EVS GAIA

EVS GAIA

NAME OF THE PROJECT: GAIA

REFERENCE NUMBER: 2015-2-RO01- KA105-015317

FINANCE: European Commission, Erasmus + Programme, Key Action 1, European

Voluntary Service

DURATION OF THE PROJECT: 15.08.2015 – 15.08.2017

STAGE:

EVS stage 1 – 01.11.2015 – 01.05.2016 for Macedonia and Georgia, 2 volunteers (1 female

and 1 male) / partner

EVS stage 2 – 02.05.2016 – 01.11.2016 for Italy and Armenia, 2 volunteers (1 female and 1

male) / partner

EVS stage 3 – 01.11.2016 – 01.05.2017 for Russia and Turkey, 4 volunteers (2 female and 2

male) / partner

VOLUNTEERS: 4 / 8 young people coming 1 from: Macedonia, Georgia, Armenia, Italy,

Turkey and Russia.

VENUE: Craiova, Romania

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EXPLORATOR NGO

EXPLORATOR Association was founded on 2008 in Craiova, Romania. Its goal is

"to promote opportunities for youth in the community and to sustain the young people

involvement in the civic life.

EXPLORATOR is an independent association which brings together young people

with ages between 18 and 35 years, from different areas without distinction of nationality,

sex, religion, political and religious beliefs. ANTER has local volunteers which are interested

in solving youth problems and beeing involved in civic activities. We had different activities

regarding intercultural exchanges between people who belong to different cultures (roma,

polish, bulgarian, greec, turkish). In the past years we have focused on democracy projects

due to the current global situation.

Our association has a good capacity of implementing projects, starting with our

experience in all the actions of YIA and now for implementing Erasmus+ projects. We have a

well equiped office and good logistic to manage the implementation. We have strong local

partnerships and international ones that are facilitating the implementation of projects.

For our projects you can visit:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Explorator/300895960009792

https://www.facebook.com/pages/PR-Democracy/589482021078403

or write us at:

ongexplorator@gmail.com

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PARTNERS:

International partners – sending associations:

• VCS SKOPJE (from MK) www.vcs.org.mk

• SYSTEM AND GENERATION (from TR) www.systemandgeneration.eu

• SCAMBIEUROPEI (from IT) www.scambieuropei.info

• GEORGIAN YOUTH FOR EUROPE (from GE) www.gye.ge

• YOUTH INITIATIVE CENTER (from AM) www.yic.am

• INTERREGIONAL YOUTH SOCIAL MOVEMENT OF SUPPORT OF VOLUNTARY

INITIATIVES (from RU) www.dobrovolets.ru

Local partners:

- “Beethoven” School

http://www.csbeethoven.ro/html/despre_csb.html

- Handball Club

https://www.facebook.com/niculet.gabriela?fref=ts

- Youth and Sport Direction

http://www.djst.ro

- Students Cultural House

http://www.ccscraiova.ro/

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ABOUT THE PROJECT

AIM: to offer volunteers the opportunity of developing employability competences and enhance

their social proactive involvement in the frame of ecology.

OBJECTIVES:

- To encourage the reflection and debate regarding eco-responsibility and healthy life style

- To contribute to the awareness regarding the natural resource conscious and to adopt

responsible practices towards natural resources

- To explore in one hand the connections between the mother cultures and on the other hand the

themes of “nature preservation” &”healthy lifestyle”

- The development of basic transversal competences useful for fastening the transition process

from NEET category to a more active life

ACTIVITIES:

The weekly agenda for the EVS motilities consist mainly from Working Packages (PL), that

represent activities with experiential character:

- (PL1) Development of public campaigns of ecological and healthy lifestyle education,

with intergenerational character, in each month of the stage public events will be

created (“Live library”, “non-formal lab of eco-solutions and alternatives for a healthy

lifestyle”, “Civic and good neighbourhood acts Olympics”, “street-forest delivery”,

”open café” and debates “Karl Popper” /”Parliament”, “world kitchen”, ”street

animation”, flash-mobs” etc; outdoor and sport activities; intercultural picnic with

“trash-hunt” and green space revitalization activities; online & off-line fundraising etc

- (PL2) GAIA PARACLUB CRAIOVA: development of ecological and healthy

lifestyle education activities, with an accent on the inclusion dimension:

* Accompanying activities in Romanesc Parc and recognition of flora/fauna; outdoor

dynamic solutions adapted for disabilities (scouts)

* Outdoor & indoor sport activities

* “bingo-quiz” sessions with eco topics and experiential actions for Para volunteering

etc

* Eco-creative workshops(trash-art, creative recycling, GAIA-walls, GAIA Human

Magazine)

- (PL3) Interactive foreign language workshops (mother tongues of the

volunteers/English) through role-playing/theatre/karaoke.

- (PL4) Promotional activities for E+ opportunities (focus in youth exchanges &

EVS);through interactive workshops promoting the vacancies, intercultural evenings,

making & disseminating online of video materials/testimonials etc; street caravan E+,

flash-mob , thematic ”LOESJE” publication etc.

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WEEKLY ACTIVITIES AGENDA EXAMPLE:

It is attached in an excel sheet to this info-pack.

NOTE: the activities are scheduled generally as example, so modifications can intervene

often. Each week the agenda will be discussed and arranged with the project coordinator

based on the stakeholders schedule, local community and volunteers choice.

ABOUT ERASMUS + PROGRAM

Erasmus + provides grants for a wide range of actions and activities in the fields

of education, training, youth and sport. The programme gives opportunities to students,

trainees, staff and volunteers to spend a period abroad to increase their skills and

employability. It supports organisations to work in transnational partnership and to share

innovative practices in the fields of education, training and youth. The new Sport action will

support grassroots projects and cross-border challenges such as combating match-fixing,

doping, violence and racism.

European Voluntary Service:

This activity allows young people aged 17-30 to express their personal commitment through

unpaid and full-time voluntary service for up to 12 months in another country within or

outside the European Union. Young volunteers are given the opportunity to contribute to the

daily work of organisations dealing with youth information and policies, young people's

personal and socio-educational development, civic engagement, social care, inclusion of

disadvantaged, environment, non-formal education programmes, ICTs and media literacy,

culture and creativity, development cooperation, etc.

A project can include between 1 and 30 volunteers who can do their voluntary service either

individually or in group.

Before arrival we STRONGLY recommend each volunteer to read the EVS info kit.

For more information about the program access:

http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus-plus_en

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SUPPORT

MENTORSHIP:

Mentorship can be defined as the set of relations and processes that appear between an EVS

volunteer and the person who facilitates the learning process during the project. This person

is chosen by the hosting organization and is called MENTOR.

This figure is very important in the whole process because he assists the volunteer to

integrate, to develop himself and to overcome possible difficulties. The mentor can help the

volunteer to identify the strong and weak points regarding his skills and personality.

Each volunteer will be assigned a mentor and will benefit from group and individual

mentorship sessions.

The mentorship can be described as:

Throughout the project period there may appear various problems because of the complexity

and length of the whole process. The role of mentor is very relevant in this case. Some of the

most typical problems that could occur are conflict situations between volunteer and his

coordinator, volunteer and other volunteers or with local community. A significant type of

conflict that we should consider is the inner conflict that usually appears during the EVS

experience.

In case of conflict, the role of mentor is to mediate and help in finding. Actually, that is a

process in which the mentor assists the volunteer to come up with the solutions that will face

the issues he is confronting with. Mentor should give the volunteer a path and a structure for

solving the problem and encourage him to think out of the box.

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LINGUISTIC SUPPORT:

An important part of EVS is developing foreign language skills. Since you will be staying

and working in our community we will provide you with support to learn Romanian

language. And since all activities in the office will be developed in English you have the

chance to improve your skills in this language too.

LOCAL COMMUNITY:

You will be staying in Craiova, Romania's 6th largest city and capital of Dolj County, is

situated near the east bank of the river Jiu in central Oltenia. It is a longstanding political

center, and is located at approximately equal distances from the Southern Carpathians (north)

and the River Danube (south). Craiova is the chief commercial city west of Bucharest and the

most important city of Oltenia. The city prospered as a regional trading centre despite an

earthquake in 1790, a plague in 1795, and a Turkish assault in 1802 during which it was

burned. For more information about the city visit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craiova

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbBmgYgw-OM

And if you want to know something about Romania before coming visit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romania

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzcuBbztn-0

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WHAT TO BRING?

- Clothes: since you will stay here for 6 months you will need clothes for all seasons,

from warm clothes since during the winter can go down to -12 degrees, to rainy

clothes and up to summer clothes since it can get up to 40 degrees. Bring comfortable

clothes, especially shoes and outdoor clothes for sport. Keep in mind the nature of the

activities: sport, ecological, but also cultural.

- IT: we strongly suggest to all volunteers to bring their own laptop or tablet, mobile

phone and camera. Our association can put at the volunteers disposal only one laptop

and photo camera at the office and for activities purpose only.

- Medication: in case you are under medical prescription or you need any specific

medicine is better to take them with you or to check with us the availability of that

medicine here before arrival.

- Personal items: the apartments are equipped only with furniture, pillow, blanket and

kitchen cutlery. Please bring your personal items such as: hair drier, towels, shower

gel etc. or you can buy them from here.

DON’T FORGET TO CHECK WITH YOUR TRAVEL COMPANY THE BAGGAGE

LIMIT WEIGHT!

- Good mood and creativity!

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Accommodation – there will be 2 persons/room same gender, you will have

access to a common bathroom and kitchen. Each apartment is equipped with basic

furniture, cutlery for the kitchen, washing machine.

Meal – the volunteers will receive a monthly food allowance and they can either

buy food, either cook for themselves. The volunteer meal allowance per month will

be 100 euros, paid in LEI (Romanian currency) through bank transfer on the

volunteer debit card (made at the arrival in Romania) at the end of each month served

in EVS.

Pocket Money: according to the Erasmus+ rules an additional 60 euros will be

paied for daily expenses of the volunteers through bank transfer on the volunteer debit

card (made at the arrival in Romania) at the end of each month served in EVS.

Transportation – local transportation – by bus for the activities will be provided by

the association on a monthly base.

International transportation: each volunteer is entitle of one ticket to arrive in

Romania and one ticket to depart back home at the end of the EVS, in the frame of the

budget limit approved by the grant and respecting the rules of reimbursement and the

length of the stage mentioned in the contract.

HOW TO GET TO CRAIOVA:

- By plane: from Otopeni “Henry Coanda” International Airport in Bucharest

1. Exit the terminal (don’t forget your luggage)

2. Go to the ground floor. Outside on the right you will see the bus station and

where to buy the bus tickets. A bus ticket costs around 8 lei (2 euros).

3. Buy the bus ticket and take the bus number 780 – to “Gara de Nord” train station

4. Get off the bus at the train station “Gara de Nord” it is announced in the bus, but

is safe to also ask someone where to get off.

5. At “Gara de Nord” go inside and buy a train ticket to Craiova, second class, one

way only. The ticket should costs around 68 lei.

6. Once you both the ticket inform us via a SMS or e-mail (it is free WIFI at

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McDonalds or other coffee shops inside the train station) when you must arrive in

Craiova. It is written on your train ticket, but you can also ask someone to read it

for you. On your ticket you have the wagon and seat where you have to stay inside

the train so ask someone to help you locate it.

7. If you inform us correctly about your arrival we will wait for you at Craiova train

station and go with you to your accommodation

After each volunteer books the flight and send it to us we can also look for you the best train

options or check by himself at:

http://www.mersultrenurilor.ro/

Domestic Transportation - Train

Romania has a well-developed railway network that covers virtually the whole country.

Trains are one of the most popular means of getting around Romania.

They are inexpensive and generally on time.

Three different services are offered.

The cheapest and slowest are local the local trains - Regional ( R ).

Faster and more expensive are the InterRegional trains ( IR )

that require a seat reservation along with the ticket.

The fastest and the most expensive are Inter-City Trains ( IC ).

The last two types of trains have dining cars and sleepers

(overnight or long distance trains only).

Map of Romania's Railways Network

Information on domestic train schedules and fares: www.cfrcalatori.ro

Train schedules search - Tips for first-time users:

* click on the British flag (up - right section of your screen)

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* enter the town you will be departing from

and the town you will travel to

( for Bucharest main station select Bucharest Nord )

* select find

(please wait a little bit until a new window will open)

* select search (lower - left section of your screen)

The results of the search will be displayed.

NOTE: In Romania you can pay ONLY in LEI, Romanian currency. We advise you

to exchange money at the airport just for the bus and train ticket, since the exchange

rate is poorer then in a bank or exchange office in the city.

Internet - The volunteers will have access to internet at the place of work of the

volunteers (ANTER office) and at their accommodation.

The behavior

Don’t misunderstand us, but we have to tell you also about the behaviour.

Please take into consideration that the people from Romania are very hospitable, they

are always welcoming their guests. But there is one aspect, though: some Romanians

are more conservative and classic that maybe some of you are used to. So, our

suggestion is for you to be a little reserved at the beginning and to have patience until

you get to know the people because an action of yours may have an impact on the

whole group. Craiova and Romania in general is a safe country, but precautions

should be taken while traveling or walking during the night. For EMERGENCIES

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For more details about the financial and organizational aspects, rules and duties of the

volunteers please read the volunteer contract.

At arrival each volunteer will receive a safety and risk prevention session in order to become

familiar with the rules here in Romania. If before arrival you have questions or you need

assistance in this area contact us.

CONTACTS OF THE ASSOCIATION:

GEORGIANA: 0040 762 923 128

E-mail: ongexplorator@gmail.com