EVS/European Voluntary Service
The Bodvaj Association is an EVS sending, host and co-ordinating organisation.
Accreditation code: 2011-RO-15
Accreditation: Sending organisation, Host organisation, Co-ordinating organisation
Approval Date 14/04/2011
Validity Date 14/04/2014
Location Kisbacon/Batanii Mici (Romania)
Theme 1 Children
Theme 2 Urban/Rural development
Inclusion Cultural differences, Geographical difficulties
Project environment
The project is located in village Batanii Mici (Kisbacon in Hungarian language), in Covasna County (Kovászna megye in Hungarian language). The village lies in the Baraolt Basin (Baróti medence), called Woodland (Erdővidék), this name refers to the forests which surround this microregion.
Due to these forests around the microregion the climate is very good; fresh, unpolluted air is characteristic for this place. For this reason the microregion is adequate for free time activities, especially hiking, walking on the fields, mountains and in the forests. 19 villages and 1 town belong to the microregion, whose centre is a little town, called Baraolt. In Baraolt there are public offices (town hall, office for the employee, public finances, schools), financial institutes (banks, insurance companies), commercial units and cultural institutes (cultural house, museum). Active participation of the NGOs is characteristic in the microregion, which has 25000 inhabitants. The rate of unemployment is higher comparing to the average of the country level.
The village Batanii Mici, where the volunteers will live and work is 8 km far from the centre of the microregion. The public transport is not so good, there are buses, but not enough. Batanii Mici is a little village, it has 575 inhabitants.
The village is a significant touristic destination, since the most famous Hungarian fairy-tale writer (Benedek Elek, 1859-1929) was born in Batanii Mici. There is a memorial house where he lived and worked on the last years of his life, it is visited by thousands of tourists every year. Our organization opened an exhibition two years ago, based on the fairy-tales. It is visited by many tourists from this country and from abroad. In the village there is a watermill, which is still functioning, a peasant house, where the traditional life of the peasants from the beginning of the XX. century is presented. Our organization organizes fairy-tale walks, this is a half-day long program for children and youth based on the touristic attractions of the village. A lot of schools are interested about this program from spring to autumn. The visitor`s accommodation is provided by guesthouses from the village and it`s surroundings.
EVS volunteers will activate mainly at the Youth Information Office, where the organization can provide safe location for the volunteer`s activities. In the office we have a complete infrastructure, perfect for administration and organizing programs: PC, multifunctional machine, copy machine, fax, scanner, camera, laminator, beamer.
45 km far from the village, in the centre of the county, in Saint George/Sfantu Gheorghe there are many opportunities for free time activity: theatres, museums, library, various events and festivals, indoor and outdoor swimming pool, supermarkets. The public transport to this destination is good enough. In the microregion and in the centre of the county as well, there are a lot of programs organized by NGOs, in which volunteers can be involved, according to their preference.
Accomodation and food for EVS volunteers will be provided by the pension from the village.
" Proposed activities for the EVS volunteers:
" The regular place for the everyday voluntary service will be the Youth Information Office of the organisation in the village Batanii Mici (Kisbacon). This can change when the organisation has a program outside the village or the microregion. The volunteers will have the opportunity to make an own profile regarding the work and the time schedule, we will consider their suggestions in order to create together with the volunteers a flexible and interesting workplan, with learning and self-developing opportunities. Service and learning opportunities:
We consider that we can offer for the EVS volunteers a wide scale of activities in order to learn and develop their skills, abilities and knowledge. The work in the Youth Information Office of the EVS volunteers is based mainly on taking initiatives and coming up with ideas that can be useful in the programs of the association. EVS volunteers will be asked to make suggestions for improvement of the organization`s regular activities. Beside this they can participate in organizing local and microregional youth projects, can learn the project`s methodology, and the implementation process, as well. In there everyday work they can experiment the office administration, help the office administrator. While working in the office and being involved in local and microregional programs, by meeting regularly young people and having contact with the local community, EVS volunteers can experience and practice a foreign language, therefore they can improve their language skills. If they are interested they can learn and practice how to plan a project and connected to this how to write an application. Our association edits occasional publications on different topics: youth, rural development, environment, cultural tourism. Beside this the association started to publish a local newspaper in this year. EVS volunteers can learn how to edit a publication or a newspaper. They can take photos for these publications and for the newspaper. The association has a website, EVS volunteers can learn how to upload materials, they will be asked to take photos in differents events and programs for the albums on the internet. Connected to this activity EVS volunteers can improve their computer skills, by creating materials, posters, uploading photos for the website and for the social network, e.g. Facebook. Beside this EVS volunteers can learn how to work with children and youth, and they can experiment the teamwork and the non-formal education activities. Volunteers can join the local and regional youth events, and be in close connection with the local youth. Volunteers will have the possibility of taking part in training sessions organized by the Bodvaj Association. Language and culture classes will take place regularly during the volunteers` stay.
Volunteers` role:
We consider that an important role of the EVS volunteers could be to be the "ambassador" of the country from where they come. It is a great opportunity for the local community and especially for the youngsters to get acquainted with another country`s geography, economy, characteristics, culture, traditions, language, school system, entertainment opportunities. With these activities volunteers can establish mutual understanding and respect among different nations. Thus, we suggest for the volunteers to organize club activities to present their country and culture. These programs should be interactive in order to get the interest of the youngsters from the microregion, using the non-formal education methods. Other roles of the volunteers: helping in organizing the association`s regular ativities and programs; taking part in administrating the Youth Information Office, promoting voluntary work and the EVS program in local and county level events, helping in organizing seminars and trainings for the NGO in the microregion, helping in environmental projects, uploading photos and materials to the internet about the organization`s programs.
Volunteers` tasks:
Volunteers` tasks will be mainly to support the Bodvaj Association in organizing the regular activities and the occasional programs. Volunteers will be asked to support all the activities of the Youth Information Office, as well as the organization`s international projects (organizing the concrete projects, developing partnerships, keeping in touch with partners). Volunteers are advised to get involved in several other specific programs:
" organizing the environmental campaign in schools in spring
" organizing the environmental camp for children in August
" organizing the creative camp for children and youth in August
" organizing the Fairy-tale Days in September
" organizing the training seminar for youth in November
" organizing the summer youth exchange with our partners from Europe
Beside this EVS volunteers will be supported to create their own projects: e.g. interactive club with the main theme: the origin country; language club, play-house for the children; creating and developing their own blog about volunteering in Batanii Mici. We would like very much for volunteers to organize regular meetings and activities with our local volunteer group (15-18 young people).
Working hours will be 40 hours/week. Volunteers will have the weekends off in general. If an event of the organization is on the weekend, in that case volunteers may have to work on weekends, too. The daily routine would be like this: 10am-13pm helping in the office, making regular activities, preparing for afternoon activities, 13pm-14pm lunch brake, 14pm-16pm project activities, depending the area chosen by the volunteer, 16pm-19pm volunteer work: e.g. club activities, play-house, 19pm- free time. Volunteers will have normal holidays during Christmas, Easter and other public holidays.
We would like to receive volunteers who are open-minded, interested in and ready to live in the Transylvanian culture. We are looking for volunteers who could easily fit into our team (teamplayer), are willing to work with our local volunteer group. It is recommended to have basic IT skills, to be able to realize the blog about volunteering in Batanii Mici, upload materials and photos to the internet, etc. It is very important for us that volunteer should be open, tolerant, flexible, creative, with new ideas, should have self-confident. Volunteers should be realiable and have the ability of trusting our staff, as well. We expect our volunteers to talk every problems with us, especially with their mentors in order to be able to solve their problems as soon as possible.
Volunteers should be aged between 18-25 years.
The association will get in contact with his partners from the country and abroad in order to organize the recruitment process of the volunteers. In order to assure the transparency of the recruitment process and the overall accessibility of EVS to all young people, we will publish the volunteers` profile on different websites and forums, social networks, mail groups. Beside this the description of the volunteers` profile, project environment, etc. will be posted on the EVS database, ensuring both for the volunteers and for the organizations from abroad to get information and contact us, if they are interested in our work.
We haven`t done EVS projects since now, but one year ago we joined the Rückenwind network, which has a lot of member organizations all over Europe, and we implemented a training course in 2010, supported by the Youth in Action Programme. In the frame of this network we are working with several youth or youth supporting organisations, we would like to cooperate with them in the next years, too. But, we are also opened for new partnerships, especially with youth organizations from Europe. It would be good to could cooperate with organizations delaing with young people with fewer opportunities (geographical, cultural, economical disadvantages) and with organizations activating in rural areas.
We are able to host 2 volunteers at the same time. We can assure all quality, learning opportunity and welfare standards for the volunteers which is recommended by the programme.
Volunteers will work with the staff of the association, and live together. The village where they will live is a small village, with 575 inhabitants. Here everybody knows everybody, the rate of the delinquency is very low. The staff of the association will be in contact every day with the volunteers. They will get a mobile phone to be reachable always, and they can call their mentors, as well as the representative of the association all the time. Internet connection will be provided in the office and in their living house, too. Every month we will organize a meeting (volunteers, mentor, staff, legal representative) and we will discuss what we have done in the last month, and what we want to do in the future, what problems occurred, how they were solved.
We assure a safe working environment for their work, assisted by our staff. We will provide professional counseling for the volunteers, assured by the mentor, who will be in daily contact with the volunteer. Beside this the volunteers will be supported in all their initiatives in the frame of the association. They will get support from the staff and from the experienced local volunteers.
On the first days volunteers will be guided in the village, I the microregion and in the county. The staff will prepare a contact list and a list of the most important numbers and addresses. We will organize a short training about first aid, too. The association will ensure safety and health insurance.
Volunteers will be told about local conditions, traditions, public transport information, entertainment facilities, free time opportunities.
The Bodvaj Association don`t plan to host volunteers under 18 years. We are not prepared for volunteers under 18 years.
Motivation and EVS experience
The Bodvaj Association was founded in 2003. Since then we organized a lot of programs, in which we involved many volunteers from our village and it`s surroundings. We are working together with 15-18 volunteers continuously per year. Beside this we have occasional volunteers in our bigger projects. The organization hasn`t been involved in any previous EVS programs, we want to realise our first EVS program after the accreditation process. We would like to participate in the European Voluntary Service programs because we believe that during the EVS activities young people will be able to develop their social and life competences, tolerance towards other cultures and positive awareness. By working as EVS volunteers young people can do something for the benefit of the local society, and in the meantime they can get to know another culture, get experience in organizing programs for children and youngsters. Our youngsters will get more information about the EVS and about being a volunteer in a foreign country and culture from EVS volunteers. Our youngsters can watch how they are living, what they are working. It`s a very important part of our motivation to give the opportunity for our youngsters to meet the EVS volunteers every week in our office. We believe that this day-to-day contact will encourage the youngsters from our village to use and develop their language skills and make them more self-confident. Our team is very open and would like to learn more about other cultures and different perspectives by hosting volunteersEVS is also a good opportunity for our association to share the experiences with young people coming from different cultures. It is important for us to work with volunteers not only from this region but also from Europe to bring new views and ideas into our communities. As a sending organization we would like to give the opportunity for the youth living in our region to get experienced in volunteering in an organization in another country, to get to know another culture, society, language during his/her work abroad, and doing something good for another community. In the frame of this program we could give them the opportunity to step out of their casual world and make them more self-confident and open. We wish to get involved in our first EVS project as a sending organisation in July 2011, with application deadline 1st of April 2011. We would like to apply for hosting EVS on 1st of November 2011. We plan to have more sendings than hostings. Our organization is planning to host 2 volunteers per year, and an average of 4 volunteers to send to host organizations in Europe.
Description of the organisation
The Bodvaj Association is a youth association, which was founded in 2003 by 5 young people aged between 19 and 25, living in Kisbacon. Kisbacon is a small village (500 inhabitants) in a rural, isolated area in Covasna County. The association's main aim is to represent the interest of the youth from the village at local, regional, national and international level.
Target group:
The target group of our association: children, youth (age between: 14-35 year), disadvantaged people (geographical and economical disadvantages) from the village Batanii Mici. We extend some of our activities to the microregion Woodland/Depresiunea Baraolt.
Aims:
Our aim is to give possibilities for our target groups to spend their spare time by doing useful activities. Every summer our summer camps offer for more than 100 participant an alternative way of learning and spending "quality time". According to our aim we organize yearly several youth projects in the cultural or environmental fields. We support our youngster's bottom-up initiatives and help implementing these initiatives. We also try to give the same possibilities for the youth living in our village as others with the same age in other countries all over Europe. We have good relationships with local and county municipalities, youth associations from Romania and abroad, youth supporting organisations at county and national level.
Activities:
Our association has three big program for children and especially youth per year. The environmental camp in July where children and youth learn the symbiosis with the still unpolluted environment, develop their capacities and abilities. The creative camp for children and youth in August where the target group can surmount their disadvantage due to the isolated area, undeveloped communications skills, and can improve their creativeness, strengthen their self-confidence. The Fairy-Tale Days at the end of September where more than 100 young people get acquainted with the traditional craft activities in a fairy-tale world. During all programs young people with different backgrounds work and play together in order to get to know each other better, to get acquainted with another culture.
Staff:
Our association has got an office administrator, who leads the Youth Information Office run by our association. Beside the office administrator we have a project coordinator and a trainer/expert in youth projects, they do their job as voluntary work. We work continuously with 15-18 volunteers per year. We hold our meetings in the Youth Information Office, there we make the workplan for our activities, coordonate the association`s programs and discuss all kinds of problems, which occurs. The Youth Information Office is open 6 days per week (excluding Sunday). In the office the members of the local community can use internet for free, they can copy, print or send a paper by fax. Beside these services youngsters can get information about the European Union, youth programs and opportunities, study and training opportunities.
Geographical difficulties: the Bodvaj Association works in an isolated rural area, thus our staff and experts have enough experience in working with youngsters who have geographical difficulties. Since 2003 we are working to improve this situation, to ensure access for our youngsters for those facilities and opportunities which are not available in this area. Nevertheless our effort has made it`s result in the target group which we are dealing with, and this result has started to be measurable by this time.
Cultural differences: the Bodvaj Association collaborates with several international trainer and experts who have a lot of experience in working across cultural barriers, and able to offer for young people the maximum support on overcoming these challaneges.
Contact Point
Organisation: Bodvaj Association
Address: str Principala 227
Postal code: 527017
Town: Kisbacon/Batanii Mici
Country: Romania
E-mail: bodvaj@gmail.com
Phone: +40-267-375 950
Fax: +40-267-375 950
Contact: Ms. Marta Benedek
Facebook: www.facebook.com/bodvaj
Twitter: www.twitter.com/bodvaj
