Name of the project: “SEM&VOL délégation de Solidarités Jeunesses”
Project Start: Beginning of March 2021
Projects duration: 12 months
Hosting & Coordinating Organisation: “SEM&VOL”
Sending organization: “BRAVO”
Place: Dordogne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France
Participants: 2 volunteer (18– 30 years old )
Working language: English or/and French
Deadline for applying: 20.01.2021.
This project is financed by the European Commission through the Erasmus Plus Program. This publication reflects the view only of the author, and the European Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. By Erasmus+ rules organizers will cover travel costs, accommodation and food. As part of ESC you will have provided accommodation, food, pocket money and paid local transport.
Presentation of the project
SEM&VOL is the eighth independent association of the Movement of Solidarités Jeunesses, which is located in Dordogne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine (a region in the south-west of France).
Solidarités Jeunesses (www.solidaritesjeunesses.org) is a youth and community education association, under the French law of 1901, belonging to several international networks. In France, Solidarités Jeunesses consists of 7 affiliated territorial associations and 1 partner organisation. Based on commonly established goals, the affiliated associations reflect the dynamic of the movement at a local level. Most of these structures host international volunteers as well as young people in need of social integration and are involved in the local development of their regions through a variety of activities.
Altogether, the movement has over 1200 members, of whom 300 are involved in actions all year round.
This movement brings together people of all ages, united around common projects and social responsibility practices, with the aim of acting:
- In favour of an active and responsible citizenship ;
- Against the exclusion of the most disadvantaged ;
- In favour of a local development respectful of the individual, the environment and cultural heritage ;
- In favour of the breaking down of boundaries between generations, cultures and nations ;
- In favour of tangible peace-building actions.
Sem&Vol was founded in 2013 in a village called Le Buisson de Cadouin, on the occasion of its first international project. Since this year, several European exchanges (Erasmus+) have been hosted by the delegation, bringing together many people from around the world and the local population. All the exchanges were highly successful.
In 2015, the municipality of Le Buisson de Cadouin offered us to use the premises of the school in Cadouin, which had to close due to a shortage of children and the proximity of the school in Le Buisson, to host young people coming from elsewhere. Nowadays, Sem&Vol located the volunteers hosting centre in the centre of this village – a small vibrant and welcoming village of only 300 inhabitants, which is attached to the larger rural community of Le Buisson (around 2600 inhabitants). It permitted Sem&Vol to expand its activities by proposing other local development and grassroot actions: over this period of time, more than 40 international voluntary workcamps were hosted by different villages in the Dordogne.
The association Sem&Vol, affiliated to Solidarités Jeunesses, works towards:
- the voluntary participation of all in social life – at local, national and international levels,
- a local development respectful of the individual, the environment and cultural heritage,
- intergenerational, intracultural, intercultural and international meetings and exchanges,
- tangible peace-building actions,
- reflection, practices and projects in the field of environmental education in line with a sustainable development approach.
The association is also expanding the action of the National Movement of Solidarités Jeunesses in Dordogne, supporting the momentum in favour of rural life. We are trying to allow as many people as possible to actively contribute to the development of their region (cultural heritage, heritage sites, environment, social life), take part in national and international mobility programs (short-, medium and long-term volunteering), have access to diverse cultural and intercultural practices (territory development, presence of international volunteers, European exchanges), benefit from the resulting dynamic atmosphere, which encourages people to get involved in other projects and actions adapted to the Périgord, (the Dordogne) and connect with people, create new openings and broaden their horizons.
The main objectives of our actions are:
- To host local youth on civic service missions and volunteers under the European Solidarity Corps program, to help develop our association and promote the different activities we carry out in our region.
- To support already existing activities of the association and create new ones to maintain the link with local people through participating, organizing and managing intercultural and working activities.
- To develop our short-term projects in the region (workcamps, international exchanges, training sessions, hosting groups …) in order to enable international experience close to home to local youth
- to have and to gain more autonomy through intercultural and interpersonal learning as well as the experience of collective life.
- To boost the promotion of volunteering to the local youth (training sessions, forums, presentations in secondary schools, “local missions” – community aid projects for young people – youth information centres, …) to inform them about international mobility, civic engagement and volunteering.
- On a broader level, through our actions, we are working towards breaking down barriers between different publics, and working on the projects where the experience of living and working together contributes to the fight against social exclusion.
One of the values of our association is developing partnerships with different municipalities of the region (Nouvelle Aquitaine), as well as with public institutions and local associations. Each project is designed in partnership with a local organisation and our involvement provides support to a local action by bringing the international component and our popular education values.
VOLUNTEERING WITH SEM&VOL
Hosting French and international volunteers is a fundamental part of our mission: these medium and long-term exchanges are the direct expression of our values and will to contribute to our territorial development.
Volunteers come with the desire to experience collective life (sharing responsibilities: cooking the meals, washing up, housework, spending time together, discover the region …), but also to discover new activities with concrete learning objectives – for example, manual, technical and linguistic skills.
Right from the start, Sem&Vol focus its priorities on local development through the activities undertaken with local partners. Every volunteer is working with these local associations and institutions participating in existing projects and developing new activities depending on their abilities, skills, motivations and wishes (ex : leading extra- curricular activities, intervening in primary and secondary schools, organising activities for the EHPAD’s residents – nursing home for elderly people, taking part in local festivities – marching band, theatre, fabricating scarecrows, etc.)
In this way, the volunteers will be actively involved in the development of our associative project and our activities. They will have the opportunity, if they wish to, to develop a personal project in relation to the collective project. Through the activities volunteers will improve how to work in a team, how to communicate and handle an intercultural context.
At the same time, we wish to host and organize specific projects with groups of local young people as well as with young people in difficulty and/or training groups. The volunteers are taking part in these projects as well as in the setting up of actions to promote international mobility within the area (meetings, forums, sharing their experiences with groups of young people, encountering the association‘s institutional partners …).
During summer, Sem&Vol organizes international volunteer workcamps and youth exchanges in the area. They usually take place over a three-week period in surrounding rural communities. There are different kinds of projects: renovation or restoration of local heritage sites (fountains, old public washing places…), the promotion of cultural heritage (recovery of historical memory and cultural identity through reports, exhibitions, …), the protection of the environment (cleaning a riverbank…), the organisation of arts and/or cultural activities, festivals… In order to lead international volunteer summer projects, the volunteers hosted by our association will be encouraged to take part in internal training courses.
In addition, volunteers will be helping to transform a disused school into a collective living space. Cadouin’s inhabitants were deeply affected by the closing of the school at the end of 2015 and most of them are looking forward to the transformation of these premises.
We encourage volunteers to take on responsibility at different levels and we foster the learning of organisational and logistics skills; we also offer the possibility of exploring creative and artistic activities which can be used in workshops where people can express themselves verbally, corporally and/or artistically.
Thus, it is important for everyone to identify the needs and to assess the interests as well as the objectives to be reached. In this way, we seek to empower and guide the volunteers towards a certain amount of autonomy and active citizenship.
The monthly timetable that we have established will give you the opportunity to gain technical knowledge and skills in various areas:
- Daily workcamp (minor masonry work, woodwork, painting, environmental work)
- Organisation and participation in local intercultural activities such as interventions in schools, creative workshops for specific audiences (you can choose: children, teenagers, elderly people, …), local events as well as language classes once a week ;
- Building networks between local and our associations, to guarantee better communication and a greater coherence in territorial actions ;
- Promotion of the association and volunteering (presentations, creation of communication media for Sem&Vol, etc.)
In addition, once a week, a group team meeting will take place to work together on activity planning, budget management and to evaluate the week. These moments of sharing also serve to defuse certain conflicts that are not uncommon in an intercultural setting. We propose a democratic and collective approach to decision-making in order to develop the positioning and critical thinking necessary for constructive cohabitation.
Many of these activities will take place in the volunteers‘ accommodation premises or in the host village, but also in neighbouring villages and throughout the Dordogne department.
Participants profile:
We wish to welcome people from different backgrounds in keeping with our social equity values. Our aim is to enable everyone to develop skills, but also to pass on their own knowledge to the others. We believe this will help each person to see him or herself as an individual within a group and to grow in respect and consideration for others.
We expect our volunteers to have a good understanding of our overall project and to be motivated to be part of a team. We regard volunteering as an exchange between a volunteer who offers his/her time and energy to a collective project and a host community that in turn provides the volunteer with learning and testing ground as well as a space for personal development.
It is important for us, that is why we await from the volunteers to invest themselves into technical part of the work, by bringing energy and technical knowledges, as well as, to invest into animation and intercultural part of the activities by bringing ideas and organisational abilities. Nevertheless, the most important element for our association remains the motivation and the willingness of the volunteers to invest themselves wholeheartedly in Sem&Vol.
Host organization through ESC program will provide:
ACCOMMODATION
FOOD (3 MEALS PER DAY OR MONEY FOR A FOOD)
POCKET MONEY
FRENCH LANGUAGE COURSE
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION (If the working place is not walking distance from accommodation)
HOW TO APPLY?
Complete the APPLICATION FORM in English title as following ”name of the project you are applying for” until 23:59 on deadline day.
Deadline for applying: 20.01.2021.
Selection results: 20.01.2021.
PARTICIPATION FEE: NO PARTICIPATION FEE
If you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact us at:
Preuzeto sa: BRAVO