-
Home
-
European Projects
-
Move it! Discover Europe through volunteering!
Move it! Discover Europe through volunteering!
Start date: Aug 1, 2015,
End date: Nov 30, 2016
PROJECT
FINISHED
The host project of the European volunteer “Move it! Discover Europe through volunteering” was created after several years of international relations of the Town of Nevers. Nevers has twinned with 10 European towns and has been involved in several projects for young people (Eurodyssey internships, youth exchanges); the Town of Nevers also strives to develop European awareness, international mobility and the civil participation of its young population.
For this reason, the EVS became a particularly suitable opportunity. What can be better than an example of a young European, who is personally engaged in EVS during a year in our town in order to share one’s experience, inform young people about the opportunities and accompany them in their international projects?
Our project aims to awake young people’s interest to live international mobility experience regardless of their origin and life course. Those who express their interest are informed about various possibilities and helped to steer their way through the application process (mostly EVS).
For that purpose, public presentations made by both volunteer and project coordinator are frequently organised in high schools, social centres and other venues that may gather young people.
The young candidates are then assisted at the premises of the City Hall of Nevers, sometimes at another place (language help, for example).
Apart from the individual mobility projects, our volunteer can participate in group projects (youth exchange). The European volunteer will have complete freedom to propose activities that aim to develop the knowledge of other cultures, European institutions, and to promote both European and world awareness. She will meet the foreign language assistants in secondary schools of Nevers and will be able to organize certain activities with them, as well as with the volunteers of the international civic service that are present in Nevers every year.
Through these actions we hope that all the above-mentioned young people will enrich themselves by rubbing up against different cultures, languages and ways of life. Thus, they may decide to volunteer again and discover other European countries. They will become independent, open-minded, will get intercultural knowledge as well as the ability to communicate with multiple interlocutors; they will improve their language skills and learn other useful techniques, indispensable for their future life. This experience will help them to choose their future direction and find a job easier.
One of our volunteers (2012/2013) counted up to 300 youngsters informed about EVS during her voluntary service in Nevers. From 20 to 30 young people are seen individually every year. The mobility experience of young people, their activities may have an impact on the rest of the population: families, friends, people from educational institutions etc.
The actions of communication led together with the volunteers, especially via social networks and local media, allow widening our public. It can be demonstrated by the years that even despite poor interest being shown during the public presentations, the youngsters memorise the information and come back a few years later with a more specific project.
In order to carry out our project successfully, we select a volunteer who will manage to impress and motivate our target audience, taking into consideration one’s personal experience in international mobility, learning of foreign languages, and certain cultural openness.