CVS – Bulgaria and Caritas Sofia are looking for  VOLUNTEERS to work with kids, teenagers and adults as part of the Refugee Project in the reception centres in Ovcha Kupel, Voenna Rampa and Vrazhdebna at the State Agency for Refugees.

Every four months the Refugee Project recruits new volunteers and the time has come to start our activities again. Volunteers engage in the preparation and implementation of educational activities for children and adults seeking international protection in Bulgaria in the following topics: Bulgarian and cultural orientation, English, Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Art, Music, Sport, extracurricular activities and visiting natural and historical landmarks.

As a volunteer in the project you have an active role in the adaptation of the children, teenagers and adults who are in the reception centres for asylum seekers on the territory of Sofia, to the Bulgarian environment as a whole and in particular to the educational system in the country. You will actively support the project by participating in thematic interest groups, including fundraising and excursions committees.

Tasks:

• Leading activities in: Bulgarian language and orientation, English language*, Mathematics, Art, Sports, etc.

• Engaging and maintaining the interest of children, young people and adults who attend the classes;

• Planning and organising training sessions/ activities as part of a small team

• Participation in organising and conducting extra-curricular activities: excursions, participation in events and tournaments, visits to museums, theatres, cinemas, etc.

• Organising and managing fundraising and awareness-raising events

Occupation:

• Morning or afternoon on weekdays

• At least one session per week on a set day convenient for you (or more if you are willing);

• 2+ hours per week, depending on your availability.

 

* Knowledge of English is not mandatory for all candidates but only for those who would like to join the English teaching group.

Requirements:

• Over 18 years of age;

• Willingness and skills to work with children, young people and adults in a multicultural environment;

• Adherence to the ethical principles for working with vulnerable groups set out in the agreement between the volunteer and the “Refugee Project”

• Responsibility and ability to work independently after initial training and mentoring from the project coordinators;

• Interest in different cultures;

• Ability to carry out the tasks within the specified deadlines;

• Ability to work with other volunteers to plan and implement training sessions/ activities;

• Experience in working with children is an asset, as well as education in the field of social work and/or pedagogy;

• Knowledge of Arabic and /or Farsi would be useful; Other languages are a plus.

Duration:  15 October, 2018 – February 30, 2019, with interest and satisfaction on both sides, the duration of work may be extended.

 

Timeframe:

– Short online training

– on 13^th and 14^th October holding training sessions – two-day training

– 15^h October – scheduled start of the activities.

Location:

• Ovcha Kupel: Integration Center at SAR (21A, Montevideo Street)

• Voenna Rampa: (11, Lokomotiv Street)

• Vrazhdebna: (270, Botevgradsko shose Blvd.)

Training:

• General information on countries of origin, EU and national legal practices and procedures;

• Detailed overview of the project and its activities;

• Information on other organisations operating in reception centers;

• Instruction on the specifics of working with children, young people and adults seeking or having received international protection by specialists from SAR / BRC / UNHCR /IOM/ Professors, etc;

• Introducing non-formal education and offering examples of working with children, young people and adults;

• Empathy, professional boundaries and prevention of the burnout syndrome;

• Training for the rights and obligations of volunteers;

Advantages:

• Intercultural communication, acquaintance with different cultures;

• Acquiring experience in working with children, young people and adults seeking international protection;

• Experience in planning and conducting educational, creative and sports activities;

• Acquiring skills for raising funds and organizing information events;

• Certificate from CVS-Bulgaria and Caritas Sofia in Bulgarian and English;

• Personal satisfaction.

 Mentoring and assessment:

• You will be mentored and assisted in your work by project coordinators and experienced volunteers who continue in the project;

• The contact persons will be the project coordinators;

• Periodic trainings; interim and final evaluation of the project.

Apply by:

-filling in the online form and if are new to the project sending us your CV (in Bulgarian or English) and photo at therefugeeproject@gmail.com  

Deadline for applications: 30 September 2018

Call for EVS volunteers 

(Italian candidates)

“Building Bridges between Communities” project is an initiative launched in May 2018 in Sofia, Bulgaria as a partnership between the organizations CVS-Bulgaria, SCI Italy, SCI Madrid and Rota Jovem which aims to create space for understanding, dialogue and cooperation between different groups of people in the local community.

The project supports the core initiative of the organization: The Refugee Project (www.refugeeproject.eu), which is implemented in partnership with Caritas Sofia since 2011 and  gathers local volunteers who organize variety of lessons and workshops for the asylum seekers and refugees in the main reception centers in Sofia – Ovcha Kupel, Voenna Rampa and Vrazhdebna, as well as excursions and different events. The Refugee project is a space where thousands of volunteers every year open their heart to asylum seekers in Bulgaria and give them a warm welcome through activities and quality spent time together. The project is managed by volunteer coordinators from CVS-Bulgaria and Caritas Sofia. Every year EVS volunteers join this team and make a difference by being part of this crazy, vibrant and hardworking crew.

The Refugee Project Brochure

About the EVS project 

Check out this dream EVS project below and if you are a volunteer from Italy ( We already selected candidates from Spain or Portugal), do not hesitate to apply! We promise it is worth it!

 

The project will bring together the efforts of three EVS volunteers from Italy, Spain and Portugal, who will work within one year to 1) Raise awareness among young people and fight rumors in the local community that affect marginalized / vulnerable groups, including refugees and migrants; 2) increase the media literacy of young people and combat hate speech; 3) enhance the integration of refugees through different kinds of interaction with the local community / organized volunteering in temporary accommodation centers; organized outdoor activities and excursions; events /; 4) promote of volunteering and its opportunities for integrating marginalized / vulnerable groups. CVS-Bulgaria has been working in these fields for many years, both nationally and internationally, in cooperation with a number of international partner organizations. The volunteers will be involved in the different stages of the project, namely Identification of rumors, creation of a Network and Campaign to fight rumors and Evaluation and dissemination of results. As part of the project, each volunteer will have specific tasks that will be directed both to the main goal of the EVS project and to the other objectives – to build up the activities of the previous EVS projects on the subject; actively involving target groups in the rest of the activities of the organization, including informing and encouraging their participation in Erasmus + activities; supporting the bilateral integration process and informing the local community on the topic of forced migration. The results of the project will be: an online platform and a campaign to fight rumors; a strategy for identifying rumors in the local community and their logical refutation; multiplier training on the subject, an online handbook for multipliers; different materials for organizing and conducting activities with refugees; articles in the newsletter on project achievements and related topics; educational workshops within the CVS UNI format; an international volunteer camp at a reception center for refugees outside Sofia. The volunteer service activities are particularly connected and predetermined by the idea of fighting racism, xenophobia and Islamophobia and working towards social inclusion and respect for human rights. The project activities will be complimented by two national trainings for multipliers, an expert workshop for creation of handbook for multipliers and five national events for its presentation and promotion. In their activities, EVS volunteers will work first to familiarize young people with the problems and their nature, caused by the lack of tolerance and perception of foreign culture. These are issues of paramount importance in the European Union and worldwide, because our shared existence would not have been possible without the initial building of a bridge between communities and connecting with each other.

Dates: 1.07.2018– 1.07.2019
Venue: Sofia, Bulgaria (some of the activities may require travelling within Bulgaria)
Working language of the activities: English, Bulgarian
Contact person: Katerina Stoyanova
Contact email: cvs.katerina@gmail.com
Project theme: Building bridges campaign, Antiracism, Antifascism, refugees, ethnic minorities, refugees/asylum seekers
Number of vacancies: 1 (Italy)

During the year of this exciting voluntary service the volunteers will be supported by CVS-Bulgaria, its staff and volunteers. They  will be part of a dynamic and amicable team of co-workers in the office of CVS-Bulgaria and will have the opportunity to be included in the ongoing events and tasks, concerning the overall work of the organization, will join the other EVS volunteers in their project activities and will participate in the process of planning the activities in CVS-Bulgaria.

 

Personal project

Each volunteer will have the opportunity to develop its own personal project, while the volunteers will be introduced to already existing partnerships the organization has – Vlahi Nature School, Concordia Foundation, Sofia International Film Festival, Caritas Sofia, UNHCR, Bulgarian Red Cross, The Council for Refugee women, Multi Kulti Collective, Sate Agency for Refugees. They will have the chance to involve them in the development of their personal project which will definitely enrich their experiences and help them develop key competences.

Profile of the participants

An interest and some experience (or strong motivation to work) with asylum seekers is essential. Strong motivation to learn Bulgarian or basic knowledge of the Bulgarian language is an advantage. Volunteers are required to be flexible, independent and responsible, with good social and organizational skills. Most welcome will be candidates with strong self driven and self initiative personalities, creative spirit and open mindedness, ready to develop a great project within the framework of the suggested EVS program.

Food: Provided money allocations for food every month 250 lv (128 EUR)
Accommodation: Provided – a room in a shared apartment; all utilities and Internet are covered
Pocket money: 4 EUR (per day)
Insurance: Provided (standard EVS CIGNA health insurance)
Phone: Phone and monthly plan covered in order to fulfill the project tasks
Transport – international: reimbursed up to 275 EUR
Transport – local: Monthly public transport card
Bulgarian language course: OLS
Support: Personal support will be provided by individual mentor; task related support will be provided by the coordinator/supervisor and other staff members of the organisation.

If you think this is your dream EVS project, please send at cvs.katerina@gmail.com:

– your CV

– motivation letter

Deadline for applications: 10th June 2018.  All shortlisted candidates will be invited for a skype interview. 

For any further questions, please contact us at cvs.kterina@gmail.com

Information about CVS-Bulgaria

CVS-Bulgaria is a non-governmental organisation that has been working in the field of international volunteer exchange since 1998 and was officially registered in 2002 as an organisation working in public benefit. CVS-Bulgaria is a branch of the international peace and volunteer-exchange network of Service Civil International (SCI – www.sci.ngo) and a full member of South Eastern European Youth Network (SEEYN – www.seeyn.org).

CVS-Bulgaria aims to promote the values of volunteer work through organizing variety of voluntary activities; to motivate young people to be active and participate in volunteer actions – thus taking part in the development of the civil society; to promote and support intercultural understanding and solidarity, social justice and environment preservation.

Main activities of CVS-Bulgaria are: organizing short- and long term volunteer projects, youth exchanges, trainings, hosting and sending volunteers for projects in public benefit in Bulgaria, Europe and the world, as well as working in partnership with other NGOs on local and international level to promote volunteering as a tool for active citizenship.

Since 2014 the countries of the European Union face intensified inflows of asylum seekers with the number of asylum claims coming up to nearly 1,4 million in 2015, over 1,2 million in 2016 and above 500 000 between January and October 2017. The considerable inflow of forced migrants coming predominantly from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq called for reconsideration of the structures and functionalities of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) and for expansion and improvement of the reception and integration systems across all member states.

The provision of relevant information and orientation becomes key component in the process of reception and integration of beneficiaries of international protection. This was the topic put at the centre of the training seminar “Facilitating the Integration of Beneficiaries of International Protection by Provision of Orientation and Information”, organized by the Centre for the Study of Democracy in Sofia between 29 November and 1 December 2017.

The seminar gathered professionals in the refugee reception and support field from Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Malta and Spain who discussed possibilities to transfer, adapt or invent approaches and tools in the provision of orientation and information support to beneficiaries of international protection. The training was provided by professionals from Italy and Spain working at refugee support organisations with a mandate to implement government run reception and integration programs in the two countries.

Valentina Fabbri and Sebastiana Masuri from the Italian Cooperative Programma INTEGRA conducted two training sessions the one dealing with practical overview of the methods and mechanisms for integration of refugees in Italy and the other with the design and implementation of practical tools for job orientation. The sessions were built along the discussion of case studies and the roles and functions of the assistance teams working with them.

Karina Zubiaga and Susanna Nicolas from the Catalan Commission for Assistance of Refugees (CCAR) conducted two more training sessions. The first one provided practical information on the three-stage Spanish program for reception and integration of refugees which involves tools for support of up to 18 months per beneficiary. The second session presented concrete action tools conceptualized around group work to support refugees in the process of language acquisition, job orientation and overall adjustment and adaptation to the Spanish society.

In the last day, December 1st, participants from Bulgaria, Greece and Malta presented concepts for the development of training modules to facilitate the orientation and integration of beneficiaries of international protection in each of the three countries. The concepts were presented respectively by Rosa Vasilaki from ELIAMEP and Dilara Demir from MELISSA Network in Greece, Mila Mancheva from CSD in Bulgaria and Marcella Pisotti from People for Change Foundation in Malta. In the discussion that followed participants agreed that the modules should be directed at social workers so as to aid their work with beneficiaries of international protection and thus support the enhancement of the assistance and integration systems in the three member states. Some of the main topics to be included in the mdules stressed by the presenter included: cultural orientation, civic education, job orientation, women’s rights, health and the role of women in European societies, access to justice and basic services including inter-cultural competences.

Learn more about the project here

 

This year CVS-Bulgaria celebrated the International Day of Peace by adhering to the “Action Day countering Hate Speech against Muslims”, promoted by Council of Europe’s No Hate Speech Movement. Together with our EVS volunteers we created two activities: an action in Sofia and a workshop in Vlahi Nature School.

“Action Day countering Hate Speech against Muslims” in Sofia 

Emanuele Bertucco

We thought that a good way to fight against ignorance and prejudice towards Muslim people would be to spread peace messages around the city of Sofia on 21st September. Our messages aimed to target the stereotypes that see Muslim as intolerant towards other religions, or as immune from terrorism, or again, as radical and extremist people. We tried to explain, for example, that Muslims are the most affected by terrorism, that also in many Muslim countries there are progressive movements that fight for human rights and for justice and that the widespread vision that connects Muslim to extremism is completely wrong.

You can see our peace messages here: No hate speech action 21st September 2017 messages

This experiment resulted to be very interesting and we were able to have a conversation with many different people about the topic of tolerance and non-discrimination. Unfortunately not all reactions were positive and some people refused to talk to us. This is an alarming sign that warned us about the necessity to not underestimate the danger of intolerant attitudes and to continue promoting intercultural dialogue and fighting against prejudices and xenophobia also in our daily life. On the other hand, the words of support and the gratitude for our action coming from some other people were very encouraging and make us hope that with the effort of everyone who defend human rights and the dignity of the people is still possible to counteract and defeat the ignorance and false fears.

 

Workshop on the topic of forced migration in Vlahi Nature School

Mireia Figueras Alsius

The next day, 22nd September we made a presentation on the topic of forced migration in Vlahi Nature School. Our audience were 14 students, teenagers  from 11th School “Hristo Botev” in Blagoevgrad. We started with explaining the origins of the International Day of Peace, hoping to inspire the students to create an action on their own next year. We continued with a discussion on the concept of peace, marked main terms connected with the topic of forced migration and described the refugee situation worldwide and also in Bulgaria, focusing on children and youngsters, our audience counterparts. We spoke about the future challenges and received a lot of questions from the students which fueled the discussion further. We spent a great time together and very interesting opinions and reflexions came out, proving that the work with youngsters is very important in order to fight intolerance and discrimination in our society. We are hopeful to continue creating and leading workshops with young people around Bulgaria in the framework of the Tolerance project and future initiatives who will be aiming to counteract false rumors and prejudices.

  

 

*the actions are part of the EVS project “The Refugee Project: integration in action 2”, financed by the Human Resource Development Center, Erasmus + program.

Between 16 and 19 May, 2017 Center for the Study of Democracy organised a study visit to Rome for the purpose of acquainting representatives of relevant institutions with the system of reception and integration of asylum seekers and refugees in Italy. The Bulgarian delegation included representatives of the State Agency for Refugees at the Council of Ministers, Sofia Municipality, CVS Bulgaria and CSD. The study visit was joined by delegations from Greece, Malta and Spain and was hosted by the Italian public policy institute CENSIS. The international delegation visited range of institutions such as Via Staderini, the largest first stage temporary reception Center in Italy; Casa Giorgia and S. Bernardo, second stage integration centers; as well as Programma Integra and Ciofs Fp Lacio, training bodies providing various training services to refugees. In addition to the study visit, the 21 participants from Bulgaria, Greece, Malta and Spain took part in an international seminar and had the opportunity to discuss matters relating to reception and integration of asylum seekers and beneficiaries of international protection with representatives of the Central Directorate of Immigration and Asylum Civil Services at the Italian Ministry of Interior, the Italian Protection System for Asylum Seekers (SPRAR), the Municipality of Rome and a range of local level service providers. In a final debate all participants exchanged information and experience coming from their own countries and shared of ideas of promoting relevant good practices in the area of reception and integration of refugees.

Learn more about the project here