COCEMFE Volunteering 'no barriers, no borders' (ESC)

COCEMFE Volunteering "No barriers, no Borders" is project for the European Solidarity Corps Program.

• OBJECTIVES:

- Promote european volunteering for young people with disabilities and offer opportunities for an accessible and free of barriers and borders participation, promoting the inclusion of people in vulnerable situations and, especially, people with disabilities.
- Promote the autonomy of people with disabilities, increase the level of tolerance and solidarity in society, achieve a greater understanding of human diversity, generate a greater commitment to social causes and call to action.
- Improve the skills and competencies of volunteers for their personal, educational, social and professional development and facilitate their accreditation so that they can be taken into account when accessing the labor market.

• ACTIVITIES:

The proposed activities will take place in two different cities of Spain: Granada (Andalucía) and Cáceres (Extremadura):

-Granada (Andalucía): The Host Organization in Granada will be FEGRADI COCEMFE GRANADA (www.fegradi.es). The activities will be carried out in the Occupational Center and the Day Center of FEGRADI, involving different activities with people with disability.

The volunteer will give support on the daily workshops on psychomotor skills, cognitive behavioural stimulation, reality orientation and social skills. It involves helping and entertaining, taking part in the daily life, joining walks, participating on the production of artisanal products, the decoration of common spaces and socio-cultural activities, among others.

In FEGRADI Cocemfe Granada, three volunteers will be required to carry out the proposed activities, and the duration of the volunteering will be 2 months, in May and June 2022. At least one of the three volunteers may have disability or may be a participant with “fewer opportunities”.

-Cáceres (Extremadura): The Host Organization in Cáceres will be COCEMFE CÁCERES (www.cocemfecaceres.org). Volunteers will participate in their Integral Volunteer Program, which aims to cover the leisure dimension of people with disability, providing personal assistance, improving their psychomotor skills and raising psychosocial awareness.

The volunteers will give support in: daily sports, cultural and leisure activities; art, cooking and adapted sport workshops; and cultural visits to villages and cities in the surroundings. Volunteers will also help organizing tournaments and championships of boccia, football and wheelchair basketball, and children's parties and sensitization in schools.

In COCEMFE Caceres, two volunteers will be required to carry out the proposed activities, and the duration of the volunteering will be 6 months, between April and October 2021. At least one of the two volunteers may have disability or may be a participant with “fewer opportunities”.

Volunteers who will participate in the project may or may not have disabilities. Our goal, as a representative NGO of the disability movement, is to involve volunteers with physical and/or organic disabilities, giving them opportunities to participate in equal conditions than other volunteers.

• PROJECT MANAGEMENT:

COCEMFE will provide support to the host organizations and ensure the effective development of the project. The host organizations of this project, COCEMFE Cáceres and FEGRADI COCEMFE Granada, both have an important experience as organizations in the associative movement of physical and organic disability and with volunteering.

Regarding the sending organization, COCEMFE is currently looking for partners of at least one European organization. We will prioritise the ones that have experience in working with people with fewer opportunities, with disability and in vulnerable situations.

COCEMFE will establish protocols to ensure effective coordination, communication, and the correct development of the project.

Regarding to the volunteers, the basic expenses are covered by the program during the whole project: insurance, training, most of the cost of the international trip (a small part may be covered by the volunteer), and accommodation, meals, local transport, linguistic support and pocket money (variable according to country) during the volunteering.

For participants with fewer opportunities, COCEMFE and the host organizations of the volunteering activities, work with and for people with disabilities. For this reason, the facilities and the activities they propose are accessible to all people, in terms of physical barriers and accessibility to communication, understanding, among others. Related to personal support, COCEMFE has multidisciplinary teams specialized in people with disabilities and in vulnerable people, so they could give the right support to the volunteers to face the different difficulties that they may have during their participation in the European Solidarity Corps.