CVS Bulgaria

 

Below you can read the EVS project description of the Slovenian branch of SCI (Service Civil International). Zavod Voluntariat is looking for 2 volunteers for a 12-month project starting on 1st January, 2012.

The work will be very diverse. It will include working in the office of Zavod Voluntariat during the winter months, promoting the organisation and its activities, organizing events, training volunteers and so on. During the summer the volunteers will take part in the international Zavod Voluntariat project all around Slovenia such as workcamps, youth exchanges and others. More info – below.

The European Voluntary Service projects (EVS) are sponsored by the European Comission and the expenses of the volunteers during their project are covered by the host organisation.

If you are interested in this project send us your CV and motivation letter, why you want to join exactly this project. Send your documents to Snezhina Kozareva, cvs-bg@bluelink.net.

The deadline for sending your documents is 3th August 2011.

If you want to recieve more information about the project or European Voluntary Service you are more than welcome to send your question to Snezhi, who is the EVS responsible in CVS-Bulgaria.

Zavod Voluntariat is looking for EVS volunteer in EVS project »Volunteers for volunteers 2012«

Activity:

The volunteer will be involved in the activities carried out by Slovenian SCI branch Voluntariat. During the summer months volunteer will be participating on international work-camps, help organizing and conducting youth exchanges and other similar projects. During the winter months he/she will help organizing promotional activities, help with the workshops and trainings for volunteers and with the activities for our Club of volunteers (which organizes different social events, workshops and exhibitions, films different promotional and documentary videos etc).

Working hours will be flexible, depending on the activities. The average working hours will be around 6-8 hours a day.

When:

The application will be sent to Slovene National agency on 1st of September of 2011. The project will start on 1st of January of 2012. We expect the volunteer to participate on the project for 12 months.

The group:

The volunteer will mostly be working together with the staff of Zavod Voluntariat and occasionally with representatives of partner organizations and local volunteers. There will be two EVS volunteers involved in the project…

Accommodation:

The volunteer will have his/her own room in an apartment shared by another EVS volunteer and possibly by other Slovene students.

Location:

Most of the activities will  take place in Ljubljana, capital of Slovenia. Some of the activities will however take place in cooperation with different organisations in smaller places in Slovenia. Additional activities, mostly seminars and trainings, will take place around Europe.

Who are we looking for?

A reliable, communicative and a very motivated volunteer, who wants to gain new knowledge that he/she could later on apply in future professional and personal activities and situations. It’s very important that the volunteer is used to working in a team, that he/she is sociable, has a sense of humour and is flexible in different situations (e.g.: to propose/invent some additional activities in a time when there won’t be any other specific activities on the agenda and prepared to give an extra hand in a period full of current activities.). Volunteer will also need to have a lot of self initiative, since you will be »your own boss« in coordination and implementation of activities…

Volunteers who have experience, or would like to learn more about web design, graphic design, newspaper editing and video production (filming, editing) are especially welcome!

 Interested?

The deadline for applications day is 3Th of August!

 

Here comes the next exciting piece of diary of our EVS volunteer from Hungary Judit. Enjoy!

I already spent 49 days in Bulgaria as an EVS volunteer of CVS Bulgaria, and I honestly think that I am one of the luckiest volunteers. Why? If you want to know I can share with you my Bulgarian days 🙂

One part of my life is working in CVS-Bulgaria where everybody is so kind, helpful, well prepared, diligent, motivated. I’m working at the office with Snezhi; we organize info days at the Hungarian Institute; we select participants to youth exchanges; we make contact with our candidates; I participated in the Familatlon with Mira and Zori, in the Irish night with Snezhi, Mira and Sophi; I met with the social group; I participated in the board meeting; I met with a lot of motivated volunteers; we organized a preparation training for participants to youth exchange with Tomi; and I know the life here. I spend one day in the Hungarian Institute every week. These days are the best for me. I can use my mother tongue and there the staff is fantastic, I really like them. Sometimes I work with the porter, sometimes I have office work, sometimes I work in the library and sometimes they let me play the piano and in that time I’m really happy.

The other part of my life is much more than I ever thought. I accidentally met with a Bulgarian singer who makes my life so great. I was singing already three times with her in Bulgarian and in Hungarian: on the children’s day, at a musical night and at a festival. She introduced me to some other singers, writers, artists, poem writers, painters. She spends with me a lot of time, and she takes care of me, which feels as if I have a new mom here. We visited some places in Sofia, and she found me a choir where I can sing again as I did in my hometown. In the choir I have some very kind choir mates, and we spend our time together singing, talking which is such a good feeling.

And last but not least I live in Sofia. Sofia is wonderful with a lot of programs, with beautiful parks, with kind people. Here I have everything what I need. In the first week we went to the military marching with my flat mate; I participated in the opening of the Hungarian week; I was in some event in Hungarian Institute; I participated in a two days long musical festival; I was marching with a thousands of people from NDK to South Park in a sport event; I met with students who learn Hungarian in the university; I met with interesting people and I saw nice places. And I feed the pigeons every day. I can see the mountains from my window, I can feel the sunshine every day, I can hear a beautiful voice of the birds in the parks… I just simply like living here.

 

Till now we have travelled to the South (Botswana) and to the East (Sri Lanka – Southeast to be exact). Now it’s time we appreciated the culture and traditions of the West and the good old Europe. The evening ofThursday, June 9th is going to be dedicated to Ireland. We will talk about some seminars and trainings that CVS-Bulgaria volunteer took part in. Additionally we will show you some pictures and there will be discussions about Irish culture, nature and so on. If the organizers are lucky and skillful enough, we would have the pleasure to try some tasty Irish food.

We start at 6 pm on 9th June in the Hungarian Cultural Institute (16 Aksakov Str). This time there is a small entrance fee of 2 BGN to cover the costs for the organization of the event (food mainly).

We are expecting you!

 

We have the pleasure to introduce another splendid EVS project in the SCI branches around Europe. This time the project will be in Switzerland and the volunteer will work mainly in th eoffice of SCI – Switzerland. In the description below you can check what is it about. As you will notice the project is supposed to start in August this year, so if you are interested, be quick and send us CV and cover letter at cvs-bg@bluelink.net.

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact Snezhina Kozareva at cvs-bg@bbluelink.net.

EVS placement officer at SCI Switzerland

Location: Bern, Switzerland

Project: SCI Switzerland is a peace organisation, which is organising every year 20 to 25workcamps with about 150 international volunteers. 150 volunteers from Switzerlandare participating every year in camps abroad.

Duration: August 1st 2011 – August 1st 2012

Work: The main activities are:

  • In- and outgoing placement of the volunteers (with OPS database)
  • Support of the candidates by answering their questions
  • Help in the planning and organisation of the preparation & evaluation weekends
  • Help in the realization of workshops that will prepare the Swiss volunteers
  • Visit some workcamps taking place in Switzerland.
  • Act as a workcamp leader for 1 or 2 workcamps
  • Active participation in one or different SCI Switzerland working groups according tothe interest of the volunteer
  • general office work /administrative tasks
  • coordinating and summarizing the evaluation of the workcamps
  • Participation in the Placement Officers Training in March 2012
  • We are open to creative ideas, own projects and initiatives !

Training: We normally host EVS Placement from March, the volunteer starting the EVS with the Placement Officer Training. This project is a bit different since we could only have it (ifaccepted by the national agency) from July. So the volunteer will be trained by the staff.The volunteer will be able to attend the POT in 2012 for the next placement season.

Support: There will be always someone at the office and the volunteers will not be alone. We area team of 4 employees that are at the volunteer’s disposal in case of questions ordifficulties. 2 employees will be the contact persons for work matters and 1 person forpracticalities. The volunteer will also have a mentor

Accomodation: The volunteer will be hosted either by a host family in the region of Bern or live in ashared flat with other young people. If the volunteer lives outside the city, we will try tokeep the trip less than 30-40 minutes from door to door. Situated in the heart of Berncity, the office is easily reachable from the railway station or from bus stations. A bikewill also be available.

Requirements: We are looking forward receiving someone sharing SCI and Youth in Action values,motivated by the work with young people and volunteers from different cultures,interested in office work, flexible (there is sometimes work in the evening and on theweekends), with a good level of english. French and German would be useful but arenot necessary

Project language: English

Local language: German (Swiss German)

Language courses: Language courses will be provided in the beginning of the volunteer’s stay

Food: money for food is provided and the food is organised by the volunteer

Pocket money: 250 CHF (plus 450 CHF for food) per month(190€ + 345€ – exchange rate 03.03.2011)

Insurance: AXA Insurance

Number of volunteer: 1

 

 

Here you can find the description of an European Voluntary Service (EVS) project in Greece. The project name is “Promovolu” and the host organisation is the Greek SCI branch – SCI-Hellas. If you are interested in the project, please send us a CV to cvs-bg@bluelink.net no later than 20th May.

If you have any questions concerning the EVS and its conditions or the project itslef, please do not hesitate to contact Snezhina Kozareva at cvs-bg@bluelink.net

Project title: Promovolu
EI code: 2010-GR-23
Coordinating and Hosting organization: SCI-Hellas
Place: Athens, Greece
2 volunteers:
Project starts: 4 March 2012
Project finishes: 3 January 2013
2 volunteers:
Project starts: 4 January 2013
Project finishes: 3 November 2013

The hosting organization and the venue

SCI Hellas is the greek branch of Service Civil International, a volunteer organisation aiming to promote peace and international understanding and solidarity through the realisation of short or/and long term volunteering projects as well as the participation in training seminars and international campaigns. SCI believes that all people are capable of living together with mutual respect and without resource to any form of violence to solve conflicts. SCI Hellas is active in EVS since 1999 and has been hosting, co-ordinating and sending organisation.

The activities that SCI Hellas usually organizes include:

(a)    – international workcamps

(b)  –  long term volunteering services

(c)   –  trainings / seminars on volunteering and related issues

(d)  –  international awareness campaigns.

SCI Hellas is also a member of the Greek International Year of the Volunteer (IYV) Commission. Finally, we are involved in the Youth and Unemployment Working Group of SCI, a network that works with disadvantaged young people through youth exchanges and EVS ST projects.

The project will take place mainly in Athens, at the office of SCI Hellas. During summer workcamps and, if present, youth exchanges, the volunteers will move to the respective locations.

The role of the volunteers

The work of the Promovolu volunteers will be divided into three phases.

The first one will be from the beginning of the service until May (winter phase), the second one from June until August (summer phase) and the third one from September until the end of the service (autumn phase).

During the Winter phase the main tasks of the volunteers will be:

  • Promotion of SCI and voluntary work to the public via open days, seminars, presentations etc. The volunteers will assist local volunteers in organising such activities. Includes help in the edition of SCI’s e-newsletter and website.
  • SCI Hellas organises half day EVS presentation events, addressed to interested youth. The Promovolu volunteers will assist in the events with the aim of sharing experience with local EVS candidates and providing them with firsthand knowledge of the reality of being a long term EVS volunteer.
  • SCI works with local communities, or other associations for the organisation of volunteer programmes. The volunteers will assist in establishing links with other NGOs active in field of SCI interest. Presentations and visits in situ are included.
  • Volunteers are encouraged to develop personal voluntary projects in relation to relevant issues (such as Refugees, Human Rights, Conflict Resolution, social exclusion, gender issues, peace education etc.) depending on their interest. Former Promovolus have developed so far projects on conflict resolution education, history of international volunteering in Greece, inclusion of socially disadvantaged volunteers in international volunteering, awareness campaign on visa and international volunteering, cataloguing and setting up a library and a permanent exhibition, promotional leaflet of SCI-Hellas, etc.

Whenever possible, all SCI work is done by working groups or teams of volunteers.

In the Summer phase, the volunteers will participate in SCI summer workcamps and, if present, youth exchanges, and assist in the preparation and follow up of those camps/exchanges. The first month (June) depending on the opportunities available and on the interest of the volunteers, they will receive:

-workcamp management training,

-co-ordinator training,

-will learn group dynamics and

-conflict resolution techniques.

It is not known at this moment, how many and which are the workcamps that SCI Hellas will organise next summer. Some time before the workcamp (early June) visits in situ are needed to check the conditions and agree with the co-operating organisation on the facilities that should be provided for the smooth running of the project. The volunteers will participate in those visits too.

During the Autumn phase, each volunteer will be involved in Reporting and evaluating the workcamps s/he has participated and the whole project. The volunteers will assist in compiling the statistics of SCI Hellas for the annual report of SCI, in organizing the evaluation meeting of Greek volunteers who participated in SCI workcamps during the summer, proposals for follow up and prepare the ‘first’ edition of the e-newsletter of SCI Hellas following the exchange season, where there is quite some information to be shared. Additionally at this time of period volunteers will organise in cooperation with the members of SCI-Hellas promotional activities for the organisation and volunteering generally as well as contacts with organisations and municipalities for new workcamps. This is the period for them to develop their own projects as well.

It is a fundamental intention of SCI Hellas to provide adequate preparation training to all volunteers, both local and international, before embarking in the realization of volunteer tasks within the organisations’ aims. In addition, it is SCI Hellas modus operandi to divide and share volunteer tasks among small groups of volunteers that would support each other and learn group work in practice in the materialization of those tasks. In such a way it is a mutual enrichment in knowledge and practice from/by the organization, from/by the local volunteers and from/by the Promovolus.

Volunteers will be trained and supported in order to develop their tasks either through specific training courses (on topics such as Organisation of open day events, Edition and running of SCI Hellas e-newsletter, Camp-leader training etc.) or in the form of an ongoing informal supervision and support by the task responsible in SCI Hellas.

Practical information

The volunteers will be hosted in a flat where they will stay in double or triple room and they will share common spaces (living room, kitchen and bathroom).

They will receive monthly pocket money (95 euros) and food money (at least 160 euros) to buy their own food. All local and, if needed, international travel expenses related to the implementation of the project will be covered by the hosting organization.

At the beginning of the service the volunteers will be introduced to their mentor, who will hold regular meetings with them to help them reflecting on their learning process and will be also available at any time in case problems or crisis arise. A supervisor of the tasks from SCIHellas will be in charge of training and helping the volunteers so that they can develop their tasks.

Volunteers will work maximum 6 hours per day, 5 days per week. During workcamps or whenever they will be asked to work 7 days per week, they will get two extra days free after the end of the activity.

In relation to holidays the volunteers will be off for Christmas, Easter, National Holidays and a holiday time (total of 2 days per month of service).

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Below you can find the description of an EVS project in Serbia. The host organisation to this European Volunatry Service project is the Serbian SCI branch – VCV – Volunteer Centre Voivodina. VCV intends to submit the project to be approved for financing to the deadline 1st of June, so if this project attracts you, please send us a CV and a motivation letter to cvs-bg@bluelink.net ASAP.

If you have any questions, please,  fo not hesitate to reffer them to Snezhina Kozareva at cvs-bg@bluelink.net.

Position:  Volunteers’ Youth Club

Work starts: October 2011

Proposed activities for EVS volunteers:

The main activity of this EVS volunteers position is to take part in the project of the Volunteers Youth Club.

This project started as an initiative of active members of VCV several months ago, after a period of time during which the need of the local community for something similar was apparent. Multiply research results showed, that the young population of Novi Sad is eager to spend it’s free time in a more structural way, by attending educational activities.  Both, the results of these researches and the everyday reality, shows that young people in Novi Sad are dealing with problems such as apathy, intolerance, violence, raise of nationalism, homophobia and racism, drugs and alcohol abuse and many more. The reasons for these issues are multiple, but it’s clear that one of the solutions is structural care and approach.

A couple of enthusiastic people gathered around the idea of forming a club for young people, where volunteers with different skills could lead different workshops for free.

After only 8 weeks, we are proud to have about 10 volunteers leading these activities, and about 30 young people attending workshops such as: English conversation lessons, yoga and meditation, guitar lessons, movie projections, polish language and culture, environmental and recycle art workshops …

We need help in spreading these activities!

The plan for the next months is to start workshops with young professionals (high-school kids who are not planning to go to university), and empower them to find their way in the system where unemployment is an everyday occurrence.  Also, to include more volunteers with different skills to spread activities, and additionally to train new people on how to lead workshops, so they could join the team and give diversity.

The current mission of the Volunteers Youth Club is to motivate volunteers to work with young people, and to motivate more and more young people to join the workshops…

General tasks:

  • The volunteer is obligated to take part in the coordination of the Volunteers Youth Club, together with the local coordinators. (Take part in team meetings, logistics, building infrastructure …)
  • Since the club has diverse activities, it would be welcomed for a volunteer to be able to lead some of the workshops on his/her own, or in the least to show initiative to take over or start an activity. Volunteers will be offered appropriate education and support from the team.
  • We are looking for volunteers who like to work with young people with different cultural backgrounds, previous experience is welcomed but strong motivation is highly appreciated as well.
  • During the summer, the activities of the club might be decreased, and the team takes part in the organization of the workcamps. The volunteer will be encouraged to lead some of the workcamps. Education will be provided.

Working schedule, days off, holiday:

Working day is 6 hours and volunteer will work 5 days a week.

In addition, this working time will be flexible which depends of the scope of work. In some activities for example co-leading workcamps, he/she might be working during the weekends, but it is all to be agreed between the HO and volunteer upon the arrival of volunteer.

National holidays are days off. The volunteer will have two weeks off to be taken in agreement with HO.

Responsibities/roles:

  • The volunteer will be in the core team of the Volunteers Youth Club project. Besides that, the volunteer will work closely with the coordination team of VCV. All staff and coordinators in VCV are able and wiling to provide the needed assistance and support to volunteer.
  • The volunteer will be involved in decision-making process, especially if it concern areas that he/she is involved in. He/she is also welcome and expected to contribute with his/her ideas to HO in general.
  • Every volunteer in VCV has his/her mentor. The role of this person is to be support to the volunteers, not only regarding his/her work but also to everyday life of any other problem volunteers can face during the EVS service. Mentor for the EVS volunteers usually is person who is familiar with VCV and its activities but not directly involved in VCV work. Very often mentors to EVS volunteers are actually ex EVS volunteers, who came back from their service abroad and from personal experience can understand EVS volunteers the best.

Learning elements for the volunteers:

Through this experience the volunteer will be able to gain skills, knowledge, and experience in the areas of:
– Teamwork

– Leadership and youth work

– Non-formal and informal education
– Community development
– Intercultural learning
– Internet as a tool for NGO development
– Language skills
– Administration

Those learning elements for the volunteer will be achieved through direct involvement in the project of the Volunteers Youth Club – implementation and evaluation (practical experience) but also through participation in trainings for specific fields needed for the projects and activities run by the volunteer. We expect that volunteer will be able to apply knowledge and skills gained through this project to his/her future private and professional life. Since learning is personal responsibility of each person we will provide opportunities and all needed support for volunteer to achieve these learning elements, but still it is personal responsibility of the volunteer – to use learning opportunities.

Volunteer profiles and recruitment process:

The main requirement is that volunteer is motivated to work on the project and that s/he is willing to learn and improve skills and knowledge. Accent is put on being self-initiative and contribute with own ideas, knowledge and experience.
The volunteer will not be discriminated by his/hers own gender, national, religious, political or sexual orientation, but it is also very important that the volunteer will not act discriminative towards people of different nationalities and orientations in a complex province of Vojvodina.
The volunteer should also have basic experience in using computers, Basic English knowledge and be open for different types of tasks and activities.
Selection of the volunteers is made by the team of coordinators of VCV, they all together by consensus make decision which volunteer will be selected for the participation in the project. In the selection process criteria’s are made according to the current needs in the organization and the ongoing activates. In the process of the selection volunteers will not be discriminated by gender, national, religious, political, sexual or any other orientation. After the selection is made all the volunteers that applied for the project will be informed about the selection process and the results.

 

In the attached (below) file you can check out the new offer of the week with workcamps in Europe. Notice that this is only the team’s choice and there are many more workcamp projects on the SCI search engine website www.workcamps.info. Browse it and you will see there are a lot of offers all over the world!

If one (or more) of the workcamps strikes your attention (no matter from the offer of the week or from the search engine), fill in the application form and send it to cvs-bg@bluelink.net. Note that there is a administrative fee to take part in a workcamp and the volunteers cover their travel costs. You can read more about the workcamp conditions here.

There are no deadlines, but faster you are, the better chance there is to be chosen for your wish workcamp!

If you have any questions, please, do not hesitate to contact Vera (our placement officer) at cvs-bg@bluelink.net!

Offer of the week

CVS Application Form – Workcamps 2011

 

 

We introduce you the newest Vacancies List for Long-term volunteering projects among the Service Civil International branches around the world. If you like some of the projects, please fill in the application form (attached) and send it to cvs-bg@bluelink.net. Please note the deadlines mentioned in the list!

We would like to note that for these LTV projects there is an administrative fee and the volunteers cover their own travel costs. If you need more info, please read the LTV section on our website carefully.

If you any questions, please, don’t hesitate to reffer to Snezhina Kozareva at cvs-bg@bluelink.net.

Vacancies List April 2011

Application Form LTV 2011

 

Днес имаме удоволствието да ви представим най-новия член на екипа на Си Ви Ес – България. Това е Юдит Ваш от Унгария.

Тя е доброволка по Европейската доброволческа служба (European Voluntary Service – EVS) в рамките на една година в нашето сдружение. По-надолу тя сама ще представи себе си, както и проекта (на английски език), но все пак да споделим и ние с две думи. Юдит ще помага най-вече в офиса при организирането на различни събития за доброволчество – международни вечери, представяния на Си Ви Ес – България, инфо щандове, събития в Унгарския културен институт и още много неща.

(Снимките са от обмена “Открито пространство за човешки права” в Узана и Габрово, 2010. )

My biggest desire came trough when I arrived in Sofia as an EVS volunteer for a year.

Last summer I participated in a Youth Exchange Open Space for Human Rights organized by CVS-Bulgaria in the hearth of Bulgaria in Uzana, and Gabrovo. In that time I felt, that I must come back here again. When I arrived in Hungary after this incredibly good Youth Exchange, I quitted my job, and I decided that I will do something new, something good for others. I decided, that I don’t want to work as an accountant any more. In Hungary I spent all my days in an office, and I felt that I was just wasting my time to useless things. But in the same time I was working in a charity organization for big families. I knew that I like working with children, with disadvantaged people, with youth because I was doing it for 10 years in Szentes.

I asked help from Snezh, because she was a very good coordinator, and I hoped she can help me. She was very nice and sent me some opportunities, and I realized, that I must work in here with CVS-Bulgaria.  Bulgaria is a beautiful country with nice people. We were talking about the future projects about volunteering in CVS-Bulgaria. I was interested in her project, and luckily the organization wrote a successful application to Youth in Action Programme, Action 2 – European Voluntary Service (EVS), and they host me as an EVS volunteer for a year.

I will participate in the organization’s work, organize programs such as Day of Europe, International Volunteer Day, intercultural evenings, and many other activities for youth. We will organize some programs with Hungarian Cultural Institute, and other organizations too.

Now, I’m very happy because I’m here with the cutest, smartest, the best Bulgarian coordinator. We will work together for a year, and I know that it will be a very useful, effective year. I promise that I will try to give my best knowledge. And I know that I will use my new skills and knowledge in my future work in my association in national and international way.

Екипът на Си Ви Ес – България приветства Юдит и нейния неприкрит ентусиазъм към България, доброволчеството и нашия общ проект. Очаквайте редовни включвания от нея в бъдеще тук :).

И накрая едно пожелание: Нека ЕДС проектът на Юдит е още по-успешен от обмена “Открито пространство за човешки права” (Let Judit’s EVS project be even more successful than the youth exchange “Open Space for Human Rights”)


 

CVS-Bulgaria would like to invite you to another international event. Again the focus is on a country so beautiful and so far from here, but this time – in Asia. We are talking about Sri Lanka.

In the summer of 2010 Slavcho and Dari took part in an ecological workcamp in a budist monastery in the small village of Daulagala on the island. On Thursday, 21st of April at 6 pm they will tell us more about the Asian country, about their adventures in Sri Lanka, about the culture and the spirit of the local people. And all that will be visualised with lots of pictures from their project.

If you are already interested, you can read more about their experience on our blog (it’s only in Bulgarian).

We expect you on Thursday (21st April) at 6 pm in the Hungarian Cultural Institute (16 Aksakov Str).