🏢 About the local organisation
Antigóna is a non-profit organization, created in Rastignano (Bologna) on 7.2.2008, on the initiative of five founder members. Its registered office is located in Bologna, Via dello Scalo 10, and its recently opened, operational headquarters is in the same road, Via dello Scalo 6/a.
Antigóna aims to achieve the following goals:
• to conceive and implement projects of social solidarity, development cooperation and humanitarian aid, in order to permanently improve the living, health and work conditions of the final beneficiaries, strengthening their skills to guarantee sustainability over time for the projects;
• to inform, raise awareness, and involve the civil society, especially the youth, about actions aimed at solidarity, enhancing the initiative, the energies and the expressions of volunteering;
• to favour the self-directed progress, in social, cultural, technical and economic spheres, of sectors of unprivileged population, also through collaborative relationships with their organizational expressions, and with other subjects involved in development cooperation, at national and international level;
• to promote the human growth, the non-formal and intercultural learning, the acquisition of skills and practical experiences, and the professional training of young people motivated to develop social solidarity activities and international development cooperation.
To achieve these goals, since its inception Antigóna has privileged a peculiar and very collaborative operating mode, that is: to put the skills that Antigóna and its members have, at the disposal of other organizations that have embarked in a project and find themselves in some kind of difficulty. In other words, Antigóna was born to collaborate with other organizations and support them, helping their projects to overcome temporary difficulties, or to reach a better daily functioning, depending on the case. It is a highly original mission, rarely adopted by other non-profit entities. As a consequence of this mission, Antigóna has always been active in projects of various types, without specializing in any particular theme. We evaluate and choose the collaborations in which to be engaged on the basis of our assessments about: the quality of the project, the adequacy of our competences with respect to it, the empathy with the possible partners with whom we come into contact, and our operative possibilities in that specific moment.
Besides the collaborations with other organizations, we also realize projects conceived and managed by ourselves, yet remaining always open to networks with other partners sharing our operating mode.
Currently Antigóna is involved in three activities:
• a collaboration with an Italian informal group, to support its project in India called "Crumbs of solidarity";
• our own activity related to the "European Solidarity Corps'';
• a long-standing social informatics project, called ''The informatic harbour'', to help people in trouble to carry out online administrative procedures.
We also have a bunch of other collaborations and projects in evaluation, to be possibly started.
💼 What the programme involves
You will collaborate taking care of children between the age of 3 and 6. The children's group is located in Vienna and run by 3 educators and the children's parents. The educators come from Spain, Chile and Germany, so the main languages spoken are Spanish and German. The group follows a pedagogy based on alternative educational methods, with the aim of creating a safe space for children to express and be free to be themselves. In line with this pedagogical method, children play freely: they decide what and how to play by communicating with the educators, who support and play with them. Because of the international approach, you'll be also asked to share some aspects of the Italian culture. Some of your activities could be: do handicrafts with the children, paint, play, sing or read; plan your own activities with the support of the team; prepare meals; go on excursions or to the playground (together with the educators), etc.
🏠 Accommodation on site
You will be accommodated in a single room at a student dorm equipped with everything you need, where you will be sharing facilities like kitchen and bathroom with others. You will receive pocket money and a monthly food allowance, as well as a monthly ticket for the public transport in Vienna. The travel from Italy to Austria and back is fully reimbursed, and you will be provided with an insurance which will protect you from any risk.
🎒 Leisure activities
You'll attend 3 official training sessions: a pre-departure one before leaving Italy, a second one a few weeks after your arrival in Austria and a third one halfway through your volunteering experience –being the latter two hosted by the Austrian National Agency. You will also receive support and training provided by your host organization, as well as some activities and workshops carried out by your coordinating organization.
⚠️ Requirements
The Participant profile: You should be passionate about working with children, open to alternative educational methods, and eager to bring your unique cultural perspective to enrich the community. You should be also motivated to learn German. We are looking for an active, responsible, loving, caring and a team-oriented person, with the ability to manage daily tasks in a dynamic environment. It's also necessary to be energetic and stress-resistant, ready to engage actively with children and with a desire to share your traditions and learn from others. If you wish to contribute meaningfully to a vibrant, bilingual community while gaining valuable skills in childcare and education, this is your place!
Deadline: No application deadline
ℹ️ Additional information
The project is implemented under the European Solidarity Corps Programme, financed by the European Commission.
The participating organisations have to be mindful of these needs as they are responsible for providing a respectful and trusting hosting environment. At the same time, the organisations participating in the initiative devote a great deal of time, energy and resources to set up a high-quality activity; they should therefore expect that European Solidarity Corps participants show a similar level of respect for the local communities and the people that are directly concerned by the activities (
https://youth.europa.eu/solidarity/mission_en).
What do we provide ?
- Training before and after the project
- Health insurance during your project
- round-trip travel reimbursement
- accommodation and food
- pocket money
- language course
- Return Week-end
- Youth Pass and SVI international Volunteer passport
Before applying for this volunteering project, you need to enroll yourself at European Solidarity Corps Platform (
https://europa.eu/youth/solidarity_en) and specify your European Solidarity Corps Participant Number (PRN).
This organisation holds a European Solidarity Corps Quality Label.
Contact the ESC coordinator at +32 2 888 67 13 to get more informations.