Project “ACT together” in Romania part.3

The month of June started with a event to celebrate the Children day in the 1st of June in one of the bigger squares of the city, with the participation of the volunteers from ACT together, supported by the colleagues from Action Changes Things, other group of volunteers that have another project in Asociatia Comunitati pentru Tineret. During this day, the volunteers had the chance to provide to children and youth a day of joy, fun and full of amusement. Team games, dancing and having the chance to listen to music played by some volunteers.

Since one of the goals is to spread the Erasmus + opportunities as much as possible, the volunteers went to Bailesti, a small city in the surrounding area of Craiova to spread the benefits that, such an experience as volunteering, can change their lives for better.

As an association that tries to promote team work and cooperation as ACT does, ACT Together also made part of some of the final activities of their colleagues from Action Changes Things in their last moments with some of their beneficiaries. A gracious chance to work with disadvantage beneficiaries which gave them an idea of this particular community and experience that, for sure, they will use in the future.

Language clubs continue to be provided for the interested beneficiaries in a weekly schedule, with english, french, spanish, portuguese, greek and georgian as example. With this sessions, both, the volunteers and the beneficiaries had improved  personal skills that could be quite useful for both. Also guitar lessons started to be given by on of our talented volunteers.

After establish a good relation with the stakeholders and beneficiaries of Bailesti, ACT Together did an event so they could interact, entertain, share they’re work and capacity to bring such a wonderful opportunity for the beneficiaries that could be, to became a volunteer.

With the period of summer and the consequent start of holidays in schools, the volunteers start also to start personal development activities and working with a more eclectic community, such an example is the Aripi de Lumina social center where they implement activities nowadays, an institution that works for youth coming from families with few resources.

Helping children to learn how to swim and to bring them joy in such an environment as a swimming pool can supply, gave them the chance also to improve some children opportunities to have beautiful moments together. Responsibility, sense help and pedagogic skills are only a few capabilities developed.

Videos, tutorials, lives on social networks are tools that the volunteers have been developing and presenting in the previous days on their online platforms. Their experience must be spread, so could be easier to understand the privilege of being a volunteer.

More surprises are coming until the end of the project and the motivation to reach the goals won’t stop!

Project "ACT together" in Romania part.2

Our Portuguese participant Marisa is on the volunteering project in Romania from beginning of March. First part of associations report you can find here.

After two weeks of stoppage regarding the Easter holidays, ACT Together is already at full power again.

The beginning of the third month of the project, was toasted with European Week, from the 6th till the 9th of may, and it was proposed to the volunteers to approach this thematic in a wider spectrum in the institutions. During this week, the volunteers were doing interviews to some beneficiaries as well as to others volunteers. This interviews were regarding issues like European Union, our organization as a continent and the personal perceive and perspective of democracy in Europe. They were recorded and publish on Europe's day, the 9th of may on social platforms they used to work with as Facebook or Instagram.


Part of the team was, at the same time, having their on-arrival training at Bucharest, during the first week after holidays where they were receiving this important process of learning to help them to support their colleges, team output, personal development and be more prepared do face the challenge of their own project.

After the first presentation at Bals, the work proceed in this school with the next steps, the explanation of the necessary details about European Solidarity Corps, with all the process of becoming a volunteer being described and the fundamental ways to enroll in the platform of ESC. Once is a volatile project, and has the interest of reaching a large number of beneficiaries in different institutions, the work to establish new partnerships and possible institutions doesn't stop. Example of that are the schools where the volunteers started to work with during this month. Liceul Voltaire, Energy Technical College, Tudor Arghezi High School, Scoala Gimnaziala Traian and Tudor Arghezi High School in Segarcea. In all of this institutions the volunteers started to present the association, following the presentation of themselves and the project they are working with, and started the activities regarding the objectives of the project. During the past weeks of the month, all this institutions had the chance to receive ACT Together team in person.

Depending on their specifications, the method of establish the meetings and the activities have been  adapted and built to reach the maximum potential of the project goals. Interviews, debates and interactive gam
es have been examples of some methods used. Since the proactivity and ambition don't stop, the volunteers also did an approach to the University of Craiova, so it can also, possibly become one more community of interest where they could collaborate.

All the possible interested beneficiaries have been addressed to have some extra support regarding possible enrolls as future volunteers, for that, the ACT Together volunteers received some beneficiaries in their office, with the purpose of complementing doubts, curiosities, questions and additional information that could help them to be more clear about local or international volunteering opportunities.

In the following weeks they will keep to raise awareness of the volunteering life, the ESC promotion, try to enroll more volunteers in the Solidarity Corps platform and reach as much youth as they could.

Project ACT together - report from Romania part.1

ACT Together project is already underway.

The project started in the beginning of March with only 4 volunteers and we complete the team the first week of April. In that moment we count on 10 internationals volunteers.

For all of them, the part of community discovery is done. The volunteers met the management team and with the mentor help, they got to know the city better. Also, at the institutional level they were involved in the meetings to arrange the activities. In this moment they establish directly with the teachers and with the students in charge of the activities the weekly schedule. That has provided them an added responsibility and a higher involvement in the project.

The first part of the team was in charge to create all the materials that we need to make the promotions and the presentations in the schools:
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/acttogethercraiova/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/acttogethercraiova/?hl=en

They also designed their poster, logo, flyers and a presentation model based on non- formal education. During one week they worked alongside our other project Action Changes Things, that started in January. In this week they took part in the activities of this project getting a better understanding of how non formal education works and what can provide to the students and then adapted this knowledge to their own activities and objectives.

Once they had their promotional material ready, it was time to start with the presentation of the project, in four high schools in Craiova and another one in the surroundings of the city. The results of this first interaction were even better than expected and the volunteers not only presented their project in the centres but also met with the most involved students in our office since they manifested a true interest in taking part in volunteering projects and Youth Exchanges during this summer. This has increased the energy of the volunteers that now see possible to involve even more youngsters than predicted at the beginning of the project.

The first group volunteers also took part the On Arrival Training in Bucharest during this month. In this training they participated in sessions that gave them a more clear picture of what volunteering means, of how to approach their beneficiaries and their communities and provided them really useful tools to accomplish their goals during this six months such new kinds of activities, improving their social skills and become more self-confident. The training has been also a great opportunity for them to learn new kinds of activities and meet with other volunteers which allowed them to share their experience and learn from others.

In this month has also taken place the volunteering festival in Craiova. This huge event involved several associations based in Craiova that work with international volunteers from the European Solidarity Corps. During the whole day they promoted their projects providing the public with information about their projects, samples of their activities and different shows such us concerts or flash mobs. In this day managed to reach to a lot of people that didn't had a clue about volunteering and Erasmus+ and opened the door for further collaboration between the associations of the city.

During the last week before holidays the volunteers participated in several events in different sorts of centers, sometimes doing their regular activities and other times helping the centers and the teachers to do their own. Finally, the whole team participated in the Capacity Building Program. In this program the volunteers participated in sessions given by the managing team of the organization. In these sessions they received new information and guidance about the meaning and the goals of the project, the volunteering itself, the way the project can be an excellent opportunity to develop their skills and learn new things and how to deal with the difficulties that will find in their way during this six months. They also learnt how to use the flexibility of the project for their advantage having the chance to think about new kinds of activities and events that can help them accomplish their goals while providing them with new experiences.