PARTICIPATE+ | ESC "Proud volunteersfor solidarity" in Wroclaw, Poland

READY FOR A LIFE-CHANGING ADVENTURE IN WROCLAW, POLAND?

HAPPY TO WORK WITH SMALL CHILDREN AND TO LEARN NEW LANGUAGES?

OPEN TO GAIN PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE BY CONTRIBUTING TO THE LOCAL COMMUNITY?

The Foundation of Social Integration Prom from Wroclaw, Poland is glad to announce an open call for a long-term project "Proud volunteers for solidarity" under European Solidarity Corps. A call for 10 participants to work in six different KINDERGARTENS in Wroclaw, Poland and 1 candidate to work in Brave Kids Project.

The project starts in March/April 2020 and finishes in December 2020.

You are eligible to apply if you:

• are 18 to 30 years old;

• have not done any European Voluntary Service / European Solidarity Corps project before;

• do not have any criminal history on your criminal record (a relevant document should be sent to us after the recruitment, not now).

Requirements:

Volunteers are not obligated to have any special qualifications to work with children, but experience in that field will be essential. A volunteer should be ready to work with a bigger group of children for a longer period of time, have an ability to establish positive relationships with children and adults and have basic knowledge of the development and needs of primary school and pre-school children.

In addition to all of the above, an absolute advantage is having some interesting hobbies such as doing sports, art, dancing, playing in the theatre, doing circus tricks and playing an instrument or singing. This is due to the fact, that those kinds of classes are very popular and appreciated among our pupils. Having manual and computer skills will be very useful in helping teachers too. Good organizational skills are crucial due to to the importance of planning and leading volunteer's own activities and supporting important events.

Being open and ready to share own ESC experience with the local community during different events (picnics, festivals, conferences).

Apply by sending the following to evs@fundacjaprom.pl:

• A CV with a picture

• A motivation letter

• “EVS QUESTIONNAIRE KINDERGARTENS 2020” Document with a summary of your data, preferred kindergarden and additional questions. To be downloaded from here

http://www.evs.wroclaw.pl/

Full infopack

Application deadline is 23rd of February 2020

VIE+W | Teamwork is the key to success

‘’Remember teamwork begins by building trust. And the only way to do that is to overcome our need for invulnerability.’’

The above proverb by Patrick Lencioni can very well highlight the importance of working together in teams. This ability is one of the most vital soft skills that often taught in universities to be applied in the business world as well as required in professional life. But what actually is teamwork and why is it so important? It’s one thing to define teamwork but perhaps another to define it in a way that works, because it’s not just your definition that counts. So, how to define teamwork? Well the obvious place to start is with a dictionary. Typically, teamwork is defined as:

Co-operation between those who are working on a task.

Teamwork is generally understood as the willingness of a group of people to work together to achieve a common aim. But it is not exclusive to teams. It might be random co-operation, effectively working together just for periods of time. To define teamwork, it might also be worth clarifying what it’s not, and thinking about the distinction between teams and teamwork. In my view, a team exists when individual strengths and skills are combined with teamwork, in order to produce meaningful results for the team members and the organization. A team just combines individual strengths with a shared commitment to performance.

For all the positives thatteamwork can bring, there are some disadvantages to consider. Even if we have the best team, it is still made up of people and since we are all different, we cannot avoid conflicts. Several factors can also hamper the workability of the team, such as stress, tension in the working environment, unsuitable leader (because a team is nothing without its leader)or unwillingness to work.

As we already discussed what teamwork is and what the flaws are, we should look at how can we improve it.While the terms “teamwork” or “team building” may bring visions of company retreats practicing trust falls, in actuality building team morale, trust and productivity doesn’t have to involve pricey trips or clichéd exercises. First of all, as a leader you have to lead by example. Treat your own responsibilities and relationships with coworkers the same way you want others to. Then you should definitely build up trust and respect. Team members must trust each other to each do their part as well as trust their leaders to be guiding them in the right direction. Another important thing is to set defined goals. Each team should know exactly what they’re working toward including what goals they need to be hitting and when. This will provide added motivation and incentive to work together. The team members should be allowed to actively take part in decision-making. Having a sense of personal involvement in this process will solidify the connections in the team, making the people feel like they are important part of something rather than just a minor piece of the puzzle. Another useful tip is to start team traditions. Help your people with finding a way for the team to connect on another level that isn’t just work-related.

Since we live in a society, there is no way to pass a day of not working as a team.No matter if it's in your family, school, work or even on the street you have to communicate, collaborate, take responsibility, share your ideas and many other components of teamwork. This way we create something that divides the task and multiplies the success. Because together everyone achieves more.

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by Inna Boynova

Participant in

YE "Make social inclussion happen" in Costinesti, Romania

PEOPLE+ | The work of a volunteer

Zornitsa Vasileva and Sandra Docheva who were participants in the YE "Make social inclussion happen", which took place in Costinesti, Romania are sharing with us their volunteer experience. You can read about the different organisations they are part of, what do they do and why is it so important to be a volunteer.

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Being a volunteer requires taking a lot of responsibility, but it also comes with the joy of helping and working in a team. That’s the way I’m going to describe my participation as a Vice Chairman in the Youth Council of Drug Prevention in Vidin - joy and a responsibility.

I started as a member of the club one year ago. There was a big event called “To clean Bulgaria in a day”. I had the desire to find a group of people and join them in the big cleaning. My friend introduced me to the people of the Youth Council who warmly welcomed me in their group. After this day spent with them I realized that I wanted to become a part of their team of volunteers.

So basically, what we do there is creating different events or supporting already existing ones with the aim of informing the youth of what drugs, cigarettes and alcohol do to their body and to prevent them from becoming addicted.

We can inform them in different ways depending on their age. Most of the time it happens with lessons in school. We have the chance to visit every school and class in the town twice in the school year and give the students lectures. The bigger students get lectures about different types of drugs and why not to take them and also sex education on why it is crucial to use protection and what are the consequences. The little children are thought about not to trust people they don’t know, how to be tolerant to each other and etc. We use different games and activities, so we keep everyone’s attention.

Just because we are mostly talking about drug prevention, that doesn’t mean we only deal with that. We also organize variety of events like cleaning areas, planting trees, playing with little children, helping people in need and many others.

In general, working with so many different people and having the ability to participate in such events is a possibility I’m glad I possess.

by Zornitsa Vasileva

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The Bulgarian Red CrossYouth (BRCY) is a voluntary youth organization. Through the work of its volunteers and its training programs, various activities and services, it advances humanitarian values among children and teenagers.

I applied for a membership in this organization two years ago - in 2017 because I wanted to do good for the community and become more socially active and to be honest most of my friends were members.

My first impression wasn’t one of the best though. At the first meeting, no one introduced themselves and they didn’t even notice that there was a new volunteer. I don’t know how well I would’ve done if my friends weren’t there to guide me. With time, things got better. There were a lot of organized events in my school on holidays in which volunteers made their own cards, ornaments or jewelry and we sold them. The money was always donated to different people in need.

On 14th February this year, we had another charity event and we decided to spice things up by making anonymous valentines. Everyone could come and write a sweet message on paper, put the name of the person it was for in the back and then put the note in our secret box. Our classmates really loved it and at the end of class we went to the class rooms and gave out all the valentines. It was great to see the happiness on people’s faces when they received theirs. From now on, we intend to do it every year.

I look forward to gaining more experience and participating in many more charity events organized by the BRCY.

by Sandra Docheva