Bona Fides Association and Istituto dei Sordi di Torino are looking for volunteers (citizens or residents of Poland, age 18-30) for a long term ESC project “La Casa di sotto” in Pianezza, Italy!
Where: Pianezza, Italy
Start: ASAP
Duration: 12 months
Description of the Institute
The Volunteer activities will be held in the Turin Institute for the Deaf People, located in the city of Pianezza near Turin. Founded in 1814, the Turin Institution for the Deaf People is an institution providing a wide range of services and activities, for deaf, hard of hearing, and other linguistic and cognitive impaired children and adults, such as:
– Vocational training and vocational guidance for young deaf (cooking and gardening), blind, autistic, and other disabled adult students. BioAgriDeaf is a project about the job market inclusion of young Deaf people in agriculture and cafeteria areas.
– Adult education for deaf and hard of hearing (blind and Specific Language impairment).
– Speech therapy SLI programs and early intervention programs.
– Recognized National Provider of Teacher Training and other training activities for speech therapists, nurses, educators, and other professionals.
– Home housing for deaf adults at risk of multiple discriminations.
– Kindergarten for Deaf and hearing children (with national ID as formal school age 2-6 yo).
– Special needs teachers and educators service in mainstream schools supporting students in collaboration with the local social services and school authorities.
– Specialized library and documentation center for teachers and parents.
– Special projects for the inclusion of deaf people in society in the view of universal accessibility, with a focus on museums and cultural institutions.
– Projects with the Universities in the fields of research, language rehabilitation, and social services; European and international projects.
– Specialized mentoring and tutoring for students with disabilities enrolled in the 3 public universities of the region.
– Language classes: Italian, English, sign languages.
– Sensorial Garden.
– Counseling to public employment services.
Project description
In this international context in the middle of a crisis, people with fewer opportunities have difficulties accessing certain projects and activities at both national and international levels. This is due either to the lack of information or the difficult accessibility to information and because of the difficulty in finding and building inclusive work environments, open to differences and with skills useful to foster integration, develop socializing and enriching opportunities for people with special needs.
The intent of this project is to give
• First the opportunity for young people with fewer opportunities, in this specific case deaf or with hearing impairment European or with migratory background people to carry out a volunteer experience in an inclusive and multicultural context where they can develop “listening” and empathy skills to others.
• Secondly, to also give the opportunities to so-called “normal” people to work with people with fewer opportunities to develop empathy, “listening” and other skills to be used in the future when they find themselves in relationships with people from the disadvantaged area or people with disabilities.
The Project aims to
– Promote social inclusion and equal opportunities, by providing for the participation of young people with fewer opportunities and special needs (deaf and hard of hearing).
– Facilitating the dissemination of information and the accessibility of information among young people with fewer opportunities and special needs.
– To raise awareness of young people about European opportunities in the field of international mobility and training.
– Sharing common values, learning from each other and from mutual contexts of provenance, and overcoming cultural and social barriers that feed false stereotypes and prejudices.
– To provide young people, with the support of participating organizations, opportunities easily accessible for the commitment to solidarity activities that bring positive social changes, while improving their skills and competencies for personal, educational, social, civic, cultural, and professional development.
Travel arrangement
Travel: Volunteer ticket (both ways) will be reimbursed for a maximum of 275€.
Accommodation: Volunteers will be accommodated in a double room at the social housing of the Institute.
Food: Volunteers will receive a daily food allowance of 6€.
Pocket money: Volunteers will receive a daily pocket money of 5€.
Tasks of the volunteers
The volunteers who will be included in this project will help in educational assistance for deafblind seniors in the context of daily life. The Institute manage in his building a house where deafblind seniors are living daily. The volunteer’s task will be to support them in daily life activities such as breakfast, lunch, dinner, social activities, rehabilitation activities, cleaning etc).
With the monitoring of the educators present in these services, the volunteer will develop the capacity to work in contexts of multi-disability and with a team of people composed of different professional figures.
This will allow the volunteer to develop a new way of listening to others and will open to a new perception of the people that society calls “different.” On the other hand, it will allow the volunteers and participants of the different services to relate to them and with people of origin and different cultures in such a way as to have a different look at society.
The learning outcome for the volunteer
– Work in multicultural and inclusive contexts.
– Work with people with sensory disabilities and/or multiple disabilities.
– Work in a team of different professionals.
– Communicate in Italian Sign language.
– Improve their language skills (Spoken and written Italian and/or English).
– Relate with other deaf and hard-of-hearing people.
– Develop empathy.
– Be an inclusive actor.
– Give accessibility to people with disabilities.
– Have International Voluntary experience.
– Develop their personal entrepreneurial skills or wish to learn more about it.
– Develop the capacity to design and implement activities and projects for their peers and the community’s well-being.
Training for the volunteer
As for training opportunities, the volunteer will get the following training:
(1) Training on deafness and deaf culture.
(2) Italian Sign Language Course.
(3) Italian Language Course.
(4) OAT + MTE provided by the Italian National Agency.
Application
To apply please send your CV and a motivation letters (in English) to mariachiara@bonafides.pl and anna@bonafides.pl