ESC: Volunteering in the Tiétar Valley - Central Spain

AJS is a non-profit association that aims to develop an open-minded, tolerant and active attitudes, fosters dialogue and critical thinking among young people when facing socio-political issues. AJS’ goals are reached through educational projects with young people with emphasis on teenagers and NEETs, educators in general especially with youth workers and teachers and other stakeholders such as political representatives and private sector agents.. The specific objectives of AJS are: 1. Promote citizen participation among young adolescents and young adults; 2. Develop a conscious and critical attitude with socio - political issues. 3. Develop transversal skills and aptitudes to encourage young people's initiative and entrepreneurship; 4. Promote youth initiative. 5. Contribute to the development of didactic tools related to entrepreneurship and employability, among others. 6. Promote the education of future entrepreneurs. 7. Contribute to the quality of projects related to entrepreneurship by sharing good practices and experiences from previous projects with other organizations. Our main target group are children between 7 and 12 and young people between 13 and 20 years, although the majority (90%) is under 18. We focus on youth from rural areas of the Tiétar Valley region in central Spain. Our activities take place in several municipalities of the Tiétar Valley, running JUNIOR, JOVEN and LEADER youth groups and trainings on local level for Young Entrepreneurs in which we offer a personalized training and accompaniment during the creation process of an entrepreneurial idea. Size of the organisation: - Coordination team (paid staff): 4 - Unpaid staff: 4 - Beneficiaries: 400/year Context: AJS works in Arenas de San Pedro, small town (approximately 6500 inhabitants) in a rural area of 24 municipalities located in the Tiétar Valley, a region poorly connected with urban areas such as Talavera de la Reina (47km), Ávila (85km and behind two mountain ranges) and Madrid (185km). The region has basic services (health centre, police station, court, education: primary, secondary, VET schools). Young people, with the exception of those who choose to follow the 3 vocational training options available in Arenas, have to leave the valley to continue their studies, reason whereby AJS focusses its work on adolescents and those who leave school prematurely.