Links to education

The project will be submitted at 4th of February deadline to the Romanian National Agency and will take place starting with autumn 2015. Below and attached you can find a short description of the project and the activities of the future volunteers.
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“Links to education” is the initiative of ZURY Association from Timisoara (RO) whose main aim is to fight against the unemployment rate existing at European level, especially among youth with the age below 25 by engaging them in additional educational activities which will develop transversal skills as well as life competences necessary and useful for them in accessing the labor market. Additionally, the promoters would like to engage the future EVS volunteers in combating the phenomenon also at local level, as well as act against problematics such as: youth sedentarism and low involvement in sportive activities and outdoor activities, the need of alternative and personal development of youth, besides the general knowledge acquired within formal context, the need for linguistic development (learning of foreign languages). The project is focused on the themes of: youth unemployment, youth information, lifelong learning, cooperation for development and community engagement.

The project objectives are the following:

1. Developing 4 key transversal competences (linguistic, digital, entrepreneurship and socio-civic) by the young volunteers involved during the entire project

2. Promoting non-formal education, volunteering and active participation of youth in the society through the development of alternative educational activities during the period of the project

3. Promoting tolerance and solidarity among young people coming from different cultures during the project.

The objectives will be achieved by the implementation of these activities:

- organizing communication workshops, public speaking sessions, debates and creative workshops for developing the creativity of participants

- developing and organizing events/actions with sportive character, initiatives for promoting a healthy lifestyle and the importance of doing sport or any other kind of movement in outdoor space

- organizing sessions for presenting different opportunities for personal development, alternative training and involvement in the life of the community of local youth

- organizing and delivering 4 different intercultural and linguistic workshops

- organizing IT sessions for developing specific digital competences of local youth (basic operation of PC, efficient use of Internet and use of specific programs for creating documents necessary for job applications, information in connection with platforms and groups containing useful news and valid opportunities and of interest for their personal and professional development etc.)

- administrate the hosting organization’s general website, creating and posting articles, taking photos and video materials to promote the developed activities

- realizing 2 audio-video materials for promoting volunteering among youth and disseminating it through different channels

- organizing 6 sessions for presenting the project, the Erasmus+ programme and for promoting valid opportunities for engagement of youth in European Voluntary Service both at the hosting organizations and in educational institutions

- come up with own initiatives, plan and organize small scale projects/community actions which can be implemented locally based on the needs identified by the EVS volunteers

The methods & instruments that the EVS volunteers will mainly come from the non-formal area and space and they will be: games, team work activities, workshops, debates, practical exercises and role plays, non-formal presentations, visual materials and graphic design, animation, activities with sportive character, outdoor initiatives etc.

The CO is planning to bring a change in terms of chances the participating youth will have to access the labor market and to offer them a proper context in which to develop new abilities/competences useful for the future. At local level, the initiative will aim to increase the no. of youth active in the community and engaged in voluntary actions. The promotion and development of sportive and outdoor activities will have the aim to inform, raise awareness and inspire others about the benefits of doing sports and the consequences of a sedentary life. The project will impact the local youth by offering them a chance to get in contact with other people from other countries, discover other cultures, raise their tolerance and intercultural understanding as well as learn new foreign languages.

The project will involve 12 EVS volunteers in total, which will be sent by 4 different SO from 4 programme countries. 30% of the total no. of volunteers will be with fewer opportunities. The project will imply 2 voluntary stages of 8 months each: the first planned between 01.09.2015 – 31.04.2016 will involve 6 EVS volunteers which will be hosted in Arad city; the second stage will be planned between 01.01.2016 – 01.09.2016 and will involve other 6 EVS volunteers which will be hosted in Timisoara city. The entire project will have a duration of 18 months being developed between 1st of June 2015 and 30th of November 2016.

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Interested partner organizations are kindly requested to send us more details about their organizations (PIF file including specific expertise in the field and list of projects) and a short notice of interest by 21st of January to the following e-mail address: zury.association@gmail.com. Sending organizations who already have interested young people (especially young people with fewer opportunities) to take part in this project will have priority. Interested volunteers are kindly requested to send us a CV (Europass) and the attached application form. Volunteers are invited to submit their applications (CV + application form) completed by 25th of January on the following e-mail address: evs@zury.org as well as information about their sending organizations, if they have one already. If no, interested youth will be redirected to an organization from their country.

The project will involve a total no. of 12 EVS volunteers from 4 different countries. Please be informed that interested partner/sending organizations will commit to sending 3 volunteers each for the entire project, for stages of 8 months. ZURY Association will make a selection of interested organizations and only the selected partners will be contacted for further cooperation after the mentioned deadline.

Thank you very much!