EVS in Calvene, Italy
Long-term volunteering in "Radicà"
Project M.O.W.G.L.I.
Topic: Youth inclusion/ youth active participation/ youth leisure
Location: Calvene - Province of Vicenza - Veneto region – Italy
see it on Google maps → https://goo.gl/maps/9kVFEYbUakP2
Coordinating organisation: Progetto Zattera Blu
Receiving organisation: Radicà (Calvene, Italy)
Sending organisation: Euroaccion Murcia
Information about the receiving organisation
"Radicà" is a non profit organization located in Calvene (100km from Venice), a village lying at the foot of the Small Dolomites, mountains famous all over the world for their
beauty that makes them a tourist destination for skiers and hikers. Places that have sadly also been protagonists and witnesses of the First World War.
Radicà runs several projects among which the daily educational community that welcomes children aged between 6 and 14 (sometimes older, in specific cases), which are (or whose families are) in temporary difficulties and, for a lapse of time determinated within a specific project, need the daily accompaniment of professional educators. Both parents and social services are fully involved in the construction of the educational path during the entire stay.
Activities are carried out in the apartment of the community and in the spaces outside; common spaces are the kitchen, dining room, living room, fields and the wood. It is open from 9am to 6pm on weekdays throughout the year, with activities and timetables that change according to the needs of the period and the group.
In the community there are moments of commitment (school, work) and moments of leisure where everyone can choose and practice sport or others recreational activities.
During the day, cultural, recreational, challenging and educational activities are guaranteed, through which the individual education project is realized and a climate of positive and listening is promoted.
It is important to integrate the community into local realities through institutional links, but also informal, especially related to volunteering experiences. Dialogue with the world of school and work are indispensable training and comparison fields for the promotion and growth of boys and girls.
For more information (unfortunately just in Italian) and picture see the following link:
Volunteer requirements
Profile of the volunteer:
- creative, patient and proactive person;
- a friendly, communicative and active attitude;
- wishing of developing interpersonal relationships;
- strong interest in volunteering in the context described below and to have intensive
- experience of work with youth and children suffering;
- willingness for live in a small, traditional and provincial town;
- able to drive (driving license);
- open-minded and with a responsible attitude to better understand the learning process and the rules of cohabitation;
- aware to live a personal experience and not working experience;
- open to live an experience of autonomy (ready to deal also moments of solitude)
- to be interested in learning a different European language (very important: in this part of Italy only few young people can speak English).
- IT IS COMPULSORY TO BE ENROLLED IN THE EUROPEAN SOLIDARITY CORPS DATABASE
Role and tasks
Volunteers will be involved, in accordance with their abilities and interests, in the activities carried out in community described above.
Specifically, in the first period of the service he/she will help educators in the everyday life of children which can have behavioral, relational, affective and psychological disorders, carrying out the following activities:
- to support the animators in daily tasks;
- to support the animators with the transports and the preparation of meals and houseworks;
- to participate in the community life through the organization of community games, craft
workshops and others educational activities relevant for personal’s projects (according with
the individual education project of the child).
These activities are also planned with the aim of knowing the beneficiaries, in order to
enter into a relationship and, later, with the support of educators, to arrange specific
workshops with strong intercultural value where to be protagonist, such as (for example): language teaching using songs, movies and comics, games typical of volunteer’s culture, kitchen laboratories. Educators and leaders will encourage the volunteer to identify and realize a personal project, where decline its skills in a unique way within the organization.
In addition, the volunteer will join educators in animal-assisted activities facing adolescents with psychiatric problems, which are realized at the cooperative with the help of horses and a donkeys ("experimental pedagogic Farm").
It is important to be aware that the children speak mainly the dialect of the Veneto Region (that is different by the Italian language), this is another challenge for the evs volunteer that has to understand both Italian and Veneto dialect.Furthermore due to the type of target (children with different type of difficulties) that change depending of different factors not predictable, it’s not possible to be more specific in the description of the tasks of the volunteer.
Radicà hosts only 1 volunteer at the same time.
PRACTICAL ARRANGEMENTS
Food: all meals and food are available in the community (it is possible to share the meal with community’s guest but also to take ingredients and to prepare its own meal using the food of the community). It’s possible to buy extra food (about 25 euro per month)
Accommodation: single bedroom in one of the Contrada’s structure (in this context Contrada is a little road with several structures designed and built up in the last 30 years to create an enviroment based on familiar and neighbourhood features)
Working hours: 31 hours/week (1 of tutoring)
Day off: Free weekends (Saturday and Sunday). Just in case the volunteer was involved in specific activities in the weekend 2 consecutive days off are guarantee.
Holidays: 2 days/month (they can be gathered and enjoyed maximum in 15 consecutive days) and 7 days in total during Christmas period. Other holidays could be planned by agreeing with the tutor, asking in advance.
Pocket money: 120 Euro/month, paid at the beginning of every month by cash
Local transport: the organization provides a bicycle, but the volunteer’s accommodation is inside community.
Language support: it will be organized an Italian language course for the volunteer with a professional teacher (80 hours). Also the volunteer will have the chance to use the Online linguistic support, an online course provided by EU
Trainings and support: guaranteed by the sending, receiving and coordinating organizations. At the arrival of the volunteer a welcome training will be organized together with the all group of the volunteers in Schio and Bassano del Grappa (duration 2 weeks).
Hosting guests: it is forbidden to host people that don’t belong to the project without the permission of the association.
Insurance: sending organization is responsible for the volunteer’s insurance (Cigna), all the parties are obliged to get acquainted with the insurance rules. The volunteer is responsible of payment of any medical expenses during the evs service and he/she has to fill out the Healthcare Claim form to get the reimbursement by MSH International.
Leisure: the volunteer will be given of all the necessary information about leisure activities he/she can enjoy during the free time. Due to the location of the organization and flat (about 10 km far from the first town – Thiene) The volunteer can use the car of the organization for the leisure time (asking permission in advance).
HOW TO APPLY
Send cv, motivation letter and application form (below attached) to:
cc: gines.euroaccion@gmail.com
Person in charge of selection process: Laura Benetello (Progetto Zattera Blu)
DEADLINE: 31 JULY 2018