CALL for EVS volunteers from BELGIUM, CROATIA, GREAT BRITAIN and SPAIN

Short Term EVS Project in YOUNG SUSTAINOPRENEURS: Active Citizenship through Wind and Sunshine

Application Deadline: 01th of February 2015 Start: 01/05/2015 End: 30/06/2015 Institute for Creative Civil Strategies ICCS search for volunteers for EVS SHORT-TERM group EVS project (1th of May – 30th of June 2015) Location: Village of Ostritsa, Bulgaria

About the Project

YOUNG SUSTAINOPRENEURS: Active Citizenship through Wind and Sunshine: is a short-term EVS project designed for two (2) months and it will be implemented in OSTRITSA village in the rural context of Natural Park Rusenski lom. This project will host sixteen (16) volunteers from four (4) different EU countries: Belgium, Croatia Great Britain, and Spain. The short term EVS volunteers will take a part in eco-building activities of small center non formal educational projects in the village of Ostritsa (North Eastern Bulgaria). The educational center will work as a showcase example for an off- grid ecological settlement, built out of natural materials with minimum carbon footprint. During the short term EVS project, volunteering will be the method whereby young people learn new skills while they contribute their time and effort to support local community. Participation in the development of the settlement will provide volunteers with knowledge and practical skills in eco-building, renewable energy resources and will introduce them to the practical challenges of combining them, developing a fully off-grid establishment. The project will be implemented under the supervision of experienced supervisors and in active collaboration with Bulgarian students in architecture interested in sustainable way of living that already had built one small eco buildings as showcase example, in the frame of Youth in Action international youth exchange. The volunteers will work 35-40 hours per week having two days free of activities. The volunteers accommodation will be provided by the host organization. The volunteers will live in shared rooms /2 volunteers in a room/ in rented houses in the village. Each volunteer will receive 70 Euro pocket money monthly amount. During the activities each volunteer will have tree meal per day. For their free days each volunteer will receive 35 Euro monthly food amount.

PROJECT AIMS The project aims to raise awareness on sustainable living and other environmental subject involving young volunteers in the eco-building activities of the building of small youth educational center. The project is designed also to encourage young people from different backgrounds and with very different skill levels to participate in international projects emphasizing the development of the volunteers “soft” skills, attitudes and personal growth. Being based on learning by doing approaches the EVS project will provide young people with an opportunity to gain new practical skills. The center developed within the volunteer training program will serve as an informational center on youth and environmental issues in which we will carry out educational and consulting services in the field of environmental studies, permaculture, eco-building, off-grid developments and renewable energy sources for youth groups and training programs for volunteers in the field of Environment, Sense of Entrepreneurship, Urban/rural Development, European Awareness, Art and Culture and others.

CALL for VOLUNTEERS: EVS short TERM project /01 May – 30 June 2015/ Ostritsa village, Ruse District, BULGARIA

METHODOLOGY: All the above will be carried out through learning by doing (non formal and informal learning) via the supervision and the guidance of ICCS team and experts in the particular activities.

EVS ACTIVITIES

The Short term EVS placement activities involved learning and using techniques in the field of eco-building, off-grid developments, renewable energy sources and small permaculture garden. Special care will be taken to ensure the learning dimension and the social component of the Short Term EVS programme In sum the voluntary tasks during the EVS project could be described in the next points:

EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES – To the volunteers will be presented several lectures and workshops that will introduce them the Natural park, the local bio diversity. – Volunteers will be involved in the specifics of natural building techniques wooden timber construction and straw-bale wall infill and how they combine with modern power supply technologies, such as solar panels and bio gas; – The participants will have visits to several different building sites in different stage and will have the opportunity to examine and approve their skills participating in the process; – The volunteers that are interested can attend also short training about basic decoupage skills – small objects or old furniture and other creative recycling techniques; – The training will also include practical activities in compost, creative recycling, biogas system and solar showers and lagoon waste water cleansing systems and water harvesting.

PRACTICAL ACTIVITIES in eco-building and renewable energy sources building. The volunteers will work: – together with local natural builders, students in architecture and with peers from different parts of the Europe; – Collecting natural materials from the area – river shells, river stones, old tree roots ect; – the volunteers will work on tasks related to natural building techniques (Timber construction; Clay plastering, Straw bale construction) as well as – Tasks related to temporary power supply during the training process similar to ancient technic for water distribution and construction of small biogas system;

TEAM-BUILDINGS ACTIVITIES - outings to scenic spots in the nearby tourist locations. Along with teaching fundamentals and practical skills in ecological construction the project will provide intercultural experience by meeting the volunteers with the local community and by introducing them to traditional building methods, Bulgarian cuisine and local traditions.

ORGANIZATIONAL ACTIVITIES: – Tasks related to logistics and assistance in the kitchen – More experienced volunteers will coordinate smaller voluntary groups working on different tasks assigned to each part of the voluntary technical and building project; – make evaluation and youth pass – participating in group discussions

CREATIVE ACTIVITIES: – Tasks related to photographing and documenting the development of the project; – Tasks related to developing a web-blog and/or making off movie or other visual/ printing material about the project; – Tasks related to interior design and decoration of the eco-buildings, build during the EVS project. – Decoupage and other types of creative recycling of old furniture, sewing activities

Some of the tasks will be sometimes physically hard so the volunteers will work I smaller groups on different indoor and outdoor projects comparing their personal condition. The different groups tasks generally refers to the next examples:

CALL for VOLUNTEERS: EVS short TERM project /01 May – 30 June 2015/ Ostritsa village, Ruse District, BULGARIA

CALL for VOLUNTEERS: EVS short TERM project /01 May – 30 June 2015/ Ostritsa village, Ruse District, BULGARIA

SELECTION PROCEDURE and CRITERIA

YOUNG SUSTAINOPRENEURS: Active Citizenship through Wind and Sunshine is EVS Short Term project designed as non-formal intercultural learning experience aimed at young people with or without experience in travelling abroad. The volunteers should be 18-30 years old; able to work as part of a team; passionate about the environment. We expect the candidate volunteers to want to work mostly with their hands, and ready to live in intercultural context in a small village in the Natural Park Rusenski Lom. Experience with youth work camps or rural context are not required, but will increase the possibility of a positive experience for the volunteer considerably. The EVS Short Term project targets young people with the following needs and capacities: - the volunteers should have wish to spend time in the rural area and to develop their social and organizational skills; - The project is open to young people whose would like to develop in particular their: team work ability, creativity, self- confidence and to increase their sense of initiative and employability. - The volunteer have to be ready to offers their time and effort to the project in exchange for the chance to learn or practice skills and take part in an intercultural work experience. - We welcome youngsters whose live in isolated regions or in economically disadvantaged areas, youngsters from immigrant cultures, early-school leavers, or those with social problems.

CALL for VOLUNTEERS: EVS short TERM project /01 May – 30 June 2015/ Ostritsa village, Ruse District, BULGARIA

- We find the proposed voluntary activities as relevant also to application of candidate volunteers interested in environmental topics, interior design, sculpture, graffiti, handcrafts and architecture. If there are candidates with previous experience and/or education /in field of sculpture, architecture, graffiti writhing ect./ that can be considered as relevant to the project they are welcome to send also their portfolio; APPLICATION DEADLINE: Interested volunteers have to send us a CV, a project related motivation letter and photo to [email protected] before the 01th of February 2015. We won’t consider the applications sent after that date!

Project ENVIROMENT

OSTRITSA is a small village located in North-Central planing region of Bulgaria – a part of Dve mogili municipality, Rousse district. The village is situated In the valley of the Rusenski Lom River, in north east Bulgaria, 45km away from Rousse. The village is close to the main regional cities - Veliko Tarnovo (80km) as well as the main Bulgarian city on the Black See cost Varna (200km). Although the whole area around the natural park is largely agricultural the village is 19 km away from the main road Rousse-Veliko Turnovo-Sofia and 130 km away from the Romanian capital city Bucharest. Ostritsa village is one of the dozen villages located in the Natural Park Rusenski Lom where the canyon of the rivers Beli and Cherni Lom creates the valley of the Rusenski Lom River – the last right-side tributary of the River. The canyon-like relief of Rusenski Lom River is famous for its beautiful landscape. It is called “a mountain in the plain” and it is known for its incredible diversity of orchids, birds, bats and butterflies. Rusenski Lom NATURAL PARK is named after Rusenski Lom River. It’s is located 20 km south of Ruse, takes up a territory of 3408 hectares and has been a protected area since 1970. Nowadays it is part of two Natura 2000 sites and an Important Bird Area with about 200 nesting bird species. The Park is a member of the DANUBEPARKS - Danube River NETWORK of Protected Areas

Nature Park “Rusenski lom” (No 6) on the map of DANUBEPARKS - Network Of Protected Areas

The World Wide Fund for Nature - WWF considers the vicinity of Rusenski Lom Nature Park as an area of high conservation value because with its four rivers features unique nature, history and traditions. The combination of rocks, forests, rivers, and caves with meadows is reason for the great biological diversity on the territory of the park.

CALL for VOLUNTEERS: EVS short TERM project /01 May – 30 June 2015/ Ostritsa village, Ruse District, BULGARIA

There are different marked routes in the park that allow volunteers to observe its biological diversity in their free time. On area of 3408 ha only, can be found 900 plant species (23% of Bulgaria’s flora), 200 bird species are nesting, 76% of Bulgaria´s mammal species use the area and 22 fish species swim in its waters. As representative for the park are considered Egyptian vulture, Black stork, the European ground squirrel, or Crex crex. The rock monasteries in the river valley offers to the visitors of the park also in line with the possibilities for practicing biking, cave visiting, walking tours, rock climbing and canoe. All routes are well-marked and do not require special training to cover.

CALL for VOLUNTEERS: EVS short TERM project /01 May – 30 June 2015/ Ostritsa village, Ruse District, BULGARIA

“Rusenski lom” natural park is also famous for its rich cultural and historical heritage. On the territory of the park are situated the Rock-Hewn Churches of Ivanovo – included into the UNESCO’s list of the world cultural heritage, the Medieval Town of Cherven considered as national archaeological reserve since 1965 as well as the the only active rock monastery in Bulgaria rock monastery. The park’s territory includes also the second longer cave in Bulgaria – Orlova Chuka.

Rock-Hewn Churches of Ivanovo - 12th century Rock Monastery of St. Dimitar Basarbovski - 15th century

CALL for VOLUNTEERS: EVS short TERM project /01 May – 30 June 2015/ Ostritsa village, Ruse District, BULGARIA

Archeological Reserve – Medieval Town of Cherven 12-14 century Orlova Chuka cave

CITY of RUSE (ROUSSE) and Ruse REGION

The CITY of ROUSSE (RUSE) Over the course of centuries, The city of ROUSSE has been a place of vibrant cultural development, hence one of the mail Bulgarian cultural centers. The city is situated on the highest right bank of the Danube river, at a distance of 320 km from Sofia, 200 km from Varna and about 300 km from Plovdiv. The close proximity of the river Danube had always had a great significance for the development of the city from antiquity to the present day. The major local cultural destinations were established as early as the late 19th and the early 20th century: the Regional Library, the Ruse Art Gallery, the Ruse Regional Museum of History, the Ruse Theatre, the Rousse Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rousse State Opera and the Puppet Theatre. More than 260 buildings in Ruse are on the cultural heritage list. European Heritage Labels were recently put on the facades of about 20 of them. ROUSSE (RUSE) REGION is situated in the north-eastern part of Bulgaria and is one of the medium sized regions in the country, concerning Bulgaria’s territory and population. The northern boundary of Rousse region goes along the Danube river valley and coincides with the state boundary of the Republic of Bulgaria and the Republic of Romania. The town of Rousse is located near the capital of Romania - Bucharest /45 miles/. The geographical situation of Rousse region characterizes the region as a major republican transport crossroad. Two of the main Pan-European transport corridors cross on the territory of the region - transport corridor № VІІ and transport corridor № ІХ, added by the possibilities given by the corridor "river - sea". The town occupies a strategic place hence the existence of well-developed transport system - automobile and railway, border checkpoints, duty free area, river transport, a bridge over the Danube river. The density of the road network is approximately 0,370 km per sq.m on the region territory, which is considerably higher compared to the average for the country. There is constructed and well-developed railway infrastructure on the territory of Rousse region Rousse PORT /Rousse east & Rousse west/ is the biggest Bulgarian port on the Danube river, a part of the important transport crossway of the trans-European transport corridors №7, №9 and the TRASEKA corridor - Europe -Caucasus- Asia. The distance from BUCHAREST International Airport to Rousse is 80 km. The distance from VARNA International Airport to Rousse is 210 km. The distance from SOFIA International Airport to Rousse is 370 km.

CALL for VOLUNTEERS: EVS short TERM project /01 May – 30 June 2015/ Ostritsa village, Ruse District, BULGARIA

ABOUT the HOST ORGANISATION:

INSTITUTE FOR CREATIVE CIVIL STRATEGIES — ICCS was founded in 2010 with the aim to assist the successful personal development, social integration and professional realization of young people who work with, developing their creativity as a model for active participation in the civil, social and cultural dimensions of society and promoting the European youth and lifelong learning policies. The organization is based in Rousse but works also on national and international level. The ICCS’s long-term strategy is to mix the boundaries between creative industries and youth civic participation, implementing on this base

CALL for VOLUNTEERS: EVS short TERM project /01 May – 30 June 2015/ Ostritsa village, Ruse District, BULGARIA

different educational and cultural projects focused on youth cultural participation. All our projects should be built on three major pillars – creativity, sustainability and employability encouraging the youth entrepreneurship.

OUR TEAM consists of young university professors, PhD and MA students in Cultural studies, Media and Communication and Social work whose have EVS and other non-formal education experience. We also work with more than 30 Bulgarian volunteers from different Bulgarian universities – Sofia University ‘St. Kliment Ohridski, South-West University “Neophit Rilski’, Ruse University “Angel Kanchev” and National Art Academy.

EVS EXPERIENCE: In 2013 the organization received EVS accreditation (h-s-c EVS Acr. No 2013-BG-35) and started sending Bulgarian EVS volunteers abroad on vacancies in the field of Cultural heritage, Arts & Culture, Media & Youth information, environmental protection, Active citizenship & Human rights. In 2014 ICCS started implementation of the host EVS project – “Art Reporters Without Borders” which objectivity is to increase the national & international visibility of young generation Bulgarian visual artist whose often remain outside the focus of the cultural institutions as well as of the mainstream media. ICCS is currently hosting two EVS volunteers for our yearlong project.

More about the organization find on our website, our weblog and on our FB Fan Page: www.iccs.ngobg.info (BG) www.iccsbulgaria.wordpress.com (EN) www.facebook.com/InstituteForCreativeCivilStrategies

CALL for VOLUNTEERS: EVS short TERM project /01 May – 30 June 2015/ Ostritsa village, Ruse District, BULGARIA