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EVS for Social Empowerment
Start date: Jul 1, 2014, End date: Dec 31, 2015 PROJECT  FINISHED 

This EVS project brought nine European volunteers to Finland to participate in long-term EVS activities on social field with people with fewer opportunities and children. The aim of the project was to bring an element of social empowerment to the lives of the young volunteers, as well as to the people they were working with in the host organisations. The volunteers were working in five different host organisations, where they cooperated either with people with disabilities and special needs (Vaalijala Rehabilitation Centre, Lehtimäki Special Folk High School and Kisälli-Harjulanmäki) or young people with fewer opportunities (Sippola Residential Special School) or with children in kindergarten in a small town (Kangasala English Language Playschool). Most of the participating volunteers had experienced unemployment in their families or did not have any previous international experience. This project enabled them to widen their perspectives and gain valuable experiences to support their future goals. The volunteers came from Spain, France, Germany, Hungary, Estonia and Cyprus. With the support of their mentors, Finnish specialists on the social field, the volunteers were learning-by-doing and improved their skills and knowledge on different issues. The impact of this intercultural cooperation on a grass-roots, everyday level, was an empowering experience for all the partners included, despite of some of the challenges that occurred. The impact reached volunteers, partner organisations and people in host organisations, but hopefully it will also have a wider effect on local, regional and even national level by having more intercultural interaction and more active youth with tolerant attitudes.
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