Future in Progress (FiP)

In this Project we can both send and host EVS, therefore our partners should also contribute to receive Swedish volunteers.

The Labor Market Committee in Helsingborg addresses the following areas: labor market, social allowance, diversity and inclusion, and adult education. We are approximately 400 co-workers situated in four different locations. We work with many different target groups: unemployed youths and adults, people who want to study, newly arrived to Sweden, SFI (Swedish for Immigrants) and people with financial issues. Our organization is the entrance to social support in Helsingborg. Many of the young person’s we work with are NEETs (Not in Education, Employment or Training). Many of the young people also have fewer opportunities, for example cultural, social and economic obstacles as well as educational difficulties. Our main task is to create splatforms, work out toolbox for activites that can shorten the way to a regular job or studies and in some cases take nessecary medical contacts to get a diagnose. In our work with young people with fewer opportunities we have a well-developed network of cooperation with partners that have experience of working daily with the target group.

To be able to support people to get an employment and to get selfsufficient we need different solutions for different situations and needs. Therefore our functions and work methods constantly need to be developed. Within the organization we have a wide range of professions such as social workers, student counsellors, coaches, budget advisors, teachers and others that can give support to our target groups.
We will select volunteers from the European Solidarity Corps database as one possibility, there is also a lot of people that look at Otlas and in EVS databases in order to find EVS projects they can attend and apply for. This means that we get a lot of applications from individuals showing interest in our project. To proceed those application we often urge them to contact an accredited Organisation in their home country. When that contact is established we can proceed with interviews, departure meetings with sending organizations and contracts between accredited Organisation as sending and the same as coordinating, and mandates to be signed between the two. We also do Skype with partner organizations as well as applicants, to the project.

- There will be a clear plan as of what the EVS is expected to get out of his/her EVS period.

- We will have reflections every week also in order to work with the Youthpass.

- The volunteer has possibilities to create input of any kind that he/she fancy could fit the platform of where the main activity takes place during the workday.

- The volunteer will be informed that he/she is not to fill or replace any employment.

- Over time when he /she is more comfortable in his/her role as a volunteer, opportunities to do workshop, mini projects or alike is encouraged and supported.

- We have a strong work policy about prejudice and that also includes the volunteer and is communicated to him/her as attending a EVS placement with us.

- The volunteer will also be introduced to spare time activities that he/she might have done in their home country in order to feel more at home in the experience of the EVS and also to support social contacts on local private level. The coordinating Organisation will not pay for those activities but there might be other solutions made if the financial factor is an obstacle for the volunteer. That solution would be free participation, if the recognized Organisation or such is willing to give the Volunteer a free-pass to their activities.

- We also have young people at work so there is a natural connection in relation to that and with prior volunteers there has been a good social connection after work.

- The volunteer will have a mentor that he/she can turn to at any time on any matter.

As for the project there will be a big knowledge gained on how we work with:

Inclusion - equity:
We have different targets group that faces challenges that in some sense are the same but ways to work with those challenges can differ. We have groups of Romani’s, of young new arrivals that has arrived on their own mainly from Afghanistan (but have their main years in life in Iran), we have families and young men from Syria.
With this target groups we try to work out input to meet their needs in order to manage school, social life, family life, language- and work related issues, for inclusion and the values of democracy in our civil society.

Entrepreneurial learning - entrepreneurship education:
Our politicians in our Municipality has decided to reduce the youth unemployment we shall put efforts towards entrepreneurship education and learning. The volunteer will have the opportunity to gain knowledge how we strategical will work we that challenges. This will make space for projects in our regular work and the volunteers will then gain knowledge in strategic political work how that is carried out towards our citizens in the different areas in our Municipality.

Labor market issues incl. career guidance / youth unemployment:
We have, to Swedish standards, a high youth unemployment in our municipality and that is constantly a work to be developed. The volunteer will be enrolled on every level of input we give to our unemployed both youth and adults.

The volunteer will have many experiences in our work and with the reflections of the week with their mentor we will be able to coach the volunteers to actually see the learning outcome of the EVS period in its different segments of participation.
As mentioned above the personal situation of being a volunteer has great impact of the role they take in group constellations and self-management. This is also issues that will be addressed with work methods we work with our target group and that will be carried out by their mentor. The learning outcomes will then be connected to the Youthpass as an ongoing living document for reflections, and visualize and acknowledge new learnings, behaviors, skills etc.