EVS vacancy at J.F.Carnide: Senior Academy (Lisbon, Portugal)

Associação Spin, acting as the coordinating organization, is currently looking for one Spanish volunteer for our partner institution, Junta de Freguesia de Carnide.

Host: Junta de Freguesia de Carnide (2011-PT-5)
Coordinator: Associação Spin (2012-PT-21)
Sending: Ayuntamiento de Murcia (2010-ES-132)
Project name: Carnide Plus
Activity start date: 1st September 2014
Activity end date: 31st August 2015
Activity duration: 12 months
Vacancies: 1 (for Spanish residents exclusively)
Application deadline: 3rd August 2014
Application consists of: CV and project-specific motivation letter
Application sent to: planjoven@ayto-murcia.es

The hosting institution, Junta de Freguesia de Carnide, is the local administrative unit of the Carnide area in Lisbon. In this organization, the volunteer is going to work in the Senior Academy (a type of a Third Age University).

The volunteer’s tasks will be to:

• Cooperate with Senior Academy’s volunteers and Coordinators
• Support the cultural and recreational activities promoted in the Academy, such as language and dance classes
• Promote and implement cultural and recreational workshops for the seniors (ex: language teaching workshop, dance, handicrafts..)
• Participate and support the Organization of Senior’s Arraial (Popular party)
• Support to organization and implementation of cultural visits
• Participate in Elder’s summer colonies

“Junta de Freguesia de Carnide” intends to support the volunteers to create their own events or initiatives, in accordance with their principles and upon Board’s approval. To get a general idea of the EVS at Junta de Freguesia de Carnide, watch a four-part documentary made about the previous volunteers (it is in Portuguese): part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4.

Conditions:
Volunteers are expected to spend 30-35 hours a week working. Their timetable will include space for work at the Academy, language lessons, days off, social activities and development of their own project ideas, etc.

Concerning the stay of the EVS volunteers, the coordinating organization, Associação Spin, will provide the lodging in an apartment, double bedroom with fully equipped kitchen, toilet, laundry facilities and living room. The costs with electricity, water, gas, tv, are covered by the Coordinating Organization. The volunteers will have to share the apartment with other volunteers/students/young people. Each volunteer will also be sharing their room with another youngster, volunteer or student, of the same gender. The flat will have all standard and safe living conditions as well as respect all hygiene and general Portuguese safety standards. It will be located as close as possible to the workplace and the city center. The Coordinating Organization will provide towels and bed linen for the entire period of the project.

The volunteer will use the public transportation network with the “Lisboa Viva” card which will be provided.

A monthly allowance is provided by the coordinating organization to cover food expenses and local public transportation, including also pocket money. The volunteer will be provided with lunch free of charge on every working day.

Volunteer profile:
We are looking for young motivated volunteers aged 18-30, open minded, eager to learn about new cultures and lifestyles, as well as to participate in the project activities in the local community. It is not required to have any particular degree of formal education, but to have positive and proactive attitude, show tolerance, flexibility, motivation and enthusiasm. We encourage applications especially from youngsters who already have some experience in volunteering or in working with the elderly and are, at this moment, available to commit to a long term experience of volunteer work abroad and willing to know more about the work developed with and for the seniors of a special Lisbon community of Carnide. Priority is given to candidates with fewer opportunities (please consult the sending organization whether this status applies in your situation). Any knowledge of Portuguese is a plus, however it is not a requirement.

Special remarks (please read carefully):

• this project has already received funding from the Erasmus+ Program, so it is sure that it starts in September
• only candidates residing in Spain can apply (our sending partner organization is from Spain, there is no possibility of change in this regard)
• we only accept complete applications that contain all the required documents
• we can´t consider applications sent after the deadline
• send your application to planjoven@ayto-murcia.es, applications sent through other communication channels (Facebook, Youthnetworks, etc.) will not be considered
• due to the high number of candidates, we are only able to contact the short-listed candidates (in order to invite them for a brief Skype interview)
• all the other candidates will be informed about the selection results by August, 17th through our website
• you can download this call in pdf from here