How to find the best EVS project for you

Some time ago I received a mail from a girl that she was asking me how I got my EVS project in Rome and what she can do to get one too. She told me that she sent mails to all the organizations hosting volunteers in the Eternal City but she hasn't received any answers and she was quite dissapointed.

I tried to give her some advices and therefore I will share it also here :

• It is quite impossibile to find the EXACTLY EVS project that you are looking for, in the EXACTLY city that you want and for the EXACTLY period of time that you want to. For example if you want to do a project with european awareness theme, in London, in August....well better to accept from the beggining that it is quite impossible!
• So..try to choose your proorities. Why you want to do this? What is more important for you? The city, the theme or the time?

1. The theme 

If you goal is for example to learn French maybe you have to compromise with doing a project in a small city instead in Paris. If you are doing this for professional experience, for example you want to add to your CV that you have worked with disable children,  you should focus on that.

2. The location

 If you goal is to live in a big city, you dream is to wake up everymorning in a European Capital, no matter what, you should compromise and do anything. Also, it is quite difficult to find projects in big cities, as the rents are very high very organizations cannot find accomodation for the volunteers within the budget of the program.
Think always that big cities have their pros (it is full of life , full of opportunities, discover new things everyday) but also cons ( they are expensive, it is difficult to move and you maybe be stucked in a crowed bus most of the time, your friends may live in the other part of the city)

3. Time period

If you want to have a break for 1 month from the university in the summer, for example,  just to add some new experiences , you should focus on this factor.

 At the end, remember that almost always the reality is very diferent than the one that you imagine. According to the information that we have, we construct a reality that sometimes once the volunteer arrives it's completely different that the one imagined and gets dissapointed.

Good luck to everyone!

Youth Exchange "European Talents" , Peniche - Portugal

The logo of the Youth Exchange

One of the best experiences that I had, was my participation as Youth Leader in the Youth Exchange European Talents in Portugal  (for more about what is a Youth Exchange read here)


Peniche is a small city connected to the ocean as it is surrounded by the sea and the majority of the citizens are or fishermen or are occupied in the tourist sector.

Fishermen in Peniche

The Youth Exchange, a quite significant and nice event for the small town,  took part from 16th to 24th of March , bringing together 40 youngsters from Belgium, Italy , Poland and Portugal!

The participants of the Youth Exchange

The Youth Exchange's topic were the arts, connected to the issue of social network. The main idea of the project was the participants to reflect upon the use of social media in their lives, their pros and cons and to use them as an inspiration to do a public performance of theatre, dance and music presentations.


The APV, the preparation phase and my role

Some typical products from Italy!

As the Youth Leader of the Italian team, I went to the preparatory visit (APV) in Peniche a month before the Youth Exchange, in order to meet the organisation -Associação Juvenil de Peniche, plan the program with the activities, discuss upon the rules and other logistic issues and of course see the city. My role was to pass all this information to the Italian participants preparing them in this way for the experience that they would have in Portugal.As far as  the 5-persons team was formulated, we met 2 times and we discussed also about the presentation that we would have to do once in Peniche: about the social network in Italy! Creativity was the key: due to the fact that many of the Italias weren't speaking English, we decided to do a short theatre of 5-10 minutes explaining the evolution of the communication in Italy . We also manage to coordinate ourselves about the Intercultural night , a night that was dedicated to Italy and we could bring traditional food, show videos that represent the country and in general let the others know about the italian culture in a relaxed easy-going way, without studying books or boring PowerPoint Presentations!

The Youth Exchange

The participants of the theatre workshop in action

After some ice-breakers, energisers and the name games in order the participants to be able to remember (at least!) the group was divided in workshops : dance, theatre, music, painting and media and everybody worked together so to create a final performance that was presented to the citizens of the town.

The painting group

Surfing in Peniche

Happily, I can say that I was the "facilitator" of the theatre group, where I helped the youngsters to work together, discover what they want to offer the team and make the process easier for them, as sometimes language problems were significant between the communication of the group.





After the successful performance of the group, and the final evaluation of the project, we all had some free time to relax and what best to do some surf in the city that organises the World Surf Championship every year?

Advice while searching for an EVS project...

One of the best advices that I got while I was searching for an EVS project was to create an excel file with the applications that I've sent. I used to write the name of the organization that I have sent my application, the duration of the project, the town/country, the date that I have applied and the deadline.

 It helped me a lot , monitoring my tries and not getting completely lost. Unfortunatelly it happens that after 3-4 applications a person is not able to remember where has applied, when and for what so the best solution in order not to be found in the position "Oh-no-they-called-me-for-interview-$#%#-I don't remember-for-what-I-had-applied" is this!

Here you can download the template that I used!

How to find an EVS project : Tips&advices!

As soon as you have collected all the necessary info and you are sure that you want to go abroad for a period offering volunteer work, you have to find a project that you like and of course be accepted.

How do I find an EVS project?

•  The first step that you can do in order to find an EVS project is to contact a local organization that sends volunteers (or at least want to try to send you!). There , apart from all the info that you have -first hand- they may have some placements to propose you, from organizations that they already collaborate. In this case, they know the conditions, the problems that may errupt and you will have all the support needed.In case that they don't have direct contacts and projects with other organizations, problably they will forward you some mails with EVS vacancies. 
• The most official (and long) database it the one of the European Commission

http://ec.europa.eu/youth/evs/aod/hei_en.cfm  There you can find all  the EVS projects that they are approved but also lots of projects that they were approved years ago and they are not any more valid. Plus there are not information like deadline for application.

The best that this page has to offer are the contacts of organizations that they are active in doing EVS projects. In case for example you are searching of doing an EVS project on a specific theme or in a specific country the best thing you have to do is to contact directly the organizations asking if they are any places avalaible!

• Another database, very updated and useful is the one of Youthnetworks

www.youthnetworks.eu

There they are plenty of vacancies, updated very often, so give it a try!

• A last one (but not least because like this I find my EVS project!) is to use social network. If you are in contact with organizations, you may see a post or a tweet about a position that may be your ideal EVS!

Finding an EVS project takes a lot of time and unfortunately a lot of energy. Searching a project on a theme that you like, for a period that yoy like, starting on a period that you like and on a country that you like is indeed very hard. For example you may want to do volunteering with kids, in a country that you would love to go, the program description is fantastic but the program is for 12 months and you go abroad only 6!

Addittionally, a lot of people are searching for doing EVS, probably more than the places so there is a lot of competition. Writing applications and motivation letters over and over it can be dissapointed. :(

My advice is to try different channels for searching for projects, keep noting the applications that you have made (because in the end aftetr 10 applications you would nemember if they call you for interview what was the 5th application job description about and nobody garantees that the announcement will be online!) and try to compromise. See what is more important for you the dates of the project? the theme? or the place? And choose according these priorities!

Rome's secret #3

Porta Portese

One of the best things that one can do in Rome is to visit Porta Portese flea market on a Sunday morning

https://maps.google.it/maps?daddr=Italy&gl=it&panel=1&fb=1&dirflg=d&geocode=0,41.883555,12.474773&cid=0,0,13726538680109631787&hq=porta+portese+market&hnear=0x132f6196f9928ebb:0xb90f770693656e38,Rome&t=m&z=16

Apart from the fact the market is HUGE and you can find whatever you want, there are many second hand clothes that cost from 0.50e and are from famous labels.

Tip: Go as early as possible in the morning!

What is a Youth Exchange?

What is a Youth Exchange?

The European Commission's website describes it like this:

Youth Exchanges offer an opportunity for groups of young people from different countries to meet and learn about each other’s cultures.

What is the aim?

The aim of Youth Exchanges is to get groups of young people from different countries together so they can explore their social and cultural differences and similarities. Youth Exchanges are targeted at young people between the age of 13 and 25. They receive the unique opportunity to experience significant mutual learning situations and to strengthen their feeling of being Europeans. Each exchange must have a theme that is relevant to the daily experiences of the young people involved but also has a clear European dimension. 

 Age limits

The participants should be 13-25 years old. However there is the possibility for participants aged 26-30, but this cannot exceed the 20% of the total number of the participants.

Youth Leader 

Every group has to be accompanied by a Youth Leader, a figure that guides the team , support the participants and usually has taken part in the APV. There is no age limit for the Youth Leader.

APV

The APV (Advanced Planned Visit) is usually a 3 day visit that the Youth Leader does some weeks before the youth exchange in order to meet the organization team, the other Youth Leaders, the location that the exchange will take place, discuss the economic issues etc.

Economic conditions

The program offers up to 70% reimbursement of the travel tickets for the particpants, food, accommodation, insurance and the Youthpass certificate.

Duration of the Youth Exchange

It can be from 6 to 25 days but normally they are around 8-10 days.

Youthpass

A certificate from the European Comission. For more info here

Rome's secret #2

After a lot of months in Rome, some people talked about "The secret of Rome", a place that is very close to the Metro Station Circo Massimo and is actually a door with a hole that you look through.

In piazza dei Cavalieri di Malta

https://maps.google.it/maps?q=piazza+dei+cavalieri+di+malta&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&hnear=Piazza+dei+Cavalieri+di+Malta,+Roma,+Lazio&gl=it&t=m&z=16

it is located the door that a lot of tourists make a line in order to have a glance through the hole. Or "Il buco di Roma", in italian.

So what is seen through the hole?

Well, everybody keeps the secret and try not to say until you look through, therefore I am not going to reveal the secret either!!

Trip to Napoli and Pompei

On a cold weekend in February , I decided with a friend to visit Napoli and Pompei. Napoli is very close to Rome, around 2h by train and the ticket cost around 12euros.

Napoli is considered to be "dangerous" city by many, as the presence of Camorra, the famous mafia is very intense. Additionally, we have heard a lot of stories about pickpockets, murders and other horror stories that happened  in Napoli to people that went to visit, exactly like us. Overacting 100%! Being always careful with your personal staff and not choose dark small alleys to walk in the midnight kept us alive and safe. The only bad thing that happened is maybe to gain a little bit weight of all these delicious food that the city has to offer!

 

With around 15 euros, we stayed to hostel Mancini (http://www.hostelpensionemancini.com/) a youth hostel in the center, close to the train station. The rooms weren't the cleanest ever, but the stuff were helpful enough and provide us with a lot info and tips! 

 

Worth to visit: Pompei

 

Very close to Napoli and cheap enough to go by train is the ancient site of Pompei, a city that was destroyed and buried under the ash by of the Vesuvius.

The magnificent with the visit to this archeological site, (apart the 11 euros entrance), is that you walk across the village and with the help of the audio guides and the very well preserved houses you can understand exactly how life was back then.

 

The Gym (if I remember correct)

Ancient fast-food (down from these holes there was fire that was preparing the food. In front is the main street, that citizens used to pass by)

 

Tip: Allow at least 4-5 hours to visit and take the audio guides! Without them you cannot understand the story of the city and what your are seeing!

 

Rome's secret #1 "Nasone"

Soon after I arrived in Rome, I noticed all these small fountains around Rome that provide water for free to Rome visitors and citizens.

In italian they are called "Nasone",  meaning big nose as the metallic form that provides the water a lot of times looks like a big nose..!

You can find online also a map of the nasone in Rome (but normally you don't have a problem to find them they around almost around every corner). The water is very fresh and is said to be one of the cleanest in Rome!

Mid-term training, Rimini

Shortly after the on-arrival training (1 month later!) I was called again by the Italian national agency to participate to the mid-term training of my EVS. The mid-term training is the second and last, obligatory training that the volunteers have to attend and it is only for the long-term evs.

The objectives of the 2,5 day long Mid-Term Training are :

• The volunteers should reflect upon their personal project by far (what they learnt, difficulties etc)
• Share experience and network with other volunteers
• Lean about the Youthpass
• Prepare for the reintegration to the home country

The location of my Mid-Term Meeting was again in Rimini , in the same hotel, (even my room was the same!). The trainers though and the participants were not (all) the same!

The activities were concentrated to "brake the ice" in the beginning between the people : getting to know where are the participants from, what is their project about etc.

After, the activities were more about to help the participants to think, reflect and evaluate their projects until now.

The bad points : the number of people. 35 participants isn’t definitely an ideal number to work with, but I think thanks to the experience and skills that the trainers had we managed very well. Plus the location and the food

But I felt very satisfied that I met these participants because even if they came from different parts of the world, we had different ages , we were all in Italy for different reasons in the end we had a lot in common and I enjoy it very much!

On-arrival training, Rimini

So, what is the on-arrival training?  According the Program guide of European Commission,  

On-arrival training takes place upon arrival in the host country. It introduces volunteers to their host country and their host environment, helps them to get to know each other and supports them to create an environment that support learning and realising own project ideas. Duration is on average seven days.

But, as we are in Italy and things are always a little bit more complicated, my on-arrival training happened 6 months after my arrival. Due to bureaucratic issues, the Italian National Agency calls the volunteers to participate to the training a little bit late and well, sometimes never (as far as I heard!).

So, me and 29 other volunteers from different countries that are doing an EVS project in Italy were called to participate for 7 days in the training.  As it is centralised, the volunteers travelled to Rimini from different parts of Italy ( Sicelia, Piemonte, Naples..) but the tickets were  paid and as well the hotel and the food.

After a test in the Italian language, the group was divided in 2 classes (beginners and advanced) and we followed a quite intensive Italian course for the next days. As it is quite impossible to teach all the important things in language in 7 days, the course was mainly focused in speaking and listening. I practised a lot my Italian and I can say that in the end I felt more secure and I was speaking a little bit more fluently! The way that the course was (interactive) was keeping the interest of the students and because we were working in groups, nobody felt alone or outside.

Apart from the language course, plenty other activities took place.  Two of them were outdoor, involving the city of Rimini (taking specific theme pictures and interviewing people) , while other were inside like for example the workshop on Italian cinema and Italian history.  I felt that the main purpose of the activities was to build the group, brake the ice between people and help the individuals to develop self-awareness, towards their project but also their lives. In my opinion, the trainers succeed in this!

But as well, nothing can be perfect, there were some things that I didn't like so much. The the location of the hotel was on the beach, in an quite touristic area during the summer months but completely deserted in winter. ( I would prefer maybe a lower category hotel but in the city centre- personal opinion!) Another thing ws the few time, that was given to problems and solutions of the EVS. I learnt that in the past there was one whole day dedicated to this but now it is left only an afternoon for this activity. Almost all the volunteers had problems ( some they didn’t receive the reimbursement of their travel tickets, some they were working on a completely different thing from the once that was assigned in the beginning and some they didn’t-t even had a real! project) and they really wanted to discuss about it.

Things learned….

The training helped a lot,  in a professional level but also in a personal. I met people really open and positive,  with a lot of energy  and I reflected a lot of important things in my project. 

Late post #1

 Greeks are always late. Wanted to verify this saying, I start my blog , a little bit late, only 7 months after my arrival in Rome. Better late than never, no?