| Summary of the project: | Partners:
- 7 partner organizations based in programme countries (27 EU countries, Turkey, Croatia, Liechtenstein, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland)
Teams:
4 participants (aged 18-25) + 1 leader (no age limits) per partner
Summary:
2010 was the European year to fight poverty and social exclusion. 2011 will be the European year of volunteering. As you all know, there are homeless people all around Europe. They can be young or older but the fact is that they are living in the streets facing sometimes extreme poverty situations, lack of social and familiar support and mental health difficulties as well.
All EU countries, have more or less developed social strategies to face this social problem. With this youth exchange, ACV aims to promote awareness on the young participants about the homeless people issue and to give them not only the opportunity of getting to know the true reality of "What, why and how is being a homeless person in the EU?", but also to promote their will to undertake future actions to fight this problem in their local communities (working as volunteers, for instance). In this way, ACV will simultaneously empower young participants promoting their individual and social awareness, and also show them the voluntary work on this subject as a way of practicing actively their citizenship and contributing to the construction of a better EU.
Why is "homeless people" a theme that matters to the young Europeans? Because it’s not only a question of being a volunteer to help homeless people but it's also about how to promote better social youth networks and develop sustainable tools that help the youngsters of nowadays to fight against this reality and reach real results in their local communities. Youngsters that, given the economical crisis we're living today, can suddenly fall in situations of need and, in extremes cases, become also a homeless person, especially if they don't have enough family support to help them in situations such as unemployment or drugs and alcohol abuse.
Planned activities:
- Workshops, group dynamics, team building activities under the topics of social exclusion, discrimination, social problems and ways to fight the homeless people phenomenon;
- Experts' opinions and experience about the theme, successful cases;
- Living one day and one night in the streets of Lisbon to feel what is to be a homeless person with the presence and support of volunteers from a Portuguese organization that fights this problem;
- Study visits to Portuguese NGOs working with homeless people;
- Organization of a "Fight for the Homeless People" race, with a symbolic participation fee to help Portuguese NGOs working with homeless people (the idea is to organize a race circuit in the neighborhoods with more homeless people in Lisbon);
- Analyze the type of homeless people in Europe and in the cities where the participants come from. From that information, to draw a common strategy to build tools and programs that can help these persons to be reintegrated in the society;
- Search for best-practices cases in Europe and learn how to apply them in other realities.
How to apply to be a partner:
Send an email to educae@acv.org.pt with...
- A brief description of your organization and how you can contribute to this project (activities, ideas, similar past experiences, etc.);
- Name of project coordinator / contact person, direct email address and phone number;
- If you will include people with fewer opportunities in your team, how many and what are their backgrounds;
- What is your nearest airport and the cost (per person) to reach it from where you live (round trip);
- Cost estimation for a round trip ticket between your nearest airport and Lisbon airport;
- Cost of a visa to come to Portugal (if applicable);
- A scan of your fully filled part 3 (you can find the template enclosed, DO NOT USE OUTDATED FORMS) (alternatively, part 3 can also be sent by fax to +351 214 757 661, please mention that in your reply). To be sure your part 3 is correctly filled, please check the attached document.
Then, AFTER BEING SURE YOUR DIGITAL PART 3 IS CORRECT (CHECK THE ATTACHED DOCUMENT) AND HAVING SENT ALL THE INFORMATION REQUESTED ABOVE, send 2 ORIGINAL COPIES by post to:
Attn: Ana Rita Seirôco & Inês Duarte
Associação Cidadania Viva
Estrada Militar, 23A
Damaia
2720-192 Amadora
Portugal
Partners will be selected only from among original part 3s that have been received until the deadline.
Selected partners will be contacted afterwards. |
