The volunteer must be between 18 and 30 years of age, as required by the Youth in Action programme. Good knowledge of spoken and written English is also required. Due to the specific character of the work (contact with Bulgarian institutions and with refugees), it will be an advantage if the volunteer comes from a Slavic country and/or speaks some Bulgarian or any of the related languages (Macedonian, Serbian, Croatian; Russian).
Interest and experience in human rights work in general and work with refugees in particular will be an advantage.
More detailed information about the project:
Position: Human rights and volunteering – build a bridge!
Location: Sofia, Bulgaria
Period of service: 12 months
Deadline for application of the candidates: 24.10.2008
Selection of the candidates: 27.10.2008
Starting date of the EVS service: 01.02.2009
Organisation: Cooperation for Voluntary Service (CVS) – Bulgaria (www.cvs-bg.org) is a non-governmental organisation, registered to work in public benefit. The organisation is a branch for Bulgaria of the peace and volunteer exchange network Service Civil International (www.sciint.org) and a full member of South East European Youth Network (www.seeyn.org).
Position Summary: In 2007, CVS-Bulgaria carried out the project "Empowering Volunteers for Human Rights", financed by SAJV – Switzerland – Ostprojekt. As a follow-up of the project a new volunteer working group was established within the organisation, Human Rights Working Group. So far, the working group has been mostly involved in organising film projections and discussions on different topics, related to human rights. The EVS volunteer will play a vital role in coordinating the work of this group of volunteers, supporting new initiatives and setting up contacts with other human rights organisations. We believe the recently established cooperation with the Bulgarian State Agency for Refugees will give our volunteers an opportunity to get informed about human rights issues, particularly in Bulgaria, and at the same time put into practice what they have learnt. We believe that the partnership with like-minded organisations will open up new horizons for our activists and will create possibilities for them to give a hand to human rights organisations and initiatives, thus building an active citizenship attitude. We are convinced that this will be an interesting and rewarding experience for our future EVS volunteer and will give him/her the chance to develop and grow as a socially responsible person.
Responsibilities:
The main task of the volunteer will be to further develop the cooperation between CVS-Bulgaria and local and international human rights organisations by developing common projects (trainings, workshops, working group meetings, etc.), collecting good practices from other SCI branches and looking for a way to implement them in Bulgaria.
For approximately 40% of his/her working time the volunteer will also assist the staff and volunteers of CVS-Bulgaria in the preparations and implementation of various voluntary initiatives. This will give him/her the possibility to become a part of our young and dynamic team, to learn more about the way of functioning of NGOs in Bulgaria and our organisation in particular, to get acquainted with the international networks, which CVS-Bulgaria is part of (SCI and SEEYN).
During the summer, the volunteer will help in the organisation of and will coordinate one of the workcamps of CVS-Bulgaria (on a human rights/refugees/ social topic).
During the project, the volunteer will also have the chance to participate in one international meeting/training on behalf of CVS-Bulgaria.
Requirements/ Qualifications:
The volunteer must be between 18 and 30 years of age.
Good knowledge of spoken and written English is required. Due to the specific character of the work (contact with Bulgarian institutions and with refugees), it will be an advantage if the volunteer comes from a Slavic country and/or speaks some Bulgarian or any of the related languages (Macedonian, Serbian, Croatian; Russian). However, a short course in basic Bulgarian will be provided in the beginning of the project.
Interest and experience in human rights work in general and work with refugees in particular will be an advantage.
CVS-Bulgaria offers:
Interesting and rewarding work in a young and motivated team. The volunteer will work 7 hours a day during the week. Due to the specific character of the work, sometimes he/she will have to work during the weekend but will be compensated for this.
The volunteer will have a person from the staff of CVS-Bulgaria as supervisor in his/her day-to-day work on the project.
Furthermore, CVS-Bulgaria will provide an experienced mentor from outside the office of the organisation, whom the volunteer can consult about any other issues that might arise during his/her stay in Bulgaria as a volunteer in the project.
The volunteer will also be in constant contact with the Volunteer coordinator and other staff at CVS-Bulgaria, human rights organisations on local and international level, as well as volunteers involved in the Human Rights Working Group within the organisation.
In his/her work the volunteer will have the chance to interact with a number of Bulgarian and international volunteers on different occasions.
Initially, the volunteer will be accommodated in a room in the office of the organisation, which is situated in the very centre of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. The conditions are simple with common bathroom and kitchen for the volunteer and the staff. Later on another place for the volunteer can be arranged.
helenahelenski@gmail.com