EVS duration: 1st of November 2016 to 31st of July 2017At Center for European Initiatives Sumy, Ukraine
European Voluntary Service ProjectINFO PACK
This project is funded by Erasmus+ programme from the European Commission
Table of Contents
Welcome Note
About Scambieuropei
About Erasmus + Programme and European Voluntary Service
General Aspects of the Project Challenge accepted
Objectives of the Project Challenge accepted
Activities of the Project Challenge accepted
About Ukraine
About Sumy
Welcome Note
We are looking forward to meeting you here in Italy and working with you!
In the following pages we have included all of the necessary practical information, from project details and activities, to information about our organization and about your future hosting community here in Bologna, Italy.
Please read this guide carefully, and don't hesitate to contact us in case ofany doubts or questions!
About Scambieuropei
Scambieuropei is an Italian youth association formed by a group of youngpeople specialized in a wide range of fields, including but not limited to: nonformal education, international cooperation, communication & marketing and social work. The mission of Scambieuropei is to provide and promote mobility opportunities for young people in order to help them improve their work and/or educational skills.
It undertakes several initiatives to promote and enhance active European citizenship, intercultural communication, social integration, media and journalism. Through our online platform one of the most visited Italian web sites of its kind, receiving well over 250.000 views per month we provide information about European mobility opportunities for young people such as job offers, scholarships, internships, volunteering vacancies and intercultural exchanges. We also have an online magazine dedicated exclusively to European Culture and trends which serves as an excellent medium for users/ community members on the move to share their exchange experiences.
Scambieuropei also serves as a recruiter and professional mediator,
helping match young adults seeking employment with European
companies and NGOs, activating EVS's and internships throughout Europe.
In addition it provides CV, ML and document translation services to the
general public with a special price for students as well as language courses
for students going abroad.
About Erasmus + Programme and European Voluntary Service
Erasmus+ is the EU Programme that supports education, training, youth and sports initiatives from 2014 to 2020 to galvanize socioeconomic change and bring new opportunities to a wider demographic audience, through the promotion of Europe 2020 strategy for growth, jobs, social equity and inclusion.
Erasmus+ upholds Programme Countries' efforts to cultivate local
talent through lifelong learning using a variety of nonformal and informal
learning techniques. The Programme also enhances the opportunities for
cooperation and mobility with Partner Countries, notably in the fields of
higher education and youth.
The Erasmus+ Programme has been preceded by over 25 years of
European programmes in the fields of education, training and youth,
throughout Europe and the international sphere. Erasmus+ is the
resulting combination of the following European programmes
implemented by the Commission during the period 20072013: The
Lifelong Learning Programme, The Youth in Action Programme, The
Erasmus Mundus Programme, Tempus, Alfa, Edulink, Programmes of
cooperation with industrialised countries in the field of higher education.
Erasmus+ expands upon these programmes by promoting synergies
and cross fertilisation throughout the different fields of education, training
and youth, removing artificial boundaries between the various Actions
and project formats, fostering new ideas, attracting new actors from the
world of work and civil society and stimulating new forms of cooperation.
Erasmus+ aims at becoming a more effective instrument to address the
real needs in terms of human and social capital development in Europe
and beyond.
The European Voluntary Service (EVS) falls under KA 1 of the
Erasmus + program. This activity enables young people aged 1730 to
expand upon their personal competences while embarking on a cross
cultural experience through unpaid and fulltime voluntary service for up
to 12 months in another country
within or outside the European Union. Young volunteers are given the
opportunity to participate in handson activities while assisting
local/international organisations in their daily tasks. The organizations
often work in areas such as youth information and policies, the personal
and socio educational development of young people, civic engagement,
social care, inclusion of disadvantaged, environment, nonformal education
programmes, ICTs and media literacy, culture and creativity, development
cooperation, etc.
Hosting organisations are responsible for:
• arranging food, lodging and local transports of volunteers;
• delegating tasks and activities for volunteers that respect the qualitative
principles of the European Voluntary Service, as described in the EVS
Charter;
• providing to volunteers an ongoing taskrelated, linguistic, personal
and administrative support throughout the duration of the activity.
The participation in the EVS is free of charge for volunteers, with
the exception of a possible contribution for travel costs (if the Erasmus+
grant does not fully cover these costs) and additional expenses not linked
to the implementation of the activity (such as sightseeing or extra
cultural activities during free time). The essential costs for volunteers'
participation in the EVS activity are covered by the Erasmus+ grant or
through other means afforded by the participating organisations.
Besides the support provided to the volunteers by the participating
organisations, the National Agencies or regional SALTOs organise a
Training and Evaluation Cycle to be attended by each volunteer and
consisting of: a) an onarrival training; b) a midterm evaluation, for
voluntary services lasting more than 6 months and c) Final
evaluation/debrief. Once you will be in your Hosting Organization, they
will enroll you in the training.
The Sending Organizations have the responsibility to prepare the EVS
volunteers through the facilitation of a PreDeparture Training before
sending them off on their EVS adventure.
Here some link to get ready for EVS:
http://www.agenziagiovani.it/media/156409/evs welcome_en.pdf
http://www.agenziagiovani.it/media/156408/evs expect_en.pdf
http://www.agenziagiovani.it/media/156407/evs charter_en.pdf
Youthpass Certificate
Youthpass is the European tool used to qualify the learning
outcomes obtained by participants during activities supported by the
Erasmus + programme.
Every young person, volunteer or youth worker that participates in
a youth mobility project is entitled to receive a Youthpass certificate.
Youthpass contains a detailed description of the nonformal and informal
learning experience, and validates the learning outcomes acquired
during the project . A variety of methods can be used to incorporate
Youthpass in project activities in order to help participants to become
more aware of their learning process. For support and more
information on Youthpass, please consult the Youthpass guide and
other relevant material at www.youthpass.eu.
General Aspects of the Project Challenge accepted
(logistics, transportation, food, visa etc...)
Travel costsTravel costs are reimbursed up to a certain amount, stated in the project application, through the European distance calculator. For this EVS project, the maximum travel reimbursement is € 275 per person for the round trip, from your house to Sumy. The rules for the reimbursement are: - use ONLY public transportation - choose 2nd class tickets - check if your solution is the cheapest one available for the chosen travel itinerary- collect all the invoices, tickets, reservations, boarding pass etc
The arrival day is 1st NOVEMBER 2016.
AccommodationThe rent for the whole duration of the project is fully covered by the Erasmus+ grant, as well as the facilities.
Volunteers will be accommodated in single or double room, divided bygender, depending on the availability of the houses.
LodgingVolunteers will receive a fixed amount of money per month for food, so you are free to choose what, when and where to eat! The programme supports the volunteer with a monthly pocket money too, which for Ukraine is € 55.
Public transportationBus transportation.
VolunteeringThe volunteers should be involved in the activities at least 30 hours per week, with 2 days free in a row, plus 2 extra free days per month; a weekly plan will be made in cooperation with the tutor, considering the
need of the volunteers and the organization schedule, so flexibility would be ensured from both sides.
Visa Costs will be covered by the Programme up to €400 euros per participants.
Health insurancePlease bring your European Health Card, although you will be covered by CIGNA insurance, provided by the programme. Your Sending organization can give you more information regarding theconditions of
the insurance.
Objectives of the Project Challenge accepted
Center for European Initatives organized a number of local and regionalactivities with the purpose of first aid to the people who often left homeswithout any documents or possessions We believe that the experience which Italian volunteers can get workingthrough the Ukrainian organization, will be valuable for their future career inEuropean countries which are combating with the emerging issue of integrationof refugees and other minorities into societyOur objectives are all shaped on the needs of the volunteers and in accordancewith the priority given to their personal growth and involvement in the localcommunity:
1. Promote Erasmus Plus Programme as an opportunity forintegration/inclusion of youth in the local community and in aninternational context; strengthen the cooeration between EU and EECA inyouth work through the promotion of EVS opportunities for partnercountries
2. Provide Ukrainian youth with information on EU policies and the EUintegration process and encourage intercultural learning;
3. Assist Ukrainian youth in creating and conducting youth projects oftheir own with the longlasting aim of increase youth participation incommunity and civic life of the community involved;
4. raise awareness about human rights and diversity through the directexperience of working through non formal methods with refugees anddisadvantage group
Profile of the volunteers
We are looking for enthusiastic, energetic volunteers who are eager to learn,enjoy working with youth, are full of creative ideas. Strong organisational skillsare considered very useful as well as the ability to communicate in English, andbe willing to study either Russian or Ukrainian (as not all people they will workwith, are able to speak English). Moreover, the volunteers should becomfortable to adapt to new situations, and have potential for creative problemsolving.This project will involve 3 young people from Italy but the organization isnormally hosting EVS from all around Europe. We will mainly look for volunteers interested in the issues of democracy,equality and human rights and strives to continue working on them duringtheir Service in Ukraine. The HO appreciates the will of the volunteers to takeinitiative in realizing new projects within the framework of the establishedYouth Euroclubs.Target group is aged between 18-30 years old.
There will be mixed groups of volunteers from different nationalities dividedinto small groups in order to help the monitoring of activities and good balancein the working environment.
ActivitiesCenter for European Initiatives has operated in Sumy since 2008.This European Voluntary Service implies 9-months service in Sumy, Ukraine,from 01/11/2016-01/08/2017.
- Ukrainian language course - language clubs: everything will be done with creative workshops in schools,co-organized by the volunteers - implementation of the Euroclubs: participating in and leading Euroclubsinvolving local school youth focused on promoting European values, activecitizenship, civic responsibility, community service, providing them withknowledge about EU, European integration, what it means to be Europeancitizen; - involvement in the living library made with refugees by CEI: meetings onfighting stereotypes where books on sensitive topics are presented by peoplewho have a direct connection with the topic. The audience "reads" the book bylistening to the person's story and then has an opportunity to ask openquestions, thus getting released from prejudices regarding the topic; thepromotion of cultural diversity, of volunteering and overcoming stereotypes willbe enforced by the participation of the volunteers in activity that targetrefugees and IDPs. - discussion planning and development of a personal project, - monthly evaluation of learning process with mentor and coordinator, - helping to organize trainings and seminars to educate local volunteers whodirectly work with IDPs.
The last month will be more dedicated to the collection of material produced,dissemination, evaluation, presentation of EVS results in Sumy (workshop,world cafe event, public presentation etc etc), outcome of personal project,assessment of the competences acquired and youth pass filling.
Geographical Facts
Ukraine has a strategic position in East Central Europe: lying on the northern shores of theBlack Sea and the Sea of Azov, it borders a number of European countries - Poland, Slovakiaand Hungary in the west, Belarus in the north, Moldova and Romania in the south-west andRussia in the east. The totalgeographic area of Ukraine is 603,550square kilometers (233,030 sq mi).The land border of Ukraine totals4,558 kilometers (2,832 mi). Theborder lengths with each countryare: Belarus 891 kilometers(554 mi), Hungary 103 kilometers(64 mi), Moldova 939 kilometers(583 mi), Poland 428 kilometers(266 mi), Romania 169 kilometers(105 mi) on the south and 362kilometers (225 mi) on the west, Russia 1,576 kilometers (979 mi), and Slovakia 90 kilometers (56 mi). Ukraine is also bordered by 3,783 kilometers (2,351 mi) of coastline.
The border with Russia is the country's longest border - it runs in part through the Sea of Azov.
Short Facts about Ukraine
Population: 42,539,010Capital: KievOfficial Language: Ukrainian
Ethnic groups: 77.8% Ukrainians 17.3% Russians 4 .9% others/unspecified
Time Zone: CET (UTC+1)
Summer CEST (UTC +2)
International Prefix: +38
State Coat of Arms
SINGLE EMERGENCYNUMBER
112
About Sumy
The project will be hosted in the city of Sumy, the capital of its region, with the population of300.000 inhabitants. The city issituated in North-East of the country.Due to its remoteness from thecapital, little influence of westernEurope in general and proximity toRussia, the city experiences remainsof post-Soviet Union lifestyle - both inarchitecture, public services and inpeople's mind set. Additionally, thecity became a refuge for people whofled from the conflict zone in theEastern part of the country.However, the youth of Sumy is very welcome to education, both formal (there are 3 universities and 1 academy in the city) and non-formal, hospitable and curious towards foreigners, new
languages, and on the whole is susceptible of new modern ideas. The citizens havebeen very supportive
of European Integration of Ukraine.
Interesting facts about Sumy
Sumy received its name after the rivers Suma and Sumka which encircleit on both sides. There is a legend that hunters’ bags (“suma” in Russianlanguage) were found in this area.
This legend is reflected in the coat-of-arms adopted in 1781. There are three black bags with golden buttons on the four-angle shield.
Famous Russian writers A.P. Chekhov and A.I. Kuprin lived in Sumy. The city was visited by the composer P.I. Chaikovsky, the writer V.G. Korolenko, the poet A.N. Pletsheyev.
Top attractions in Sumy
Love Lantern
Monument Bag
Altanka
Kozedhub Park
Troitskiy Cathedral
Holy Resurrection Cathedral
Saidko FountainTransfiguration Cathedral
Are you ready to apply? Please prepare your CV in English and fill in the application form provided together with this infopack asap!
Any other question?
Please address your doubts to [email protected]
We are looking forward to starting this EVS adventure together!
Thank you very much for your attention!
Scambieuropei team