EVS and YOUTH IN ACTION

Until now we have been receiving volunteers through WWOOF-like websites, and it has been a great and enriching experience. Recently we discovered the Youth in Action programme from the EU, and found that they have a volunteer exchange programme, that helps projects to cover a volunteer's expenses with subsidies. As we already work with volunteers, it seemed a logical step to apply for these subsidies, to give an extra economic stimulus to our project.

EVS works as a cooperation between sending organisations, hosting organisations and a coordinating organisation, which may also be one of the latter (we attached the YiA programme guide - EVS is action 2). Tribodar is now looking to host between 2 and 4 volunteers, from other EU countries, and to send up to 4 Portuguese volunteers to other eco-projects, acting as the coordinating organisation if necessary.

Concretely we are looking for project who would be interested in hosting one or more volunteers send by Tribodar, and to act as the sending organisation for volunteers coming to Tribodar. We can help you find the volunteers you would be sending to us, and will find volunteers to participate in your project. We intent to host volunteers for 12 months, letting them participate in all activities and tasks our project brings along.

If you are interested in getting involved in  EVS, you will need to become an accredited organisation. This means you have to fill out a form and apply for accreditation with the National Agency of Youth in Action of your country. Tribodar has already applied for accreditation and should get confirmation one of those days. If you want we could help you with this procedure.

Except for the accreditation request we would, together, apply for an EVS project, before one of the deadlines. It is our intention to apply before the 1 November deadline, so we can start hosting volunteers in April 2012.

If we become partners, in the future, we could also cooperate on other YiA projects if there is mutual interest. Youth in Action sponsors seminars, youth exchanges etc..

If you want to give it a go, let us know as soon as possible, as we will be contacting many eco-projects. Send us an email with information about your project (or links to online info), and a small word about your availability for an EVS project. Send us also contact info of the person  who would be responsible for the communication with Tribodar, including a land line telephone nr, mobile nr, and possibly skype or facebook info.