Bona Fides Association is looking for Polish participant (aged 18-30) for a 10-months ESC project in Portugal with ProAtlântico – Associação Juvenil.
Place: Lisbon area, Portugal
Dates: from October 2024 until 20th September 2025 (flexible dates)
Duration: 10 months
Description of the activities
ProAtlântico works in partnership with several organizations from the community: schools, foster homes, immigrant organizations, youth centers, senior daily centers, institutions for people with disabilities, So, the volunteer will collaborate directly with the target groups of the partner organizations.
At the moment we have a vacancy at:
THE OCCUPATIONAL ACTIVITIES CENTRE & RESIDENCE FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
• Collaborate in adapted workshops (ceramics, painting, decorating, etc.)
• Feeding & hygiene routines (help to give meals to residents)
• Therapeutic and leisure time activities (traditional games, newspaper, playroom, etc.)
• Sports activities (boccia, water adapted activities, etc.)
• Recreational activities (tours, walkings, parties, etc.)
Volunteers will also do tasks of Divulgation of Erasmus + (in schools, Universities, youth clubs and youth events):
• Organization of exhibitions, presentations and conversations with Portuguese young people or future volunteers to motivate young people to be more active or give visibility to their project;
• Inform young people about the volunteering experience as a EVS/ volunteer in Portugal and provide information about some aspects of the volunteer’s country (ex: culture, language, cultural places, etc.).
In these activities, the volunteer must use the clothes provided to that activity (t-shirt, cap, etc). The volunteer will not be involved in all these activities, it will depend of the motivation of the volunteer and the need of volunteers in each activity along the project, beside those the activities the volunteer will have the chance to implement personal project, the time that those will take will depend of the activities proposed by the volunteer.
Profile of the volunteers
The profile of the volunteer will have general requirements: proactive, motivated to work in a social environment, with sense of responsibility, like to work in a team, flexible, with handwork skills, with communication ability, mature to work with social and economic disadvantaged community.
A high motivation to work with the target groups and special interest on music, dance, theatre, sports, cooking, computers, handicrafts, gardening, history, photography, arts, can be an added value, since these areas their fields of interest and will be the way to reach their attention. It’s expected the volunteers have a positive attitude, patience and good listening capacity. We will look for volunteers who are interested in working with a commitment to volunteering and had chosen our project because of the experience and development they will gain, not only because it’s in Portugal.
The volunteer has to be between 18 and 30 years, with: good integration capability; willingness to share experiences and cultural habits.
When recruiting volunteers, the HO organization maintains the overall accessibility of ESC for all young people, without prejudice related to ethnic group, religion, sexual orientation or political opinion. If the project targets volunteers with fewer opportunities, facilities and capacity in providing tailor-made preparation, support and follow-up are provided.
After, we make a pre-selection of the participants, initially based on practical issues, selecting only the candidates that send CV and motivation letter. After reading the documents, we do a preliminary choice, considering the interest of the volunteers to work with the target group according to activity they applied, their commitment to volunteering service and the reason presented to choose the project. During this process some online interviews are done to understand better the motivation of the volunteers and to eventually to explain the details of each project, the environment of the receiving organization, the role of the volunteer, the logistic conditions provided and clarify some doubts the volunteers might have. Afterwards we finish the recruitment and volunteer will obtain a final decision.
Monitoring
During the project the volunteer needs to make weekly evaluation to give to the mentor and make a monthly evaluation report to give to ProAtlântico.
Dissemination
Each month, the volunteer must write a small article about his/her most positive moments in the volunteering experience and add some photos to be used in social media to promote CES.
Timetable
The volunteers will collaborate 35 hours per week during 5 days a week (30 hours of activities + 5 hours for trainings, language support, mentorship meetings, reports, etc.). Although, the volunteers might work different hours per day. The schedule will be defined by the hosting organization on arrival of the volunteer and it can change according to the activities. The volunteers will have 2 consecutive free days each week that can vary from week to week according to the needs of the hosting organization. However, when the hosting organization has activities on volunteer’s free days and the volunteers are asked to work, they might have to choose another free day, since the collaboration of the volunteers is important. The volunteers have the right to take the Portuguese National official holidays as free days, when they match with working days. They can’t use their own national holiday as a free day, unless they use a vacation day. It is not possible to work more hours in each day to have 3 days free each week. It is needed to work 5 days each week. The volunteers have the right to take the Portuguese National official holidays as free days, when they match with working days. The volunteers will have 2 days of holidays per month for the duration of the project, to be taken in agreement between the volunteers and the team. The volunteers can join the holidays or take them by month. The volunteers must discuss with the project supervisor from the hosting organization the dates of holidays at least one month before.
Project conditions
TRAVEL: The volunteer is entitled to one return travel ticket between the sending and the receiving country. The sending organization will help the volunteer to purchase tickets in case of need. If the cost of the ticket is more expensive than the amount of money approved, the volunteer will be responsible to cover the difference. An itinerary must be sent to ProAtlântico to get an approval before the ticket is bought. The calculation of the travel cost of each country has in consideration the place of the sending organization. In case the departure place of the volunteer is different, a justification must be given, and a new calculation must be done using the distance calculator from European Commission, available at the official website: http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/tools/distance_en.htm The amount of the travel costs that can be reimbursed can be different. It can decrease, but it can’t increase.
TRANSPORTS: A monthly local transport allowance is provided by the receiving organization (if need to go from the accommodation to the working place) to cover costs with local transports.
FOOD: ProAtlântico – Associação Juvenil will provide 5€ per day to cover costs of food and extra expenses (ex: cleaning materials, etc.) during non-working time, unless the workplace provides more meals. The volunteer can use the food money to buy own food, cook in the apartment, eat in a restaurant, etc.). In the working days the receiving organization provides a suitable meal in the organization’s facilities, which is based on a Mediterranean diet. It Is important to refer that this project doesn’t provide Vegan meals. It is not possible for the volunteer to get money instead of the food provided during the working time.
ACCOMMODATION: ProAtlântico will provide accommodation always shared. The bedroom will be placed in a University Residence, or in a Hostel, or in a family house, at Casa Europa or in a flat. The place of the accommodation will be decided by ProAtlântico according to the availability. There might be different solutions found for each volunteer. Is not possible to sticks, nails, pins, and make holes on the walls, in case the volunteer do it he/she will be responsible to pay for the painting of the walls that might be needed in order to make it look like it was before. ProAtlântico will provide towels and bed clothes in the beginning of the project, the volunteer is responsible to keep it and deliver it in good condition in the end of the project, in case the volunteer have special needs (mattress, pillow, bed clothes, etc.) that should be mentioned before the project starts so that ProAtlântico can see if there is a chance to provide them. If some special need is not mentioned and agreed before the project ProAtlântico can’t be responsible to provide any special item. Each volunteer will have one key from the accommodation. The volunteer can’t borrow the keys to someone that doesn’t live in the accommodation. In the end of the project the volunteer must give the keys back to ProAtlântico team. The accommodation might host local volunteers, Erasmus/Leonardo da Vinci students, etc. indicated by ProAtlântico and the volunteer will share his/her bedroom. If needed, ProAtlântico might have to change the volunteers from their rooms or accommodation place during the project in order to better rationalization of the accommodations available or to accommodate new volunteers. The excessive consumption by negligence and/or carelessness of the volunteer will be carried out by her/him (ex: Ex.: turn the lights on in the entire flat, let on the heating while the windows continue open, etc.). ProAtlântico will have the legal authority to break the project of the volunteer in case the volunteer has been notified repeatedly to follow the rules and conditions already cited. ProAtlântico will do regular visits to the accommodation in order to make repairs, maintenance or check if the accommodation is being well used. The management and the cleaning of the accommodation have to be done in agreement with the other residents. If the volunteers don’t manage to keep the house cleaned and organized, ProAtlântico will hire a cleaning service that will be paid by the volunteers. Smoking inside of the accommodation is forbidden (even at the windows). The legal silence time must be followed in order to respect the sleeping time of neighbours. From Every day the silence must be respected between 11 p.m. and 8 a.m. All the requests from volunteers must be done by e-mail (ex: house utensils, touristic information, money issues, etc. Hosting guests and Couch Surfing is not allowed in the accommodation provided by ProAtlântico. ProAtlântico can help you to find a cheap place for accommodation for your friends or relatives. Hosting guests in the Accommodation provided by ProAtlântico without consent can result in the cancelation of the EVS project. In the accommodations provided by ProAtlântico the volunteer will live always in multiple bedrooms with fully equipped kitchen, toilet, and laundry machine. The costs with electricity, water, TV (4 channels) and wireless Internet (it will be available in the accommodation but not necessarily in the bedroom) are covered by ProAtlântico.
POCKET MONEY: The volunteer will receive a pocket money for personal expenses.
LINGUISTIC SUPPORT: ProAtlântico guarantees that the volunteer will have online linguistic support available in the European Commission Platform. Before the activity starts, the volunteer is asked to make an online test. A new test will be made in the end of the activity to assess the level of learning of Portuguese language. Learning Portuguese language will depend much of the volunteers work at home and in their daily contact with the local community.
How to apply?
To apply for the project please send your CV and motivation letter (in English) to a.siembab@bonafides.pl & anna@bonafides.pl or contact us for further information! Write ‘ESC project in Portugal‘ in the title of your e-mail.