“Fellowship of Volunteers” in Estonia

GENERAL INFORMATION:

  • Project: Fellowship of Volunteers
  • Coordination organization: Noored Ühiskonna Heaks
  • Location: various locations around Estonia
  • Deadline for application: 10th of July
  • Project start date: September 2020
  • Number of volunteers: 9

NÕO YOUTH CENTER

  • Duration: 11 months
  • Time: September 2020 – August 2021
  • Place: Nõo, Tartu county

Profile of the volunteer: “We are looking for a volunteer who has the desire to work with children and young people, is not afraid of rural areas and is willing to pass on his/her knowledge and skills and learn through it”
Main activities: We expect that volunteer will enrich youth center open area activities with her/his competences, skills and interests. Like carrying out open workshops in youth center and occasionally in village centers (Meeri village center, Laguja youth room) – cooking, handicraft and recycling workshops or something according to volunteer ́s skills, experience, interests. Activities that expand the image of the world for the youth. Also design new activities and opportunities in the youth center, develop the environment for the open youth work, support youth initiative projects and help to carry them out. One of the volunteer’s tasks can be also supporting active youth group – assisting them on planning and implementation of events. To ensure its continuity, help to recruit new members to the group.
We have some examples what we are expecting from volunteer, but the concrete tasks will be settled up with volunteer and tutor:
– language lessons in school or youth center (volunteer will teach her/his mother language to youngsters);
– intercultural learning activities (cultural evenings in youth center, other places nearby);
– organized activities in the youth center open area (workshops in different topics – film, art, craft, adventure games, IT, acting);
– short time projects in cooperation with kindergarten and school, also other youth centers in
the area;
– trainings for youngsters (project writing, project coordination etc.);
– youth camps on school breaks;
– as the youth center rooms are rented out for birthday parties, then there is a possibility to be a party leader.
Other opportunities in the area:
Health trails and events in nature – Vapramäe-Vellavere-Vitipalu SA (www.vvvs.ee)
Volunteering at different events organized by village centers, cultural house, observatory, school, kindergarten, music school etc.
Taking part in Youth organizations activities like Girl Guides and Scouts, Nõo Volunteer
Rescue Association for their prevention events.
Leading different activities and communicating with youngsters will develop also volunteer and she/he will get valuable experience.

Project in the Youth Portal: https://europa.eu/youth/solidarity/placement/2201_en

SOS KEILA CHILDREN’S VILLAGE

  • Duration: 12 months
  • Time: September 2020 – September 2021
  • Place: Keila, Harjumaa

Profile of the volunteer: The volunteer we are looking for should be active and ready towork with children with special needs. We hope for the volunteer to speak good English but Russian language skill and driving license helps also. We hope the volunteer to be able to organize activities independently. Personality traits what we are looking for are open mindedness, patience, activeness and supportiveness.
Main activities: The volunteer will be working daily with children, doing all kinds of different activities. Our Children’s Village offers home for 58 children from the age of 4 to 18. The village consists of 13 houses and each house has around 4 kids. The family consists of children, SOS-mother and SOS-aunt. Our plan for the future is to move out of the village, that would mean that every family would move to their own private property and would become more independent like a real family. We are in the process of doing so but still we have families that have children with special needs that need extra care and the volunteers job would be to support the SOS-mothers and SOS-aunts. Most families won’t be moving out soon, so there is still a need to do activities with the children in the village. The families that move out will still be supported, but it would be more flexible work and not so often. During the summer vacation we have many common outdoor-activities and trips. Many of the trips will be organized by the social workers and volunteers job would be to participate and support the children throughout or propose any new activities. We encourage the volunteer to organize any activities independently. We have funds to organize different activities with
the kids, that the volunteer can use with the help of the tutor. The purpose of the volunteer would be to support the families and also give the kids a chance to explore different culture and practise English language skills. With the help of tutor the volunteer can organize English lessons, different hobby classes, activities dependent on the volunteers skills, experiences and knowledge. In the summertime the job would be more flexible and would mostly consist of outdoor-activities. The volunteer would be responsible for its own working schedule, since the work is flexible and changing to children’s needs. There are many
opportunities to create activities in the surrounding nature. We have many sports activity fields and going swimming is something children are very fond of during summertime.
Annual events in summertime we have are Children’s Village birthday, SOS Football cup, canoeing trip and many more.
During the school year the children will be busy with school and hobbies. So the activities should be more in the evenings and on the weekends. That’s the time when children need help with their English studies. English study and hobby class can be arranged during the week.
In the mornings it’s possible to help out in the nursery school. The educators in the nursery school need assistance with everyday things. Teaching children basic English words and playing games with them and for them to be in contact with someone foreign is a good practice to experience different culture. During the school year the schedule can change also, because we many times organize different events in in the weekends. If the vacation days will be interrupted then another free day will be organized on other days expense.

Project in the Youth Portal: https://europa.eu/youth/solidarity/placement/2198_en

HOOLEKANDETEENUSED SA – support home for disabled people

  • Organization: Hoolekandeteenused Kodijärve Home
  • Duration: 12 months
  • Time: September 2020 – September 2021
  • Place: Kodijärve, Tartu County

Profile of the volunteer: looking for 2 volunteers! We expect that the volunteer is committed to the project, is independent and active, positive, open minded, flexible and willing to learn. Also active to support our clients in everyday activities, working activities, hobbies and also to be ready to give suggestions to improvement of our service. Some experience in work with people with special needs would be and advantage. Positive way of life, friendliness and sociability are the characteristics that describe a successful volunteer candidate. We also expect the candidate to be reliable, responsible and taking initiative.
Main activities: Volunteers have the opportunity to decide for themselves when planning their activities. For example, some Saturdays or Sundays may include scheduled activities with clients, sometimes the day may be longer than shown in the table above (for example, if clients are planning to travel out of home, visit a cinema with clients, and specific work assignments and detailed work schedules (including rest and entry times) and changing the
weekly schedule as appropriate.
We are expecting volunteer to:
● support and guide clients in their work assignments;
● support clients in using services in the local community (cinema, theater, public transportation etc.);
● organize and carry out gatherings and groups for clients (gardening, sports, handicraft, photography, cooking, movie nights, reading etc.);
● organize and help activity coordinators in arranging different functions and parties or spring bees, birthdays etc.;
● help activity coordinators in their everyday work;
● make suggestions in enhancing our services.

Project in the Youth Portal: https://europa.eu/youth/solidarity/placement/22004_en

  • Organization: Hoolekandeteenused Viljandi Näituse Unit
  • Duration: 12 months
  • Time: September 2020 – September 2021
  • Place: Viljandi

Profile of the volunteer: We expect that the volunteer is committed to the project, is independent and active, positive, open minded, flexible and willing to learn. Also active to support our clients in everyday activities, working activities, hobbies and also to be ready to give suggestions to improvement of our service. Some experience in work with people with special needs would be and advantage. Positive way of life, friendliness and sociability are the characteristics that describe a successful volunteer candidate. We also expect the candidate to be reliable, responsible and taking initiative.
Main activities: We are expecting volunteer to:
● support and guide clients in their work assignments;
● support clients in using services in the local community (cinema, theatre, public transportation etc.);
● organize and carry out gatherings and groups for clients (gardening, sports, handicraft, photography, cooking, movie nights, reading etc.);
● organize and help activity coordinators in arranging different functions and parties or spring bees, birthdays etc.;
● help activity coordinators in their everyday work;
● make suggestions in enhancing our services.

Project in the Youth Portal: https://europa.eu/youth/solidarity/placement/22000_en

 

TALLINNA LASTESÕIM HELLIK

  • Duration: 10 months
  • Time: September 2020-July 2021
  • Place: Tallinn

Profile of the volunteer: Hellik is looking for an enthusiastic young person, who would love to work with children in the age of 1,5-3 years. We are hoping to host a person who is motivated to do this work 7 hours a day and 5 days in a row.

Main activities: In Hellik Nursery the volunteer would be working alongside with class teacher and teaching assistant with children from different ethnic backgrounds between the age of 1,5 to 3 yrs.
Hellik Nursery has two different age groups: 1,5-2 years and 2-3 years. Volunteer would be asked to work in different age groups every week (where the help is most needed).
Some activities include:
– introduce his/her country of origin to the children of our kindergarten, their parents and staff through different events throughout the school year.
Eg. Photo exhibition or other display about his/her country of origin, food tasting, introduction
of games etc.
– accompany teachers and groups of up to 18 children going on mini trips to museums, exhibitions, libraries, nature etc.
– help the teacher in preparation of learning materials for everyday teaching activities (e.g. prepare worksheets, copy materials, taking out paints, pencils etc.).
– help the teacher and children during the everyday teaching activities and outside playtime (e.g. Art tasks, playing with children etc.).
– help to dress, look after and feed the younger children, support them in their daily activities as well as older children.
– organize sports activities for children (e.g. a weekly outdoor sports activity).
In addition to that, we have traditional events where volunteer can help us. You can see all the events here: https://www.tallinn.ee/est/hellik/
With these activities, volunteer will get a wide experience and knowledge of a child’s development and learning process, she/he will get to know pedagogical aspects/ways of teaching kids, developing his/her intercultural and interpersonal competencies, develop ways and competences to work with different stakeholders (for example parents). Besides that, volunteer will develop his/her team work and self-expression skills, cooperation and learn to analyze situations based on child’s perspective.

Project in the Youth Portal: https://europa.eu/youth/solidarity/placement/5733_en

TALLINNA PLANEEDI MUDILA

  • Duration: 10 months
  • Time: September 2020 – July 2021
  • Place: Tallinn

Profile of the volunteer: an enthusiastic young person, who would love to work with children in the age of 1,5-3 years.
Main activities: In Planeedi Nursery the volunteer is working together with a class teacher for children between the age of 1,5 to 3 years. Volunteer’s tasks involve assisting the teacher with everyday activities: dressing, eating, playing. To help with the materials that the teacher uses for lessons. Also, the volunteer will have the chance to create new materials and bring new topics to the lessons. For example, to bring games and methods from the kindergartens of the country of origin. Also, using her/his own skills, the volunteer can teach new competences to the staff and the children. In addition, the volunteer will be organizing events for the families of the children, to get to know a new culture and other leisure time activities that would integrate the volunteer to the nursery and to have a contact with the parents for a more trustful relationship.

Project in the Youth Portal: https://europa.eu/youth/solidarity/placement/5736_en

TALLINN KINDERGARTEN KIKAS

  • Duration: 9 months
  • Time: September 2020 – June 2021
  • Place: Tallinn

Profile of the volunteer: The volunteer who will join us for the school year must love children and playing with them. It could be very useful if she/he has previous experiences with young children. She/he must be a kind, friendly and courageous person who is willing to teach something new from him/herself. She/he must respect our culture and customs as well as be cooperative with other employees.
Main activities: The main task is to assist the teacher in the everyday work. But we strongly encourage our volunteer to bring something from her/him or hers/his home country to our activities. So when the volunteer is willing she/he can give a little art/sport/dance/ect. lesson to the children.
As we have children in different ages in our kindergarten, the volunteer can practice the work with a 3 year old and also older, 6-7 year old.
This year we have a very wonderful group of children in our group. We have 14 sweet girls and 4 curious boys. So if you are good in braiding hair and pretending to be a princess you are perfect for us 🙂
Main tasks are following:
– participate and help teachers in lessons or in games (playtime) with children,
– prepare lessons and materials for activities,
– help our music teacher in music lessons: she/he can bring songs, games and sometimes teach simple songs in her/his language,
– help to prepare festivals or holidays and exhibitions: teach songs, dances and drama
– make exhibitions about her/his country,
– could be organizing for teachers different events, such as culture clubs.

Project in the Youth Portal: https://europa.eu/youth/solidarity/placement/21994_en

TALLINN LINNUPESA KINDERGARTEN

  • Duration: 11 months
  • Time: September 2020-August 2021
  • Place: Tallinn

Profile of the volunteer: “Our volunteers has to be open minded and ready to work with kids. This work needs calm and creative person. Our volunteer likes to try new things and not afraid of multimedia and robotics. Our volunteer has some extra value he/she wants to spread with us. Educational degree isn’t needed. Our volunteer has to have shiny eyes and singing heart. Hopefully he/she has a little child inside who wants to get out. Our volunteer is definitely ready to jump into the frozen sea”.
Main activities: Volunteer is working 5 days per week, approximately six hours a day. It depends our weekly plans (see the example below). Our expectations for volunteer are:
* Always there for the kids, playing games, coordinating activities, helping and guiding them while they are working individually or groups.
* Once a week will do morning circe (depending on the weeks theme, plan and organise everything for the circle and conduct it.
* Taking part in our meetings and in the beginning introducing himself/herself to our organisation personnel. Planning intercultural night for personnel.
* Taking part every day activity in our Sunbeams (Päikesekiired) group and helping teachers with artworks.
* Taking photos and videos in our daily activities and putting together a blog- with the help of teacher or assistants.
* Preparing worksheets if necessary
* Taking part in the study visits (expeditions), in outdoor education and in the movement activities Assisting the teachers in the preparation of the traditional house events – sports days, study visits, field trips, excursions, etc.
* Helps to decorate the rooms.
* Creates plan of action for robotics lessons. Every other week has robotics for the kids who want to participate.

Project in the Youth Portal: https://europa.eu/youth/solidarity/placement/21999_en

Project “Maarjaküla for Solidarity”. Looking for 3 volunteers to Maarja Village homes for people with learning disability.
The aim is to create solidarity among young people towards people with fewer opportunities. It is about creating a dialogue between individuals in different stages of their life, to reinforce understanding, cooperation and once again, solidarity. All this comes with participants improving their skills and competences to assure better possibilities in the labor market and enhancing personal skills to become a more tolerant and exemplary citizen of Europe and the world. The activities of the project include supporting people with learning disabilities to take care of themselves and grow independency, making activities to stimulate their days and fill it with learning by doing moments. As well as, using the skills, interests and hobbies of the volunteers to teach, create and entertain.

FOUNDATION MAARJA VILLAGE

  • Duration: 12 months
  • Time: September 2020 – September 2021
  • Place: Maarjaküla, Tartu County

Profile of the volunteer: Looking for 2 volunteers! One of the principles of Maarja Village, is to have no discrimination towards gender or background of volunteers. As mentioned before, one of our main ideas why we welcome all candidates, regardless of their background, is to develop our organization by meeting different challenges and providing young people possibilities to be valued member of our foundation. Our experience shows, that it does not matter if the volunteer has had any previous contact with the area of special needs. We prefer volunteers, who are interested in our way of life.
Main activities: Foundation Maarja Village is a competence centre for people with learning disability. Our aim is to support people with learning disability to become equal members of Estonian society. Volunteers accompany inhabitants of Maarja village. Creating activities and workshops with them, assisting them with their daily activities etc. On Tuesdays, volunteers have reflection day, tutor and mentor meetings and time to create their own initiative projects. That day will also be used for learning experiences that might not have to be connected with Maarja village work activities: getting to know local community and participating activities there, getting to know Estonia and Estonian people.

Project in the Youth Portal: https://europa.eu/youth/solidarity/placement/22008_en

FOUNDATION MAARJA VILLAGE – Tartu Home

  • Duration: 12 months
  • Time: September 2020 – September 2021
  • Place: Tartu

Profile of the volunteer: One of the principles of Maarja Village, is to have no discrimination towards gender or background of volunteers. As mentioned before, one of our main ideas why we welcome all candidates, regardless of their background, is to develop our organization by meeting different challenges and providing young people possibilities to be valued member of our foundation. Our experience shows, that it does not matter if the volunteer has had any previous contact with the area of special needs. We prefer volunteers, who are interested in our way of life.
Main activities: Foundation Maarja Village is a competence centre for people with learning disability. Our aim is to support people with learning disability to become equal members of Estonian society. Volunteers accompany inhabitants of Maarja village Tartu home. Creating activities and workshops with them, assisting them with their daily activities etc. On Tuesdays, volunteers have reflection day, tutor and mentor meetings and time to create their own initiative projects. That day will also be used for learning experiences that might not have to be connected with Maarja village work activities: getting to know local community
and participating activities there, getting to know Estonia and Estonian people.

Project in the Youth Portal: https://europa.eu/youth/solidarity/placement/22010_en

ACCOMMODATION:The accommodation costs are covered. Volunteer will live in a shared flat equipped with all the necessary utilities for comfortable living. The flat will be located not far from the activities place.
ALLOWANCE:Each month volunteer’s receive a total of 270€ pocket and food money.
TRANSPORT:The transportation from home country to Estonia and back will be covered according to the distance calculator of Erasmus+ program: https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/resources/distance-calculator_en

The local transport card or a bicycle will be provided.
INSURANCE:The volunteer will have Cigna Health insurance.
LANGUAGE SUPPORT: The volunteer will have access to the Online Language Support to learn Estonian.
TRAINING CYCLE: The volunteer will have an on-arrival and mid-term training provided by the Estonian National Agency.
GENERAL SUPPORT: The volunteer will have a mentor to help with any issue and support the learning process. Every 10 weeks a meeting with all the volunteers and coordinators will take place in different parts of Estonia to evaluate the progress of the volunteering projects, to set goals, socialize and discover new locations in Estonia.

HOW TO APPLY?

Apply by sending us your CV and Motivation letter (with the subject of your email marked with a project name)  on advit_team@yahoo.com 

enquire for more infromation