A.C.T.I.O.N! – Acquisition of Competences to Improve Opportunities Now!

Specific objectives:
The project “A.C.T.I.O.N! – Acquisition of Competences to Improve Opportunities Now!” aims to improve young people's entry into the labour market through integrated action such as improve their key competences and skills, with particular regard to their contribution to a cohesive society. By taking part in the project activities volunteers will promote the participation in democratic life in Europe, active citizenship, intercultural dialogue, social inclusion and solidarity, in particular through the implementation of activities on local level. Special moments during the project implementation will be dedicated to increase foreign language competences of the volunteers and to the promotion of the European Voluntary Service and the Erasmus+ programme among Croatian youth, especially those living and acting in rural/isolated areas. Furthermore, activities will be organised in order to promote multilingualism (as main characteristic of the Istria region, where LDA is located) and the learning of different foreign languages as is one of the cornerstones of the European project and a powerful symbol of the EU's aspiration to be united in diversity.

Activities:
The service will take place in the Municipality of Brtonigla and surroundings from September 2016 until July 2017. Four volunteers from Macedonia, France, Italy and Germany will take part in this project. The countries have been selected on purpose, to include young people from both European Member states and Candidate Countries.
Volunteers will be able to adapt the activities to their expectation and needs:
- Volunteers will be able to work in the LDA office, support the staff in the project preparation, activities development, generate new project ideas/proposals and organize activities for the promotion of Erasmus + programs and EVS;
- Volunteers will work on the dissemination of LDA activities: managing social channels (Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn), updating LDA website, preparation of short articles, editing of videos, photos, etc.
- Volunteers will have the chance to organise activities targeting the local community such as multicultural evenings, free language lesson for locals, etc.;

Volunteers will be able to cooperate with local institutions such as the Municipality of Novigrad/Buje, Italian and Croatian elementary schools/nursery, high schools, Italian communities/associations, etc. and organize events for the promotion of EVS and Erasmus+ programs.
General activities will take place during the week, not more than six hours per day. The methodology used will be a mixture of informal and formal learning. They will also have formal language training (Croatian and Italian) twice per week. However, by communicating with the local population they will be able to learn the language in a spontaneous, informal way. Another informal way of gaining competences will be their immersion in the activities, some of which they have no previous experience in, therefore learning about their own personal capabilities and limitations.

VOLUNTEER PROFILE:
We are looking for young enthusiasts, motivated and open for changing experiences in life. Positive oriented, serious, open-minded, eager to learn a lot, but also ready for new friendships. The only requirement is fluent English and interest in some of the following areas: NGO sector, youth work, multimedia (web content, video editing, graphic design, etc.), education, having in mind that in this area their participation will be prevalent. However, at the beginning of their voluntary activity they will receive short coordination training for all activities where their involvement would be expected.

To respect gender balance, two female and two male volunteers will be selected.