Volunteer in the field of social work with ALDA and Cooperative Primavera 85!
ALDA, along with Cooperative Primavera 85, is offering a placement for two EU citizens or residents (except from France, Spain and Italy) aged between 18 and 30 within the European Solidarity Corps – Volunteering Project “VOICE 3”, running since February 2019.
Two volunteers, respectively from France and Spain, have already completed a six-month experience: we are now looking for a second round of volunteers.
The voluntary service is expected to run for six months, ideally from March until August 2020 (the starting date is flexible and can be negotiated). The volunteers will be hosted at the Cooperative Primavera85 in Sovizzo, a nice town located near Vicenza on the slopes of the hills (Colli Berici).
They will be engaged in the experience of assisting people with disabilities through different activities, offering the volunteers a wide range of possible initiatives to develop and unleash their creativity.
Primavera85 is articulated in three main areas and each centre hosts users with different levels of psycho-physical disabilities, autism or behavioural issues. In each centre the activities are performed according to the daily work schedule. The volunteers will have the opportunity to work in four different structures:
- CENTRE FOR JOB TRAINING. It hosts people with medium to heavy psycho-physical disabilities or mental disorders who receive assistance to support or develop their occupational and relational abilities, construct their social identity and therefore implement greater personal autonomy.
- DAILY CENTER RONCOLATO. It hosts people with a mix of disabilities and psychological disorders as well as elderly people with various levels of self-sufficiency.
- DAILY CENTER ANTONIA BABA. It hosts people with intellectual, sensorial and physical disabilities with various level of self-sufficiency.
- DAILY CENTRE CON-TATTO. It hosts people with autism and major behavioural issues.
The volunteers will have the opportunity to spend some time in all the centres to get acquainted with the dynamics and the type of users; they will then be assigned to one of the centres.
The programme provides the volunteers with the possibility to go with the staff and the users to “climate stays” and “relief weeks” in Asiago, where users take part in local events aimed at promoting their social inclusion and relational skills.
WHO CAN APPLY?
To evaluate the candidates, we will take into consideration the following characteristics:
• EU citizenship or residency
• Age between 18 and 30
• The motivation to spend time in a foreign country (Italy) and interest in the project proposed
• Interest in the work carried out by the Cooperative and in social work in general
• The skill and motivation to develop relationships with people in need (disadvantaged children, youth and elderly)
• The predisposition to relate to others, to listen and to interact in a group – also considering all volunteers will be required to learn and speak Italian.
WHAT WILL VOLUNTEERS LEARN?
The volunteers participating in the project will acquire the following learning outcomes:
• developing their empathy for the users of the centres
• acquisition and improvement of social and communication skills toward people with disabilities
• improved intercultural competences and Italian language skills
• a stronger sensitivity towards social issues and needs of people with disabilities
• greater organizational skills and sense of initiative, enhanced ability to work in a team and reach common goals, as well as to work autonomously and independently
• a strengthened sense of responsibility
• a greater awareness of multiculturalism and diversity
• attitude to learning skills, assimilating new knowledge and skills
• use of personal resources and skills to interact with and include the users (ICT skills, passion for sport, art, music, reading, etc.).
HOW TO APPLY?
To apply, register on the European Solidarity Corps portal: https://europa.eu/youth/solidarity_en and express your interest by contacting ALDA Project Development Officer Anna Ditta at anna.ditta@aldaintranet.org.
ALDA, along with Cooperative Primavera 85, is offering a placement for two EU citizens or residents (except from France, Spain and Italy) aged between 18 and 30 within the European Solidarity Corps – Volunteering Project “VOICE 3”, running since February 2019.
Two volunteers, respectively from France and Spain, have already completed a six-month experience: we are now looking for a second round of volunteers.
The voluntary service is expected to run for six months, ideally from March until August 2020 (the starting date is flexible and can be negotiated). The volunteers will be hosted at the Cooperative Primavera85 in Sovizzo, a nice town located near Vicenza on the slopes of the hills (Colli Berici).
They will be engaged in the experience of assisting people with disabilities through different activities, offering the volunteers a wide range of possible initiatives to develop and unleash their creativity.
Primavera85 is articulated in three main areas and each centre hosts users with different levels of psycho-physical disabilities, autism or behavioural issues. In each centre the activities are performed according to the daily work schedule. The volunteers will have the opportunity to work in four different structures:
- CENTRE FOR JOB TRAINING. It hosts people with medium to heavy psycho-physical disabilities or mental disorders who receive assistance to support or develop their occupational and relational abilities, construct their social identity and therefore implement greater personal autonomy.
- DAILY CENTER RONCOLATO. It hosts people with a mix of disabilities and psychological disorders as well as elderly people with various levels of self-sufficiency.
- DAILY CENTER ANTONIA BABA. It hosts people with intellectual, sensorial and physical disabilities with various level of self-sufficiency.
- DAILY CENTRE CON-TATTO. It hosts people with autism and major behavioural issues.
The volunteers will have the opportunity to spend some time in all the centres to get acquainted with the dynamics and the type of users; they will then be assigned to one of the centres.
The programme provides the volunteers with the possibility to go with the staff and the users to “climate stays” and “relief weeks” in Asiago, where users take part in local events aimed at promoting their social inclusion and relational skills.
WHO CAN APPLY?
To evaluate the candidates, we will take into consideration the following characteristics:
• EU citizenship or residency
• Age between 18 and 30
• The motivation to spend time in a foreign country (Italy) and interest in the project proposed
• Interest in the work carried out by the Cooperative and in social work in general
• The skill and motivation to develop relationships with people in need (disadvantaged children, youth and elderly)
• The predisposition to relate to others, to listen and to interact in a group – also considering all volunteers will be required to learn and speak Italian.
WHAT WILL VOLUNTEERS LEARN?
The volunteers participating in the project will acquire the following learning outcomes:
• developing their empathy for the users of the centres
• acquisition and improvement of social and communication skills toward people with disabilities
• improved intercultural competences and Italian language skills
• a stronger sensitivity towards social issues and needs of people with disabilities
• greater organizational skills and sense of initiative, enhanced ability to work in a team and reach common goals, as well as to work autonomously and independently
• a strengthened sense of responsibility
• a greater awareness of multiculturalism and diversity
• attitude to learning skills, assimilating new knowledge and skills
• use of personal resources and skills to interact with and include the users (ICT skills, passion for sport, art, music, reading, etc.).
HOW TO APPLY?
To apply, register on the European Solidarity Corps portal: https://europa.eu/youth/solidarity_en and express your interest by contacting ALDA Project Development Officer Anna Ditta at anna.ditta@aldaintranet.org.
IMPACT and its puppet show in Jelling, Denmark
On January 11th, 12th, 18th and 19th, 2020, four workshops were held in Jelling, Denmark and attended by local citizens along with the inhabitants of the Red Cross Refugee Centre in Jelling.
The workshops were led by an artist trainer, in the presence of a VIFIN representative who ensured the quality of the workshops and filmed the material for the promotional video.
During the first weekend, the participants started making puppets and coming up with stories for the show. This resulted in quite a bit of interaction among one another, despite the lack of a lingua franca. During the second weekend, the attendants -who had by then happily gotten used to everybody’s company- practiced the final performance.
“The reason I’ve worked with puppets in this situation, is […] they give people more confidence to perform. When they are standing with their puppet and behind their puppet they will speak so much more freely and so much more openly than they would if it was just them exposed on stage, performing“, says Rebekah Caputo, artist & workshop leader; “You have your story and other people have their stories, maybe they are alike and maybe they are not. From there on, you can create a third common story” adds Abira, an 18-year-old refugee from Somalia.
You can watch the final video from the VIFIN workshops (with English subtitles) ЗДЕСЬ.
The main goal of “IMPACT – Inclusion Matters! using Performing Arts towards Cohesion and Tolerance” is fostering social inclusion by developing art strategies, techniques and methodologies which target refugees and citizens at local level.
The project is implemented by VIFIN – Videnscenter for Integration in cooperation with ALDA, La Piccionaia - Центр театрального производства, агенство месной демократии в Черногории, LDA Мостар, Coalition of youth organizations SEGA, Association for Developing Voluntary Work Novo Mesto (DRPDNM) and Urban Development Center, and it is supported by the Erasmus + program of the European Union.
On January 11th, 12th, 18th and 19th, 2020, four workshops were held in Jelling, Denmark and attended by local citizens along with the inhabitants of the Red Cross Refugee Centre in Jelling.
The workshops were led by an artist trainer, in the presence of a VIFIN representative who ensured the quality of the workshops and filmed the material for the promotional video.
During the first weekend, the participants started making puppets and coming up with stories for the show. This resulted in quite a bit of interaction among one another, despite the lack of a lingua franca. During the second weekend, the attendants -who had by then happily gotten used to everybody’s company- practiced the final performance.
“The reason I’ve worked with puppets in this situation, is […] they give people more confidence to perform. When they are standing with their puppet and behind their puppet they will speak so much more freely and so much more openly than they would if it was just them exposed on stage, performing“, says Rebekah Caputo, artist & workshop leader; “You have your story and other people have their stories, maybe they are alike and maybe they are not. From there on, you can create a third common story” adds Abira, an 18-year-old refugee from Somalia.
You can watch the final video from the VIFIN workshops (with English subtitles) ЗДЕСЬ.
The main goal of “IMPACT – Inclusion Matters! using Performing Arts towards Cohesion and Tolerance” is fostering social inclusion by developing art strategies, techniques and methodologies which target refugees and citizens at local level.
The project is implemented by VIFIN – Videnscenter for Integration in cooperation with ALDA, La Piccionaia - Центр театрального производства, агенство месной демократии в Черногории, LDA Мостар, Coalition of youth organizations SEGA, Association for Developing Voluntary Work Novo Mesto (DRPDNM) and Urban Development Center, and it is supported by the Erasmus + program of the European Union.
Closing Conference "Local Democracy - Ideal or Practice"
The final conference of the project “CSOs for making Local Democracy Work” will be held on January 22nd, 2020 in Skopje.
The aim of the conference is to present the results and achievements of the project and reflect on past and future activities concerning local democracy in the Republic of North Macedonia. The conference will unite representatives from civil society and local authorities, as well as various stakeholders involved in the project.
The Conference will be addressed by the project implementers and representatives from the institutions and civil society organisations.
To approach the question of “ideal or practice” the event will cover topics such as cooperation between civil society organizations and local self-government; financial and non-financial support of CSOs from local authorities; and involvement of civil society organizations and local self-government in the European integration process.
The project experience at local level will be presented through the sub-granting scheme. A crucial result was the initiation of establishing a Network for Local Democracy: the project partners and sub-grantees will sign a memorandum for formalizing the Network for Local Democracy after the Closing Conference.
The project “CSOs for making Local Democracy Work” was implemented under IPA Civil Society Facility and Media Programme 2015.
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The final conference of the project “CSOs for making Local Democracy Work” will be held on January 22nd, 2020 in Skopje.
The aim of the conference is to present the results and achievements of the project and reflect on past and future activities concerning local democracy in the Republic of North Macedonia. The conference will unite representatives from civil society and local authorities, as well as various stakeholders involved in the project.
The Conference will be addressed by the project implementers and representatives from the institutions and civil society organisations.
To approach the question of “ideal or practice” the event will cover topics such as cooperation between civil society organizations and local self-government; financial and non-financial support of CSOs from local authorities; and involvement of civil society organizations and local self-government in the European integration process.
The project experience at local level will be presented through the sub-granting scheme. A crucial result was the initiation of establishing a Network for Local Democracy: the project partners and sub-grantees will sign a memorandum for formalizing the Network for Local Democracy after the Closing Conference.
The project “CSOs for making Local Democracy Work” was implemented under IPA Civil Society Facility and Media Programme 2015.
Initiative for the creation of a Network for Local Democracy
On January 15th, 2020 the partners and sub-grantees of the project “CSOs making local democracy work” met in Skopje. During the meeting, the representatives from the 12 partner organizations had the opportunity to present the results of their projects and their positive experiences, and to evaluate the implemented activities within the project.
On January 15th, 2020 the partners and sub-grantees of the project “CSOs making local democracy work” met in Skopje. During the meeting, the representatives from the 12 partner organizations had the opportunity to present the results of their projects and their positive experiences, and to evaluate the implemented activities within the project.
Raising young students’ awareness of the cultural heritage in Vlora, Albania
On Wednesday, January 17., LDA Албания held the activity “Culture is in” at the recently revitalized historical centre of Vlora. This part of the city withholds traces of history, from the architecture of the buildings to the traditional clothing preserved at the ethnographic museum.
The aim of the activity was to connect youth and cultural actors, and raise awareness towards the cultural heritage of the city by reaching out to the youngsters. Ten high schools were invited to participate at the event and, since the historical city centre has only recently been revitalized, the high school students got acquainted with sides of history that were previously unknown to them.
For instance, they were shown the ‘’Laberia Club’’, the place where independence talks were held and later signed back in the day. The speakers also presented the students with different historical objects of interest located in the neighbourhood, where Albania was declared independent. Furthermore, one of the speakers talked about the local government’s promotion strategy regarding the old city centre and cultural heritage, stressing the role that young people can play on establishing cultural programmes and strategy.
An interesting point of discussion between the Director of the Regional Youth Centre and the Director of the Ethnographic Museum of Vlora was about how open local cultural actors are to youth participation in cultural activities, what needs to be done to make cultural programmes more interesting and more accessible for young people, and how to increase the participation of the youngest in preserving and promoting local cultural heritage.
On their part, the students were enthusiastic about using social media as a key way to spread cultural information, connecting the actors, checking the locations and promoting cultural places.
In the end, talented young artists performed traditional dances with traditional local clothes and played local musical and folkloristic heritage by violin.
The visit at the Ethnographic Museum was the closing activity with regards to ‘’Culture is in’’, held as part of the CLINK project for the promotion of cultural heritage.
The main goal of the CLINK project is to raise interest in cultural heritage with direct and indirect participants, awareness of EU policies on cultural heritage and ways of its promotion, protection and sustainable use for socio-economic development of societies, as well as an enforced sense of belonging to a common European space.
The project is implemented by 10 partners from Croatia, France, Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Albania, and is supported by the program Европа для граждан of the European Union.
On Wednesday, January 17., LDA Албания held the activity “Culture is in” at the recently revitalized historical centre of Vlora. This part of the city withholds traces of history, from the architecture of the buildings to the traditional clothing preserved at the ethnographic museum.
The aim of the activity was to connect youth and cultural actors, and raise awareness towards the cultural heritage of the city by reaching out to the youngsters. Ten high schools were invited to participate at the event and, since the historical city centre has only recently been revitalized, the high school students got acquainted with sides of history that were previously unknown to them.
For instance, they were shown the ‘’Laberia Club’’, the place where independence talks were held and later signed back in the day. The speakers also presented the students with different historical objects of interest located in the neighbourhood, where Albania was declared independent. Furthermore, one of the speakers talked about the local government’s promotion strategy regarding the old city centre and cultural heritage, stressing the role that young people can play on establishing cultural programmes and strategy.
An interesting point of discussion between the Director of the Regional Youth Centre and the Director of the Ethnographic Museum of Vlora was about how open local cultural actors are to youth participation in cultural activities, what needs to be done to make cultural programmes more interesting and more accessible for young people, and how to increase the participation of the youngest in preserving and promoting local cultural heritage.
On their part, the students were enthusiastic about using social media as a key way to spread cultural information, connecting the actors, checking the locations and promoting cultural places.
In the end, talented young artists performed traditional dances with traditional local clothes and played local musical and folkloristic heritage by violin.
The visit at the Ethnographic Museum was the closing activity with regards to ‘’Culture is in’’, held as part of the CLINK project for the promotion of cultural heritage.
The main goal of the CLINK project is to raise interest in cultural heritage with direct and indirect participants, awareness of EU policies on cultural heritage and ways of its promotion, protection and sustainable use for socio-economic development of societies, as well as an enforced sense of belonging to a common European space.
The project is implemented by 10 partners from Croatia, France, Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Albania, and is supported by the program Европа для граждан of the European Union.
Meet ALDA+ at its info days in Vicenza, Brussels and Skopje!
You may think you know what ALDA and ALDA+ are all about, but you may as well need to think again: while we often talk about our projects, partners, members and networks, there is also more to what we do… and we want to let you know about it!
With its ALDA+ activities, ALDA provides a wide range of services such as training and capacity building activities, technical assistance, and ad-hoc consultancy on different topics – including but not limited to project development and implementation; project financial management and audit; EU institutions; EU funds and programmes; citizens participation (methods and techniques); and non-formal youth education.
These services are provided with a tailor-made approach, thus targeting the specific needs of the partners and/or participants involved.
In order to better explain all of this, we have created three ALDA+ info days in our offices in Vicenza, Brussels and Skopje in the month of March:
1. Виченца – TO BE RE-ARRANGED in Viale Milano 36, 36100 Vicenza – Italy
2. Скопье – TO BE RE-ARRANGED in Bld. Partizanski odredi 43B/1-5 1000 Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia
3. Брюссель – TO BE RE-ARRANGED in Rue Belliard 20, Brussels 1040 – Belgium
Click on the location of your choice to подать заявку на участие: everyone is invited to participate, so please do come visit and bring someone you know who might be interested as well!
For any doubts or questions, please contact alda@aldaintranet.org.
We’re looking forward to seeing you!
You may think you know what ALDA and ALDA+ are all about, but you may as well need to think again: while we often talk about our projects, partners, members and networks, there is also more to what we do… and we want to let you know about it!
With its ALDA+ activities, ALDA provides a wide range of services such as training and capacity building activities, technical assistance, and ad-hoc consultancy on different topics – including but not limited to project development and implementation; project financial management and audit; EU institutions; EU funds and programmes; citizens participation (methods and techniques); and non-formal youth education.
These services are provided with a tailor-made approach, thus targeting the specific needs of the partners and/or participants involved.
In order to better explain all of this, we have created three ALDA+ info days in our offices in Vicenza, Brussels and Skopje in the month of March:
1. Виченца – TO BE RE-ARRANGED in Viale Milano 36, 36100 Vicenza – Italy
2. Скопье – TO BE RE-ARRANGED in Bld. Partizanski odredi 43B/1-5 1000 Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia
3. Брюссель – TO BE RE-ARRANGED in Rue Belliard 20, Brussels 1040 – Belgium
Click on the location of your choice to подать заявку на участие: everyone is invited to participate, so please do come visit and bring someone you know who might be interested as well!
For any doubts or questions, please contact alda@aldaintranet.org.
We’re looking forward to seeing you!
Innovative financial instruments at the local level
RECOV 3rd international conference: conclusions and recommendations
The 3rd international event within the RECOV project took place in Lisbon, Portugal from October 21st to 23rd, 2019. The conference was entitled “Innovative and sustainable financial instruments for local governments”, with a special focus on EU rules and mechanisms and on new sustainable financial instruments for Public Administrators (PAs) in response to the economic crisis.
The event aimed to debate the financial instruments that allow municipalities to be more inclusive, and to deal with the economic crisis thanks to the involvement of citizens and collaborative actions. Its purpose was to bring together international participants working in the field of public financing in order to answer how the new sustainable financial instruments for PAs are responding to the economic crisis.
This two days’ international occasion was structured around a number of thematically-focused sessions during which participants presented their work and had the possibility to learn more about the topic.
This event was organised by the Clube intercultural Europeu in coordination with the European Association for Local Democracy – ALDA, and the RECOV project is financed through the programme Европа для граждан.
Conclusions and recommendations available ЗДЕСЬ.
The 3rd international event within the RECOV project took place in Lisbon, Portugal from October 21st to 23rd, 2019. The conference was entitled “Innovative and sustainable financial instruments for local governments”, with a special focus on EU rules and mechanisms and on new sustainable financial instruments for Public Administrators (PAs) in response to the economic crisis.
The event aimed to debate the financial instruments that allow municipalities to be more inclusive, and to deal with the economic crisis thanks to the involvement of citizens and collaborative actions. Its purpose was to bring together international participants working in the field of public financing in order to answer how the new sustainable financial instruments for PAs are responding to the economic crisis.
This two days’ international occasion was structured around a number of thematically-focused sessions during which participants presented their work and had the possibility to learn more about the topic.
This event was organised by the Clube intercultural Europeu in coordination with the European Association for Local Democracy – ALDA, and the RECOV project is financed through the programme Европа для граждан.
Conclusions and recommendations available ЗДЕСЬ.
Towards ALDA 2020: so many achievements… and the best is yet to come!
As the year 2020 marks ALDA’s 20th anniversary, its growth isn’t just a matter of age but also a matter of size: in the past few years, in fact, ALDA has considerably increased in very physical ways, including the number of its staff members, offices, width of geographical areas covered… and, most recently, our office in Vicenza changed, too!
As the year 2020 marks ALDA’s 20th anniversary, its growth isn’t just a matter of age but also a matter of size: in the past few years, in fact, ALDA has considerably increased in very physical ways, including the number of its staff members, offices, width of geographical areas covered… and, most recently, our office in Vicenza changed, too!
Civil tech and CSOs towards a pan-European civil society
