YMCA Bath Group became involved in EVS around ten years ago because we wanted to offer young people from different cultures and backgrounds an opportunity to spend up to a year living in and working for our organisation, sharing in an intercultural learning experience. As a YMCA we are part of the worldwide movement and understand how important it is to create and maintain positive relationships across borders of all kinds. The objectives of the project are to promote intercultural learning, increase tolerance and understanding, share knowledge of the working practices and requirements in the UK for working with children, provide opportunities for learning in new areas and also to develop existing skills. In particular we would like to encourage and develop the volunteers creative skills and entrepreneurial spirit by sharing with them the creative aspects of our work and encouraging them to become involved and lead their own activities. We would like to provide an experience that enables personal growth and increased confidence so that for their futures.The project will involve three volunteers, each from different countries, Russia, Italy and Spain. The volunteers will all be from different cultures and have different home languages so that coming together and living in the shared flat, working in our varied departments, both the volunteers and the staff, children and families with whom they work will enjoy a positive intercultural learning experience. The volunteers selected for the project are aged between nineteen and twenty five years old and all have a strong desire to work with children as well as possessing great enthusiasm for the organisation and to take part in EVS. The focus of the project will be in our children's work, we have six nurseries, three after school clubs and one holiday club, however we will also encourage the volunteers to spend some time in the optional departments of Health & Wellbeing, our social enterprise cafe in Bristol, The Kitchen, or in our main hostel reception.In our children's work the volunteers will help with general daily tasks such as setting up activities, reading stories, creative sessions using arts and crafts, music and dance, helping children settle in on arrival, changing shoes and coats, serving and preparing snacks, playing games and other duties. The volunteers will get to know the children and families and form positive relationships with them and the staff teams. The volunteers will be encouraged to help run activities and then to research, plan, implement and evaluate their own activities, based upon their own cultures and interests. These could range from cooking traditional recipes, language activities, learning traditional dances or songs, celebrating cultural festivals, sharing stories from folklore and others. In the settings the volunteers will also take part in celebrating the varied festivals and events through the year. The volunteers will also learn more about the early years framework in the UK and current playwork practices. The mixture of age groups, being three months to five years old in the nurseries and ages four to eleven in the out of school clubs, will provide the volunteers with an interesting opportunity to work with both and see the differences and similarities involved.In the Health & Wellbeing Centre the volunteers will be learning about how centres like ours can support the mind, body and soul which is really important in YMCA work. In the hostel reception the volunteers will be help with general duties and will be in contact with the huge variety of people on short stays or living in the hostel as temporary accommodation. In the Social Enterprise cafe in Bristol the volunteers will be helping with the general running of the café which provides good, healthy food for the local community but also to provide employment and training opportunities for young people who have had a difficult start in life and few chances to build something for themselves. The volunteers will work alongside trained and experienced staff, most of whom have been involved with the previous EVS projects we have run. A full induction will be given to each volunteer and both informal training and training courses where available will be provided. Regular evaluations will be carried out and support supplied. A local language course will be provided as well as the OLS and the staff teams will help informally.The expected results and impact are to develop confidence, personal growth, intercultural understanding and tolerance for the volunteers and also the target groups, gaining new skills and building upon existing ones. It will inspire a greater desire for intercultural learning and form good relationships to reinforce the positive attitudes and concepts of the project, lasting long beyond the end of this project. We anticipate the volunteers will form strong friendships with each other, the organisation and wider community.