Voluntariado europeo en Francia

Location:

Vienne, France

Dates

10 months from October 2017 until July 2018

Deadline 20 December 2016

Hosting organisation

The hosting of an European volunteer in Vienne is characterised by shared work carried out by two services who will host the volunteer: the Youth Information Office and the International Relations Office.

The Office  is a public structure which falls within a national approach on youth information while respecting the European youth information charter.
Being open to all youth, their families and youth workers, the main aims of us are distribution of information, guidance of youngsters and the realisation of events including special events such as Summer Job Fair, Summer Cinema, International Day, actions on accommodation, International Day against AIDS, …). It supports both the development of projects carried out by young people or cultural and social structures and the actions on school environment development.
Since 2007, the projects about Europe and international mobility have improved thanks to the actions of different volunteers hosted by us:
– an information point dedicated to Europe and the European mobility has been created,
– the network of partners has been broaden through engagement in various international projects such as the Eurodesk network, the IPM platform (Occupational Integration Mobility) and the Youth in Action multi-measure project entitled Polka which is co-managed by three partnering regions of Isère: the cities of Vienne and Grenoble and the Sud-Grésivaudan County. This kind of cooperation allows to build an international network of partners, host volunteers and organize seminars and youth exchanges.
The interventions carried out in schools are enriched with European themes and volunteers who present European Union and its mechanisms. The promotion of EVS, the discovery of new countries, new languages, and other cultures are a truly added value to the interventions.
A grant to projects initiated by a volunteer and entitled «Viennois Acteurs du Monde» is now a recognized measure which supports the initiatives of young people and enables young people to travel and work abroad each year.
The staff of Youth Information Office consists of 4 persons : one in charge of the overall themes on youth of Vienne, accompanied by three co-workers whose tasks revolve around the following themes: mobility in Europe and in the world, European measures, employment, integration, trainings, student life, support of projects, health, organizational tasks, accommodation, Eurodesk network.
The staff  works directly with young audience of Vienne (schools, students, applicants for employment, …) and its surrounding areas in relation to a departmental and regional network of youth information, teachers and local partners of health, employment, integration, cultural practices and sports. It is also directly linked with a network of foreign partners (twin cities, Eurodesk network, sending bodies of EVS, …).
The International Relations Department manages the international policy of the City of Vienne which involves 13 partnering towns all over the world. It handles different projects in several countries regarding heritage, tourism and, of course, international mobility for young people. It supports local organisations working in the international field.
Since ancient times, Vienne has always been known by a strong tradition of trade. The city still retains traces of various cultures that marked Europe in the course of its history.
The twinning of cities, initiated in 1956, proved the openness of Vienne at the European level. This engagement also illustrates the growing role of good relations between cities all over the world but especially emphasizes the importance Vienne attaches to dialogue between different nations and cultures.
The missions of the International Relations Office revolve around four objectives:
– The implementation of international actions of Vienne
– Monitoring of twinning arrangements
– The development of decentralized cooperation programmes
– Support for municipal services, associations and local structures in realising their European and international projects.
Vienne is also a member of different networks of local authorities: the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (AFCCRE), United Cities France (CUF) and the Alliance of European Cultural Cities (AVEC).

The department depends on the General Services Department and its work is assured by two staff members (service manager and project manager).
Since 2006, the convergence of the teams in charge of international relations and youth field has greatly helped to increase local officials’ certainty about beneficial outputs of international youth projects as they have a high importance in youths’ future life, e.g. learning foreign languages will develop sensitivity to cultural diversity, the discovery of new cultures will change their visions of Europe, in addition to understanding active European citizenship, developping expertise and therefore increasing their future employability and desire to be active.
The high number of projects realised every year demonstrates the strong will of youth.

The City of Vienne has lead for several years a dynamic policy in regard of international relations and therefore youth mobility is one of the common priorities between its youth services and department of international relations.
The similar priorities over youth field and internationality have allowed the Youth Information Office and the International Relations Department to widen their actions in terms of hosting and supporting. This project of European Voluntary Service thus allows the reinforcement of common actions between the services and to emphasise voluntarism of the city in regard to the promotion of the international mobility of young people and the promotion of a citizenship open to the world.
The City of Vienne has a diverse network of partners, consisting of several cities located in Europe (7), Mediterranean (3), South-Caucasus (1) and North America (1), which has been enriched thanks to hosting of volunteers, allowing to become closer with other countries: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Sweden, Estonia, Slovakia.
The cross-sector approach and defining features of two services enables to develop different projects, actions or measures such as:
supporting youth projects with grants through “Viennois Acteurs du Monde”, a functional measure created by a former volunteer,
– organising youth exchanges with our twin cities
– a partnership with the Sud-Grésivaudan County and the City of Grenoble in the framework of a multi-measure project entitled Polka, coordinated by a cooperative company named Kaléido’Scop, which allows the three partnering territories to increase their knowledge on youth policies and European policies by organising seminars and youth exchanges and hosting European volunteers. For Vienne, this inter-territorial activity is a logical continuation to the project entitled «a Passport to the world», established in context of “Hirsh testing” which helped to train youth workers on European mobility between 2010 and 2012. They provide additional value by distributing information and providing support for young people from different areas. Intercultural openness is seen in terms of regional territories, European and international level
– the Eurodesk network allows the Youth Information Office to widen its network of partners and communicate with international youth workers in relation to various projects.
The increasing need of supporting youth on local level has also had a positive impact on volunteers’ tasks.

Hosting of international volunteers has greatly evolved since 2006, with their tasks becoming more diverse as well. This is mainly influenced by each volunteer’s different expertise, knowledge of interculturality, European citizenship, the awareness of young people on European identity and the importance of European mobility.
All of this has been developed thanks to a wide range of contacts, from school students to applicants for employment.

Why to host an EVS volunteer in Vienne?
Welcoming a new member in one’s team calls into question the methods and projects: it is a good way of analysing and improving projects and overall methodology, as foreign volunteers introduce unique sides of other countries, cultures and their organisations.
The volunteer can bring new ideas and innovation to the organisations by looking at them in a new light.
He is also a way to motivate the local staff, to reinforce the European dimension of our projects and to inform local habitants about citizenship and international questions.
Therefore, the European volunteer is a real value for the hosting organisation.

Hosting experiences:

The City of Vienne has hosted in total of 8 European volunteers since August 30, 2005: Radka Peterova (Czech Republic), Lisa Rost (Germany), Diego Paganini (Italy), Nora Papp (Hungary), Laura Kindstrand (Sweden), Elina Praakel (Estonia), Lucia Sobekova (Slovakia) and Krister Sepp (Estonia).
All of them have taken part in meeting pupils and students of Vienne, organised different kinds of projects on international mobility and realised personal projects that have influenced local citizens. They have also participated in various seminars and trainings which have allowed them to acquire new knowledge and have guaranteed a thorough personal development.

project environment

Project environment
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Presentation of Vienne: located between Lyon and Valence, along the river Rhône, Vienne is a middle-sized town with about 30 000 inhabitants. With a rich heritage from the Antic period and an important cultural policy (thanks to local organisations and the city administration), Vienne is also a crossroad of cultures and populations.
There are more than 13 000 students between 6 and 20 in Vienne, which also aims to develop the touristic sector.
The European volunteer will live in a flat near the historical center and close to several cultural points of the City.

Proposed activities for EVS volunteers
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Tasks for the volunteer : to increase the European awareness of local citizens by supporting projects for young people, sharing information about the European mobility programmes allowing (EVS, Erasmus, Grundvigt, Leonardo…), meeting regularly young people to understand their needs and to support them in their projects.

Presentation of Vienne:
Located between Lyon and Valence, along the river Rhône, Vienne is a middle-sized town with about 30 000 inhabitants. With a rich heritage from the Antic period and an important cultural policy (thanks to local organisations and the city administration), Vienne is also a crossroad of cultures and populations.
There are more than 13 000 students between 6 and 20 in Vienne, which also aims to develop the touristic sector.
The European volunteer will live in a flat near the historical center and close to several cultural points of the City.
Main tasks of the volunteer
The international mobility of young people, intersection of missions of two hosting organisations: around this theme, a joint project between the two services is developed, and a part of the implementation of this project is entrusted to the volunteer. The monitoring of this project is shared between the two supervising services.
Reinforce an European dimension within staff members and public of Vienne in order to broaden the horizons of local people working at schools, associations, leisure centres, community centres etc and volunteer himself. One of the volunteer’s tasks is to create accessible training tools for local partners, e.g. games, puzzles, exhibitions, fairs, etc
Realise a personal project and assure a personal development throughout his long-term service: the personal project will be one of his main tasks to accomplish, in order to maintain the engagement and involvement of other young volunteers, and its subject should correspond to the actions of his hosting organisations.

Particular tasks of the volunteer.

Regarding international mobility of youth:
Accompanying youths and their sending structures, who want to acquire an international experience such as participating in an youth exchange, foreign sports event, realising personal projects etc. The volunteer will take part in those preparations and support the initiatives. For example, he will help to elaborate these kinds of projects by meeting with the high school students and distributing information on the grant entitled «Viennois Acteurs du Monde «.

Regarding European and international awareness:
It is essential that the volunteer works in cross-sector approach with various municipal services. Topics have already been identified which will enable him to meet with the different local associations: primary schools, secondary schools, leisure centres, social centres etc. He will distribute information about European awareness by meeting the structures and by offering them the tools and assistance
For example, participating in activities at extra-curricular time (between 12h and 14h) in primary schools by carrying out games on Europe, participating once a week in activities of leisure centre to raise awareness among children of different cultures, doing interventions in high schools about the work of BIJ, European Voluntary Service and other European programmes.

About personal project:

The volunteer will be in charge of a project on his own choice, linked with themes which will be entrusted to it. He will be accompanied by co-workers and will be given a small budget (approximately 500-1000 euros) to carry it out.
Everything will be made available for the European Volunteer to have a nice stay and take the most from the experience. Working days are composed of fixed hours of preparation (9am – 5pm) and more flexible hours of carrying out different projects and actions.
Volunteer’s working hours will be divided between International Relations Department (Monday to Wednesday morning) and Youth Information Office (Wednesday afternoon until Friday).
Volunteer’s working hours will be adapted according to different compulsory or optional trainings and gatherings: on-arrival training, midterm training, meetings of other volunteers etc.
Language classes will be provided by Alliance Française in Lyon which offers multiple advantages such as taking into account the needs of young people, meeting other European Volunteers and making new acquaintances. In addition, it is easy to commute between Lyon and Vienne by train. Volunteer is able to continue language classes in an association in Vienne.
Finally, the direct work with sending organisation should identify the interests and hobbies of the volunteer.

Volunteer profiles and recruitment process

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The location of Vienne in immediate surroundings of Lyon, medium size of the city and the particular expectations concerning the European volunteer have led to a setup of specific criteria in choosing volunteers.

Profile of volunteers
Partial knowledge of French is necessary in order to make contact with the citizens who don’t speak volunteer’s native language. However, linguistic skills are not a selection criteria as a language course is guaranteed for the volunteer in Alliance Française of Lyon so he could become acquainted with the French language.
There is also no specific age limit.

The criteria for selection are based on:
– Ability to adapt to a new environment, to be ready for an independent life
– Knowledge on communicating with the public
– Strong motivation
– Open-minded personality
– Capability of proposing personal initiatives
– Basic computer skills
As seen through the database of the European programme Youth in Action, there is a strong demand for volunteers in France. We also use our own network of contacts which we have developed through various seminars/meetings as it is a good way to exchange information on the requests for volunteers.
The selection process consists of two parts:
At first, the Selection Commission looks through all applications and retains those which seem to best correspond to the fixed standards (between 5 and 10 applications).
Then, the Selection Commission members carry out a phone or video interview with each candidate selected during the first selection in order to evaluate his motivation, will of commitment and capability.

Number of volunteers 1
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Risk prevention, protection and safety
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The volunteer will carry out his tasks under the supervision of a mentor who will support him throughout the project.

A mentorship will be set up in order to analyse the well-being of the volunteer, to help him solve problems and to facilitate his integration into social environment. For the past years, the tasks of tutoring have been entrusted to a person part of the staff of BIJ or SRI, both of which will have the responsibility of monitoring the volunteer during its project and working hours. In addition, the volunteer will have an external tutor who does not work in either organisation and will support the volunteer in its daily life.
Regular meetings are planned with the staff and tutors, particularly for the realisation of volunteer’s personal project.

The City of Vienne will take care of volunteer’s accommodation. The three-storeyed apartment where he will live is situated right in town centre, in close proximity to Town Hall and Youth Information Office. The apartment is provided by the Municipality of Vienne in partnership with the RIVHAJ association (Relay of Initiatives in the City for the Habitat of Young people) and ADVIVO (HLM office of the City of Vienne). This accommodation is reserved only for the EVS volunteers and offers many advantages: close to the city centre, four rooms (including a living room, two bedrooms and a mezzanine), big and pleasant, equipped with all elementary necessities, including refrigerator, washing machine, WiFi etc.

From Monday to Friday, the volunteer can eat at a local community restaurant of Vienne. This allows him to build a network of friends with other staff members of Vienne. For other meals, the volunteer will receive monthly pocket money. In addition to the monthly allowance of the EVS program, an allowance of 205 euros is allocated to cover the costs of food (evenings and weekend) and allow the volunteer to have access to cultural activities, sports, events etc.
A season train ticket is given to the volunteer so he can go to Lyon regularly, e.g. for his French lessons at the Alliance Française. Costs of transport regarding volunteer’s tasks will be reimbursed in total by the hosting organisation (training courses, conferences, seminars, trainings on Europe, etc.).
The sending organisation will be immediately informed when serious difficulties arise. Tutors and staff members of BIJ and SRI together with the sending organisation are responsible of finding solutions to the difficulties concerning volunteer’s activities or the realisation of his personal project. Both hosting and sending organisations face jointly with possible problems regarding integration by supporting and discussing it with the volunteer to find proper solutions.
The teams of BIJ and SRI will be accessible for the volunteer and he can approach them with any kind of problem.
An action plan will be created together with the volunteer at the beginning of each month which helps him to organise his actions with his co-workers. Decisions will by made and confirmed along with the volunteer.

How to apply