From Black and White to Colours

The idea for the project “FROM BLACK & WHITE TO COLOURES” emerged from our desire to improve and continue our activities in the local community of the village Berzasca. This project is double aimed. It targets both the development of the community and that of the volunteer. Through the activities we have planned we are going to raise awareness of the many facets of living in a community through engaging the volunteers in activities pertaining to various areas, such as interaction and socialization with children from underprivileged backgrounds. This will contribute to the improvement of the social inclusion process for these categories of people, as well as providing the volunteers with an opportunity to acquire new social skills from the interaction with these people. All activities will have a non-formal approach.
We are looking for a number of five volunteers, (one volunteer/organization) who will engage in various activities in the areas of social work and environment protection in the county of Berzasca for a time span of 9 months. This project is also meant to include a persons coming from an economically, socially, culturally and geographically underprivileged background. We strongly encourage volunteer’s initiative and we will strive to support and accommodate new ideas they will come up with, as long as they tie in with our organization’s mission and aims. Our vision is to raise awareness around the issues of active citizenship, equality of chances and social responsibility, as well as tolerance and a celebration of diversity. Thus the dissemination activities will be planned around this goal.
Something the project aims to achieve is emphasizing the growing and learning opportunities for the volunteers. They will be expected to integrate in the local community, and in the process they will benefit from mentoring on specific issues they will be facing (such as cultural shock or foreign currency management and budgeting etc). To make the accommodation easier, the volunteers will take a language course as well.
We believe in a pleasant working environment. With that in mind we wish to encourage a team spirit among the volunteers and the rest of the leaders on the team. In light of this there will be team building activities and games to make the getting to know each other process smoother and more entertaining.
Each volunteer will be encouraged to showcase their cultural legacy by organizing small cultural exchange events that can refer to the national cuisine or costumes, habits and cultural norms etc. If interested, they can even organize debate panels on topics that are representative of their respective national identities, etc. Volunteers have a chance to learn how to change their own ideas for nonformal
learning into practice. Participating in lessons they can improve their teaching skills, group leading and public presentation skills. Involvement in the activities in the youth club at the organization place also gives opportunities to organize various creative activities, e.g. origami, clay workshops, dancing classes as well.
The expected outcome of this project is long-term for both the volunteers and the local community of Berzasca. The latter will naturally benefit from the engagement of the youth in meeting the needs of the community and bringing about a broadening of mentalities, while the impact on the volunteers will derive from the exposure to a new culture and tradition, while enhancing or acquiring skills they can further apply to their respective areas of interest back in their home country.
Tasks of the volunteer:
 to develop a program of leisure activities with the children from the local primary school, kindergarden and at the place of our organization, to participate in interactive activities with the children. From time to time to make a presentation of your country in other schools in the area etc;
 to get actively involved in different promoting sessions (creating flyers, posters etc.)
 to make the European opportunities for young people known to their peers in Berzasca;
 to participate in a Romanian language course an opportunity to become familiar with our culture;
 to organize workshops/presentations/small events about their country’s culture;
 to organize and take part in the dissemination activities;

Working hours and days off: 5 hours per day, 5 days per week, two consecutive days off per week and 2 days holiday per month for the duration of the project.
Food and Accommodation: The volunteers will be accommodated in double/triple bedrooms with shared cooking, washing, laundry and social facilities. A monthly food allowance according to the general EVS rules.
Local Transport: Bicycles are provided according to the needs of the volunteers and to the particularities of the activities developed by them.
Volunteer Allowance: The volunteer will receive a monthly allowance of 60 Euro according to EVS rules for Romania.