chi, Rondalla and choral music.
We also work with all these groups in the area of health, by promoting healthy habits and healthy lifestyles through the prevention of drug use, healthy eating, practicing physical activities, among others.
2. PROJECT'S ENVIRONMENT
Although the Copedeco headquarters are located in Alcantarilla, the projects are mainly developed in the municipalities of Murcia and Alcantarilla.
Alcantarilla is a Spanish municipality of the Region of Murcia. As a municipality it has an area of 16.24 kilometers square and a population of 40,695 inhabitants (2013). It has a dry Mediterranean climate, with an average temperature of 18.2 °C
As for the municipality of Murcia, it is a major producer of agricultural raw materials thanks to its fertile and ancient orchards. Although this sector was once the economic base of the municipality, its importance lowered since the 60’s. Now the main economic sector of Murcia is the services sector, including the administrative sector, financial sector, cultural sector and others. Historically it has always been a center of trade, serving as a redistributor of agricultural and handicraft production of Murcia and southeast Iberian Peninsula. From the late 1960s and early 1970s, the tertiary sector in the municipality began to be omnipresent.
3. ACTIVITIES
Copedeco is specialized in working in the field of educational intervention with families and children in the municipality of Murcia. In consequence, the volunteer can gain the experience in various tasks regarding all the areas of our we work throughough participating in the design and programming of activities, preparing materials for workshops, developing the volunteer's own activities, evaluation etc.
Our projects and actions of social intervention in which we work and where our volunteer will develop his/her activities in order to support us are:
- Schools: Socio-Cultural and Social Intervetion projects.
- Leisure activities: leisure time workshops, summer schools, camps,reconciling centers for professional and family life, extracurricular activities etc.
- Training and support for families.
- Social and professional integration.
- Education for health.
- Socio-educational and psychosocial intervention for children, adolescents and youth.
- Training and support for groups at risk of social exclusion.
- Preventing from situations leading to risk of social exclusion.
- International Youth Exchanges.
- Training courses on various topics.
- Schools for parents.
- Street entertainment activities.
4. VOLUNTEER'S PROFILE
We are looking for candidates who are responsible, creative, empathetic, communicative, adaptable, motivated to learn and contribute, with special sensibility for people at risk of social exclusion.
We will value those candidates with:
- high interest in groups of social exclusion, the homeless, minorities, etc.
- social skills, communication skills and conflict resolution skills.
- skills in group animation.
- open to work with people from other cultures and religions.
As the selection process, we will follow the steps necessary to ensure that it is open, transparent and accessible to all and all the young people who wish to become a volunteer.
The selection of volunteers will be conducted by a selection panel composed of members of the Copedeco and the Euroaccion Association, which is the coordinating organization of our hosting project and will support us with its experience in assessing applications.
As for the age and sex of the candidates, we do not have any specific preference regarding our future volunteers, as we will prioritize their motivation and involvement in our project and activities we carry out.
5. ACCOMMODATION AND PRACTICAL ARRANGEMENTS
The volunteer that participates in our project will live together with other European volunteers in the apartment which is situated in city center and rented by coordinative organization Euroaccion, chosen for this project. Each volunteer will have his own room to provide privacy. Each month Euroaccion (the coordinative organization) will transfer a certain amount of money on a bank account of a volunteer (that will get it when she/he comes to Spain). The deposit corresponds to the pocket money and the money for the food. The amount of money handles the volunteer on its own. The coordinative organization pays each month the rent for the apartment; the volunteers don’t need to worry about it.
The apartment is situated 30 minutes by bus from our office, the coordinative organization covers the costs of the transport each month. There is one line of bus that is frequent and that takes the volunteer directly from his house to the place of work and vice versa. Our volunteers will also travel sometimes by car with of the workers of Copedeco, who will pick them up in order to bring them where they are developing their volunteering activities.
ESC - European Solidarity Corps
As a volunteer the European Solidarity Corps allows you to learn through non-formal experiences, improve existing or acquire new skills for your personal, educational or professional development.
The ESC 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 ITALIAN VOLUNTEERS: If you are interested in this project, please send us your CV and Motivational Letter to infosve@scambieuropei.com with the subject Volunteering in COPEDECO.
FOR ROMANIAN VOLUNTEERS: If you are interested in this project, please send us your CV and Motivational Letter to sorin@curbadecultura.ro with the subject Volunteering in COPEDECO.