Bona Fides Association and Caritas für Menschen mit Behinderungen are looking for 4 Polish volunteers or residents in Poland to join their European Voluntary Service project in Linz, Austria. To apply please fill the application form and send a motivation letter to the following emails: mariachiara@bonafides.pl, k.zychowicz@bonafides.pl and susanne.rosmann@4yougend.at. Please, write in the title ”EVS in St. Elisabeth, Linz – application”.
- Location: Linz, Austria
- Deadline: 27/08/2019
- Duration: 11-12 months
- Mobility period: September 2019 – February 2020
The organisation “Caritas für Menschen mit Behinderungen” attends people with disabilities in living, working and educational interests. Our aim is to include people with disabilities into the society and support them to become as independent as possible. Our organisation offers a wide range of services to people with disabilities in Upper Austria e.g. assisted living, work, training, therapy, kindergarden. “Caritas für Menschen mit Behinderungen” is one of the largest organisations in Upper Austria, which provides services for people with disabilities.
St. Elisabeth is located in Linz, the provincial capital of Upper Austria, on the hill “Froschberg” close to the city centre and the city parks aswell. Linz is located next to the Danube and offers many cultural events. From Linz, one can reach the UNESCO world heritage area of Salzkammergut in under an hour by train.
The project for volunteers in St. Elisabeth is called “Werkstätten” or sheltered workshops. The project is responsible for the educational qualification for young people with disabilities at the age of 15 to 30 years. One workshop is specialised on blind and visually impaired people, the second workshop offers several qualifications (such as learning to use a computer, sewing, working in a grocery shop, cooking, metalwork and many more). The practical education is accompanied by regular learning sessions, training job skills, individual coachings and internships in companies. We try to focus on the individual strengths, interests, needs and wishes of the young people. The aim of the project is to integrate young people with disabilities into free labour market.
The volunteer will assist staff members in the project by helping to train and educate a group of four to eight young people with disabilities. The volunteer will support our staff in daily routines, e.g. assisting leading training-sessions, learning with the youths, training job competences, social competences and so on. The volunteers learn about working in a multi-professional team, pursuing the individual goals (of the young people) together with the staff and about assisting people with disabilities on high pedagogic standards. We encourage the volunteers to bring their own culture, abilities, ideas and creativity into the group by cooking, singing songs, creating leisure-time activities and so on. Thus, the young people in the workshops can experience a new culture, new traditions and widen their horizon through cultural exchanges. In return, the volunteers will get an insight into the Austrian culture and into working with young people with disabilities. Thus, intercultural learning and communication shall be the aim for both the volunteer and the host organisation. In addition, the volunteers receive full support from our staff and their mentor.
We provide a small apartment (single bedrooms) for the volunteers in the building, where they will work. The accommodation is equipped with a small kitchen, shower/WC, TV, free wifi and a washing machine.