PBA+SV "Volga Experience"

Date and Venue

PBA+SV "Volga Experience" will take place between 14-21 September 2013 (Saturday 14th is arrival day and Saturday 21st is departure day), in Samara and Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia. Arrival to Samara airport / train station, departure from Nizhniy Novgorod airport / train station.

Main Objectives:

• to get to know each other personally and professionally;
• to build trust and partnership among participating EVS organisations;
• to deepen knowledge of Youth in Action Programme, in particular action 2, EVS;
• to learn about reality of EVS organisations and volunteers in Samara and Nizhniy Novgorod;
• to foster networking among participants and create space for project building;

Programme elements

The programme will be build upon 2 days of study visits in EVS organisations in Samara and Nizhniy Novgorod (meetings with EVS coordinators, mentors and volunteers) as well as a number of partnership building sessions, including 3-days river cruise from Samara to Nizhniy Novgorod via Kazan. This activity is also build upon experience that our institutions gained in 2012 during PBA+SV "Between Ladoga and Onega" in north-west Russia.

Participants

PBA+SV "Volga Experience" will bring together 24 EVS coordinators representing accredited EVS organisations from EECA and Programme Countries.

Participants profile:

• having experience in EVS projects management;
• representing EVS accredited organisation;
• having a working knowledge of English, the working language of the activity;
• available to actively attend the full duration of the activity;

Team of the PBA+SV "Volga Experience"

Facilitators team is composed by 2 persons, experienced in EVS and cooperation between Programme Countries and Eastern Europe and Caucasus region:

• Natalia Chardymova, Russia
• Peter Hofmann, Austria

Additionally, Fouad Achiba from French NA as well as Tomasz Szopa from SALTO EECA will join the team and support the activity.

Organisers

This activity is co-organised by French National Agency of the Youth in Action Programme and SALTO Eastern Europe & Caucasus Resource Centre.

Financial Conditions

• The board and lodging during the activity for all participants will be provided by organisers,
• Travel costs of participants from Eastern Europe and Caucasus will be covered fully by organisers (participants need to cover their medical/travel insurance and local connections to airport/train station in their home countries [in case if it is less than 100 km]).
• Travel costs of participants from Programme Countries will be paid by relevant National Agency on its own principles.

Application procedure

The applicants are requested to fill in the on-line application form till 1st July (due to harsh visa procedures for Georgians, the deadline for applications from GE is 1st June!). The pre-selection will be done by relevant National Agencies and SALTO EECA RC. Final selection will carried out by the organisers team, based on the criteria specified in the "participants profile" section. Applicants will be informed about final selection by 15th July.