Spanish lesson

ZURY Association in partnership with other sending organizations from Spain, France, Germany, Lithuania, Greece and Italy is developing the project <Step up. Build your career.> (a mobility youth project – KA1 – European Voluntary Service) within the new Erasmus+ programme within which is looking for EVS volunteers to be hosted in a voluntary stage in Arad, Romania that is going to start as soon as possible and will last for 5 or 6 months. Those interested to discover more about the project activities, application procedure and other details, are invited to consult the description below.

Project’s title: Step up. Build your career.
Hosting organization: ZURY Association – Romania
Sending organizations: Asociacion Juvenil Intercambia (ES), Jugendwerk der AWO Württemberg (DE), CRIJ Limousin (FR), Jump in (IT), YIA 18 (GR) and NGO “Actio Catholica Patria” (LT)
Period of the voluntary stage: as soon as possible – 31.12.2018
Location: Arad, Romania
Vacancies: 2 (from any participating country, see below)
Deadline for applications: 20/07/2018

General description of the project:

“Step up. Build your career.” is a project-initiative proposal of ZURY Association from TM (RO) whose main aim is to diminish the unemployment rate among young Europeans especially aged between 18 and 25 and to increase their employability level by investing directly in their capacities, following in the same to accelerate their personal development. Taking into account this context and the fact that the unemployment problem is one at European level, and also in RO the youngsters are most affected by this issue, the project comes as an initiative to support also the local beneficiaries by acting on needs such as: the development and validation of life and transversal competences, the need to consolidate linguistic abilities and digital competences, the low involvement of youth in volunteering activities or community actions, low information regarding opportunities for youth at local level, national and European level, the existence of NEET youth (either unemployed or not engaged in any form of studies). The project “Step up. Build your career.” addresses in this way themes and subjects such as youth information, youth employability, lifelong learning, sustainable development, community engagement, international relations and cooperation for development.

The objectives of the project are these:

  1. Creating a learning context of key-competences (socio-civic, communication and entrepreneurship) for 12 young volunteers in a period of 6 months (each)
  2. Implementing alternative socio-educational activities for 180 youth and children from the local environment in the social-communication fields, ecology/environmental protection, sport & health, personal development in 20 months
  3. Raising the information grade of 200 local youngsters towards alternative opport. of self and professional development, and voluntary options during the project
  4. Promoting active citizenship, non-formal education, tolerance and solidarity among local and European youth during the project

Activities for the EVS volunteers:

For achieving these above mentioned objectives, the EVS volunteers will develop the following activities:

– organization of 6 linguistic and cultural workshops specific to the native countries of the EVS volunteers having as beneficiaries 60 local young people; within this activity the EVS volunteers will teach the local youth about their language and culture, traditions, habits and lifestyles, as well as they will deliver the basic communication skills in a new foreign language for the participants engaged. The EVS volunteers will prepare the sessions, will create and edit the information and materials necessary for the development of the workshops, will facilitate actively the sessions and will use throughout its implementation mainly non-formal methods and instruments such as: workshops/group work, presentations, role plays, puzzle, Q&A sessions, games, interactive conversations, as well as practical exercises; as such, the participants will develop new linguistic and cultural knowledge

– development of 6 workshops/non-formal educational activities/actions from the following fields: communication, creativity, sustainable development/environmental protection and a healthy lifestyle for 180 local young students and pupils; within this activity, the EVS volunteers will establish exactly the topics/subjects they would like to focus considering the main fields selected, will create the promotional materials and will help with the recruitment and selection of participants, will assure all logistics necessary for a good implementation. As working methods, the EVS volunteers will use the following: non-formal facilitation, games, group activities, workshops, visual/audio-video materials, debates, graphic facilitation, non-formal talks, and presentations.

– implementing 4 campaigns/information sessions regarding various personal and professional development opportunities at European level for 200 local young students and pupils; the EVS volunteers will identify the most representatives opportunities available for youth, will make research, structure and create information, concept and facilitate presentations following to deliver mainly information about: international volunteering opportunities, ways to study abroad, internships/train ships, training courses, seminars, conferences, youth exchanges etc. The methods that will be used during the implementation of this activity will be: non-formal presentations, representative video materials, practical exercises/group exercises, individual reflection/evaluation, different instruments for personal development (such as personality tests, tests for identifying learning styles, European carrier test etc.)

All these activities will be developed with the presence of local young people at the headquarters of the hosting organization from both local hosting communities (Arad and Timisoara), as well as in different educational institutions (schools) and other structures/institutions with whom ZURY Association has already established partnerships targeting youth and children, mainly, including those coming from various disadvantaged contexts or even young people with disabilities (e.g. children/youth with autism)

Additionally, the EVS volunteers will be involved in organizing intercultural events/evenings, actions to promote the Erasmus+ programme and EVS, in particularly, as well as other promotional activities: creation of different materials (posters, flyers), video content, photos and stickers to support the implementation of the project and promote the developed activities, write articles for the hosting organization’s blog, create a final documentary of the project and a final brochure containing relevant insights of the EVS volunteers from this specific project. At the end of their voluntary stages, each group of EVS volunteers will organize a final event to present the results of their activities to the large public.

Profile of the volunteers:

The interested candidates that wish to apply for this project which will be considered as future EVS volunteers will have to respect the following general profile:

  • young people aged between 18 and 30, mostly from NEET category and ONLY from the mentioned countries (this call is only for volunteers; candidates will be redirected to the partner organizations already selected!); priority will be given to young people in this category aged between 18 and 25 (if possible/available)
  • young people with low competences in languages or who have knowledge of only one foreign language
  • motivated and interested by the specific activities planned in the project and the topics addressed
  • available for the entire duration of the voluntary stages
  • responsible, flexible, capable of working in a group but also individually and willing to accommodate themselves in a different context
  • young people interested in the non-governmental area or working with/for other young people; with low experience in volunteering activities or community actions
  • with capacity to transfer, disseminate and exploit the future results achieved
  • with initiative, open-minded and pro-active
  • young people with no or low professional experience
  • young people who are almost 30 years old and their chances of getting involved in such a project are more reduced

Throughout the recruitment procedure the promoting organizations will ensure that a specific attention will be given to the involvement of young people with fewer opportunities from the following points of view or facing these difficulties/obstacles:

– social obstacles: young people facing difficulties in integration, with low communication/social skills, youth with a difficult background that faced difficult situations in the past (from different reasons) etc.

– economic difficulties: unemployed youth, not engaged in work or training, with a low income or with no income at all, coming from poor families, who otherwise won’t be able to afford getting involved in such a project

– educational difficulties: young people with limited or unfinished studies, with low access to information and different opportunities for personal/professional development, with low competences in foreign languages, young people facing difficulties in learning (in general)

Candidates are kindly asked to mention their situation (if the case) in the application form. (see below)

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Within the project, the EVS volunteers will benefit of the following aspects:

  • preparation, training and integration
  • international transport
  • welcoming and accommodation
  • board/food allowance
  • pocket money
  • local transport (for developing the planned activities, if the case)
  • medical insurance
  • access to activities and resources
  • validation of personal learning outcomes through issuing of a YouthPass certificate

Documents needed for application:

Curriculum Vitae
Formular de aplicare (Application form)

Based on these documents, a pre-selection of candidates will be made and interviews will be conducted for ensuring the final selection of the future EVS volunteers that will be involved in the project.

The deadline for submitting the completed application is 20th of July 2018, but please send your application ASAP. The applications should be sent to this following e-mail address: evs@zury.org with mentioning the project title in the subject of the message. Only fully completed applications will be taken into consideration for evaluation.

Thank you!

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Other aspects to be taken into account by those interested to apply:

  • the final selection will be realized by the representatives of ZURY Association in cooperation with the representatives in charge from each partner/sending organization
  • there are 2 available places; a specific attention will be given to ensure the gender balance within the group; candidates with fewer opportunities will have an advantage upon selection. (please see above)
  • priority will be given also to candidatures coming from young people who have never participated before in a similar project (European Voluntary Service)