EVS - 2 weeks until the deadline - apply now!

I would like to remind you that there is one very cool program called EVS - European Voluntary Service. It's an opportunity for 18-30 years old people to go abroad and work as volunteers in different areas, to get local language curses (for free) to get accommodation and food, to gain working experience and just have fun. You just need sending and hosting organisations and MOTIVATION. As a volunteer you don't pay anything. Even travel expenses are covered by the National Agency. From the first sight the program sounds like impossible but IT'S POSSIBLE! I am EVS volunteer and believe me this is one of the coolest programs  for youth throughout the Europe. EVS is part of the Youth in Action -the program supported by European Commission. Now I'm not going to tell you what are goals and objectives of the program. You can find this information here ---> http://ec.europa.eu/youth/youth-in-action-programme/european-voluntary-service_en.htm

Today I want to tell you how to apply for this program. (For example from Lithuania)

First of all you need to have some motivation to go abroad and work there up to 12 months. After you make sure with yourself that you are ready, you need to find the project in which you would like to be involved. But pay attention that if you want to go for volunteering for instance from September 2012 you need to apply now, before the 1st May deadline. 

How to find the project? There is a huge database of EVS projects and accredited organisations on internet :P http://ec.europa.eu/youth/evs/aod/hei_en.cfm here you can find almost every project which are registered for EVS. BUT... on this website it's not very clear whether these organisations are looking for volunteers right now or not. That's why I would recommend to visit this website ----> http://www.youthnetworks.eu/ here you can find projects which start in September or October 2012 but are looking for applicants right not. I would recommend to start looking for the projects as soon as possible because if you wish to go for volunteering for instance from September 2012 you need to be selected by the hosting organization until the 1st of May 2012. Why? Because when the organisation selects a volunteer for the project they apply for financial support to National Agencies and this procedure takes a while. That's why usually you need to start looking for the project in advance. 

[Sometimes there are some projects which are already approved (they already have financial support) but they're still looking for volunteers for some reasons (selected volunteers changed their mind or something like that).. In this case the project might start after 2 months you found it and if you are ready to go after 2 months you can apply for this kind of projects.]

When you find the project which suits your interests and you think that you also suit the project send your motivation letter and CV to the contact person from this project. The contact information you can find in the descriptions of the project, usually they indicate it :) Well, it'll be better if you send your CV in  Europass format.. I would recommend to apply for different projects, not only for one. Then your job is done. You just need to wait... wait... wait until you get the positive response from one of the projects you've applied for. 

But to make EVS you also need sending organisation which will agree to send you abroad for EVS. The sending organisation should be from the country of your residence and you can find them in this database http://ec.europa.eu/youth/evs/aod/hei_en.cfm. [When you select the country you get the list of projects which are in this country and the list of organisations that are running these projects. There you will find S H and C which indicate the type of the organisation like  Sending, Hosting and Coordinating. So you need the one which says S. It might be both S and H, it's not a problem] 

By the way Siauliai Didzdvaris Gymnasium is sending organisation for EVS so if you are the student of this Gymnasium it should be easier for you to make EVS. 

After you've been selected by the project they write to you and ask for the contact details of your sending organisation. Then they deal with some documentation and formal stuff together. You will need to sign some agreements.. f.e. the document that you have never did EVS before ect. (You can make long-term EVS just once in your life ) and they apply for financial support. Than again you have to wait a bit (1-2 months:D) and then you will get one more letter with positive or negative response about the financial support. That's it. Official part is over here. Then you just need to prepare yourself  for a long and nice experience of living and working abroad.:) 

If you have some questions, don't hesitate to ask :) The program is really very nice and I wish I could do EVS once more. 

P.S. Here is the video about EVS made by EVS volunteers in Georgia. Enjoy :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUGYtzahEoQ

Manana

Mid-term Meeting (Late news:)))

Not that it took me 10 days to review our mid-term meeting. Just as usually I share information not on  time... But still...
10 days ago we came back from one of the most important (official) events in EVS life  - Mid-Term Meeting with other volunteers. Mid-term meeting is a part of the 'training cycle' in EVS program and it takes place in the middle of the service. On this meeting you can share with other volunteers how your EVS is going on and maybe even find some interesting solutions to temporary problems in your project.Well, as we already are in the middle of our volunteering service in Šiauliai the time for mid-term meeting has come.

Rabea and I were not really motivated to go on our Mid-term meeting because it was very cold and we simply were too lazy to travel from Šiauliai to DaugirdiŠkės which is located near Vilnius.. So it's quite far away from our beloved Šiauliai and there is no direct bus or train connection. Also we have no problems with our project or with each other..so far.. In short, we couldn't see a worthy cause to motivate ourselves for mid-term meeting.

Now we are back and I might say that we really enjoyed our Mid-term meeting and 5 days which we've spend in Daugirdiškės.

 We liked our group which consisted of 17 or 18 volunteers from all over the Europe and not only. We liked our trainers which have facilitated creation of a friendly and nice atmosphere during the meeting and not to forget - accommodation and food were also very good. The program of the meeting was also quite nice. It was flexible and also not overloaded. We've got some useful information about Youth pass. Most of the methods which were used to present our projects or problems during EVS were creative. We made some performances and some of them we'll remember for ever :D [Miki's performance for example.. Only participants will understand:P:P] Later on we cooked together for international dinner, it was really great! I helped a volunteer from Palestina Amjad to make Palestinian traditional meal "upside down", other volunteers cooked something traditional from their countries. Our dinner this evening was really international as we had food from Austrian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Czech and Palestinian cuisine. We enjoyed coocking and earting it a lot! :))) (I'll post some photos in the end of the article). Just one thing during this week Rabea and me didn't like was 1 hour walk in Trakai. Well, Trakai is beautiful place indeed and we really like it... but it was so cold, we thought we'll die there..:/ Other then that everything was ok :) We discussed different topics but in the end somehow concentrated on the topic "Life after EVS" as it seems to be the most important and actual affair for volunteers at this moment. I hope for some participants these discussions were useful and they found out some solutions for their problems or some ways how to lead their life after EVS. Well, for me the topic was not very important because I already know (more or less) how my life is going to be (or how I would like it to be) in 5 years. I plan to continue my studies (Public Policy and Administration) and find a job meanwhile in non-governmental organization which works on policy analysis. [Actually, there is another version of this story and by the way Rabea supports this version (about how do I see my life in 5 years). So I plan to become a housewife and I want to have lots of children.] We'll see which plan will work out:)))))


And I guess it will be a crime not to say few words about the place where our meeting was held. It took place in Daugirdiškės (I hope I wrote a correct name). It was really very nice village located in between Vilnius and Kaunas, and Mokimų centras Daugirdiškės is one of the nicest places for trainings or this kind of events. This center has three houses for different purposes. One is a quite big hall for trainings, another house is for accommodation purpose and third is sauna. So while one can have party after trainings, others who feel tired can sleep and they don't disturb each other. And of course for those who like sauna it's cool to have it there.


I'm happy that in the end our meeting turned out to be interesting and enjoyable. We met a lot of new volunteers and I think we've gained nice experience there. I wish to every participant good luck in their lives!

Manana




P.S. Some photos from our international dinner :)

Quiche (French)

Upside down (Palestinian)

Potato Soup (German)

Milk Rice (Portuguese)

Nussschnecken (German)

 That's all photos I have at the moment :)