Project MIND II is a hosting project of two volunteers, one from France (sending organization «Fédération Régionale Familles Rurales des Pays de la Loire») and one from Spain (sending organization «SERVEI CIVIL INTERNATIONAL DE CATALUNYA ASOCIACIONl»). The volunteers will be hosted at “Greek Forum of Refugees”. The project aims at promotion of volunteering as a mean to combat discrimination, racism and xenophobia. The volunteers are people who experience the EVS as a step in the formation of their identity as active citizens; they believe that through their participation will gain knowledge and experiences that will help them to develop similar actions in their country when they return. During the EVS they will live in a multicultural environment and will challenge the coexistence, cooperation and living together with people of different cultural background. They will be involved in activities of raise awareness and promotion of issues related to volunteering and its principles, the social integration of refugees and asylum seekers. Some of the key activities they will participate are organizing open events, updating the social media of their hosting organization, collect information. Their participation in this project is an non formal learning process. The volunteers will have the opportunity to experiment, discover and improve their skills and competences in order to gain experience and knowledge useful for their future professional and social involvement. The volunteers will have the opportunity to come in contact with one of the most serious issues that the societies are facing in nowadays. The support of people forced to flee their country is a matter of concern in many social organizations and citizens' initiatives in all EU countries especially in countries that are considered gateways, such as Greece. Volunteers will gain knowledge and experience which can be useful in their professional and social life after the end of their service. The raise awareness campaigns which will be organised during their service is an opportunity to give themselves answers to questions about the reception of refugees and the social issues that emerge. The duration of their service is 12 months in Athens where the headquarters of the hosting organization are.

Therapeutic Riding Association of Greece is accredited as hosting organisation in the framework of EVS. Each year hosts about 5-6 volunteers from various countries of Europe. The volunteers will be hosted interval September 2014 -June 2015 (10 months). They will participate in the daily therapeutic activities developed in the Association. They will prepare the horses for the therapy sessions, they will participate in the therapeutic team as side walkers and/or horse’s leaders depending on the skills of each volunteer. At the end of each therapeutic day volunteers has to clean the horses and the waiting area. They will participate in raise awareness activities and they will have the opportunity to advertise the EVS programme to young Greeks who can take the opportunity to participate in a similar program abroad. At the beginning of their service , volunteers will attend seminar on grooming. Their training will continue during their service. Each volunteer will participate in activities according to their skills and desire. The program will be assessed and monitored by evaluation system which includes initial assessment, monthly written and oral assessment, interim and final with complete fulfillment. In this procedure all the persons who are involved in one in the other way will participate (volunteers, work coordinators, mentors, teachers of Greek language). Communicating with sending organisations will be at regular intervals. The experience and the skills that volunteers will gain by participating in the proposed project can be used by them as a springboard for future employment. In the project two volunteers from Germany and one from France will be hosted.

<< Objectives >>CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND - We live in a reality of growing diversity within the EU this brings diverse reactions with it, both positive and negative which try to promote or oppose inclusion. We proactively want to address the situation by working with young leaders and youngsters who want to play an active role in society on the topics of cultural diversity and inclusion using the SCI approach and expertise. Realizing the need of intercultural, social discussion and international cooperation the training will bring together participants and workers, who do the their work for people living in socially different levels, and backgrounds. It is important to make their voice heard and also the people's they support. Beside that, it is very momentous for young European citizens to have first-hand experiences on the topic. OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT - The main goals of the project are:- to empower European and excluded youth too, to give some ideas on how they create their (common) message,- to learn new tools such as theatre and new tools of art.- to make their voice heard with their newly gained tools- to plan and realize their own project from the beginning until the end, improving their decision-making and leadership skills,- through sharing different visual and esthetical views, the participants will be able to share and see each other’s customs and cultures.- experience teamwork, formation and cooperation in a community, practice patience, persistence and tolerance.- raising awareness about the Erasmus+ program.- to inform a bigger audience about social issues by the created works, to have interaction and discussion Other objectives of the project are to help to create new international connections amongst the participants and their volunteers, to foster intercultural learning and understanding, discover each other’s cultures, learn new ways of communication and creative tools, that they can implement in their local communities. Besides, participants will improve their social, communication, and language skills, that will be a crucial help for them in the future when they will try to overcome their disadvantages. DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITIES - The training will be built up by three phases: theoretical-, practical-, and the final project. During the THEORETICAL part, the participant will get a wider image about inclusion-exclusion, they will get familiar with the basics of art and theatre elements. During the PRACTICAL sessions, we will focus on the tools of types of art mentioned below. The creative approach will provide a great opportunity for working in teams, sharing personal stories and creating deeper interpersonal connections. During the PROJECT work, the participants will work in fixed groups in the project work. During the Project work, and during the whole training, the participants will learn how to empower European and excluded youth to create their common message. METHODOLOGY - The methodological frame will be based on non-formal educational methods, using many times visual-art tools as a way of communication. The participants will gain new skills in creating art products by the method of “learning-by-doing”.<< Activities >>This will be a KA1, Mobility of Youth Workers training of 5 days, which will take place in Antwerp, Belgium. The participants will be youth workers and we also aim to reach some newcomers. The training mainly aims to develop the work of youth workers, leaders, social workers, trainers and volunteers. The project will bring together a mixed group of youth workers, leaders from Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Slovenia, Austria, Greece, Poland, Germany and Hungary. The groups will consist of 3 participants from each organization. As the aim is to provide a wider image about exclusion-inclusion, we chose the partner organizations in order to be able to introduce different aspects of the topic. The chosen partners have assured that they can show different realities and different pictures of the situation, and they can send experienced and motivated participants. This activity supports the professional development of youth workers, through the implementation of activities. << Impact >> We expected a personal and professional growth for the participants. We hope that after the project the participants will have a stronger motivation for cooperation in teamwork, to build their image about inclusion (on personal experiences), but also that they will have a stronger motivation and wish to learn about European cultures. We would like if the youth workers will be able to create a platform for the youth to assure quality relations. The project will give an opportunity for the partner organizations for far more effective cooperation for the future, and improve the network of their local partners.By providing tools, methods, views and a platform for exchange and cooperation, we aim to improve the work on diversity a more positive inclusion of vulnerable groups in society and empowerments of youth workers and their target groups. Indirectly we hope for a bigger satisfaction amongst the youth workers, their target group and the partners. We also aim to spark the enthusiasm of the participants for creative tools, or in the case of those who were already working with these tools, motivate them to dive deeper into exploring and exchanging creative tools for their work.Hopefully, it will have a more global impact such as increasing awareness of people (local and international level) about integration and wider participation to volunteer activities and initiatives.

European Voluntary Service in social facilities in Berlin is a project of the Internationale Jugendgemeinschaftsdienste (ijgd), which is the coordinating and supporting voluntary organisation in the EVS. A group of all together 17 volunteers from all over Europe are active in hosting NGOs who work in the social field. The focus of the engagment is work with children, social work and homeless care. The EVS-projectpartners in Berlin are non-profit organistions: Kindergartens, churches, a facility for sociatherapie, day-cares, a free school, a circus for children. The acitivities are: work with children, social work and homeless care. Most of the facilities are located in districts with social problems (Neukölln, Kreuzberg, Wedding).The aim is to improve the living conditions of the local people and to make a contribution to intercultural understanding, European awareness, against discrimination and social exclusion. The volunteers are invited bring in their cultural background and interests into the project. They experience the everyday life and the role of smaller local social NGOs in civil society in Berlin. The European volunteers live together and independently in shared flats and will be supported by ijgd throughout the year.ijgd is contact point and offers shared activities, networking, workshops, help and support to the volunteers.

"SCI's vision is a world of peace, social justice and sustainable development, where all people live together with mutual respect and without recourse to any form of violence to solve conflict. SCI's mission is to promote a culture of peace by organising international volunteering projects with local and global impact. The No-More-War group was formed in 2010 to recall and reinforce SCI's orginal commitment to help build a peaceful, anti-militarist and pacifist world, and a peaceful, worldwide volunteer movement as an alternative to military service. SCI deeply believes that all conflicts can be solved peacefully without resort to violence and this is the message that we try to convey and put into practice in our daily work.By implementing the project ""Think, Learn & Transform - The role of international voluntary service in promoting peaceful transition & solidarity in Europe"" we wanted to create a platform which provided a space for European peace activists who work in the area of international volunteering and education to develop their understanding of different aspects of the current security crisis in Europe. as well as to further educate, train and empower each other with methods how to plan, organise and implement initiatives dedicated to peace. The seminar also provided the opportunity to exchange views on current challenges which organizations face in their peace work and get new inspiration to work together as a network of likeminded peace activists.The specific aims were:- To gather together active staff & volunteers of the international voluntary service movement & equip/empower them with further knowledge, methods & comptences to deliver high-quality volunteer projects- Identify and determine the main challenges & obstacles to be addressed, as well as the particular problems & needs of the voluntary organizations & civil society actors active in the region;- Elaborate together non-violent & alternative and/or complimentary grass-root solutions to those traditionally practiced- Develop new, innovative projects in the voluntary service sector to promote real peace, sustainable development, social inclusion, active citizenship etc., as well as cross-border cooperation;- Support concrete actions in solidarity with the victims of war & violence & those suffering from discrimination & social exclusion. . The project was implemented in three stages:a) An opening thematic seminar from 17.01 - 24.01 in Berlin, Germany: ""Peace and Solidarity - Make It, Don't Break It""b) Implementation of a series of actions/activities elaborated & planned at the opening seminar (March-Sept.)c) ""Trade Fair"" from 25.09 - 02.10 in Poznan, Poland - Presentation & evaluation of the activities, new ideas for extending & enhancing the future quality of cooperationWhat mainly prompted us to take action, was the deepening military conflict in Ukraine and growing estrangement or even hostility between Russia and the European Union, increasing antagonisms within the EU as well as the growth of extreme right-wing movements & populist authoritarian governments in response to the increased influx of refugees caused by wars, human rights' violations & poverty elsewhere in the world, In the course of the project the following topics were addressed both in the trainings & the resulting activities:- Peace concepts - creating a common understanding- Culture of peace and non-violence- Peace activism – best/worst practices; aims/targets and challenges in peace work today- National identity, stereotyping, prejudice & discrimination- History, memory and reconcilliation.- Hate speach and propaganda techniques, role of propaganda in past and current international conflicts.- Peace building – current issues: conflict between Ukraine and Russia, „refugee crises”, situation in Balkans (current tensions), Brexit and EU crisis, right wing extremism in Europe, situation in the Middle East, USA elections- How to create a culture of peace and non-violence transversal to different perspectives- Implementation of gained knowlegde and experience, planning follow-up activities- Workcamps and long-term volunteering as major tools for HR & Peace work- Presentation of carried out local and international follow-up activities and exchange of practical experienceMany of the participants were personally involved in situations related to the main themes of the project, which led to vivid and emotional discussions. The confrontation of different perspectives induced deep reflection and, often, a change of mind about some controversial issues. The reflection and evaluation of these experiences became a starting point to plan future events, which took or will place next year in Poland, Germany, Finland, Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, Kosovo, Belgium, Georgia, Italy and Hungary. These local initiatives will try to propose a positive solution to the challenges facing Europe today as the tensions and conflicts in Europe are still growing,"