Project place: Thessaloniki and Kavala, Greece
Project dates: 10th June – 10th August 2018
Application deadline: as soon as possible, and not later than the 4th June 2018 12:00 (CET)
YEU International is currently looking for 4 volunteers aged between 18 and 30 y/o who will take part in a volunteering project in Greece from June 2018 for a duration of 2 months.
ABOUT THE PROJECT
The project “Time to be welcome” is a collaborative partnership between 11 Organisations (mostly scouts, but also AFS/EFIL, Red Cross and YEU) in Europe. The project will run until December 2018 and will involve volunteers from several different countries, volunteering for various durations of time (2 months, 6 months or 12 months).
The project aims at encouraging young volunteers and youth organisations in Europe to support the welcoming of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees and their integration process through the use of non-formal education and youth work, while encouraging Public opinion in Europe to be more respectful and more open towards migrants.
Volunteers will be empowered to take action in contributing to welcome refugees and newly arrived migrants. They will also facilitate the interaction between refugees and the local community members in order to set a strong foundation for their future cooperation and mutual understanding.
The project is funded by the European Commission through the Erasmus+ program. Please find more information on the project website: http://www.timetobewelcome.eu/
HOSTING ORGANISATION IN GREECE (SHP)
Volunteers work with Soma Hellinon Proskopon (Scouts of Greece – SHP). The Scouts of Greece is the largest and oldest educational youth organisation in the country and operates under the supervision of the Greek Ministry of Education. For the last year, SHP has been actively involved in refugee relief activities. Greece, besides being confronted with the worst economic crisis of modern times, is also facing a severe refugee crisis. Volunteers are to take a central role in helping both the refugee population and the local communities.
LOCATIONS AND ACTIVITIES
The project foresees two countries of destination, Greece and France. There are currently 2 volunteers in Paris, France (one of which sent by YEU) and 18 volunteers in Athens, Greece (3 of which are sent by YEU). These volunteers started in the summer 2018 or January 2019, staying for 6-12 months. You can find some impressions from activities run by them here: https://www.facebook.com/timetobewelcome/
The current call for volunteers, however, refers to new locations and new types of activities:
The concept for the 2-month volunteers is to develop and implement a summer day camp for children (age 8-11 and 12-16) with educational and leisure activities led by volunteers. The children will be both refugees and local Greek children; the activities will be mainly in English, as well as non-verbal.
The volunteers will work in one of two parallel summer camps (one in Thessaloniki, one in Kavala) cooperating in a group of 12-15 international volunteers recruited from different sending organisations. Each camp / volunteer group will be led by 2 experienced Time To Be Welcome volunteers – those who arrived in Greece in the summer 2017 and have been working with refugee children for the last 10 months.
The camps will run over the 4 weeks of July. The final programme of the camps will be develop in cooperation with the recruited volunteers, starting already before departure to Greece (please expect communication on that already about 2 weeks before). However the desired plan is to include workshops on such topics as human rights, intercultural learning, peace education, sustainability, as well as sports, arts and crafts, dance, cooking, chess etc.
PROFILE OF THE CANDIDATES
Youth development is key to this project. We will help you to identify learning outcomes for your participation and support you to achieve these.
We are looking for volunteers aged 18 to 30, who fit the following profile.
MOTIVATION
• A clear motivation for why you want to participate in this project
• An interest in working with vulnerable and disadvantaged children and young people
• An interest in working with young refugees and migrants
• Understanding of some of the issues facing young refugees and migrants in Europe
• A strong interest for/experience in refugee response initiative and in integration and inclusion policies within the associations’ sphere of action.
COMMITMENT, AVAILABILITY AND EXPECTATIONS
• A commitment to the full duration of the volunteer project (10 June – 10 August), the pre- departure training (2-3 or 5-6 June), as well as other preparatory communication between May 22nd and June 10th
• A commitment to humanitarian principles
• A commitment to volunteering
• Prepared to live with a modest allowance and in modest accommodation
• Realistic expectations regarding the benefits and challenges of volunteering abroad
COMMUNICATION
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, particularly in relation to working with children and young people
• Confidence in communicating with individuals and groups
LANGUAGES
• A good level of spoken English
• Any knowledge of Arabic and/or Farsi and/or Greek and/or French would be an asset
DESIRABLE SOFT SKILLS
• Creativity and high dose of initiative
• Good interpersonal and intercultural skills
• Facilitation experience, ideally including children groups
• Open-mindedness and ability to work maturely and sensitively, particularly with vulnerable groups
• Strong work ethic – reliable and supportive of fellow volunteers
• Flexibility and ability to deal with challenges in a constructive manner
• Ability to take into consideration the emotional challenge and take measures to use the tools furnished regarding this questions.
• Able to understand the challenges of working with young people in refugee shelters, family hubs and other structures (previous experience with refugee support would be an asset)
• Ability to work in a multilingual, inter-religious and multicultural environment
CONDITIONS
This is a fully-funded opportunity. The cost of accommodation (including utilities), travel (return journey to host country), and local public transport will be covered, and volunteers will receive a living allowance to cover food and other expenses.
Accommodation will be provided by the hosting organisation. Volunteers should have their own European Health Insurance Card. Additional liability insurance while volunteering will also be provided by the project.
Working hours will be flexible and will not exceed 30 hours per week. Volunteers will also be entitled to two additional days of holiday per month of service.
It is a full time volunteer opportunity that will not substitute a paid job.