We are looking for 1 volunteer to join our long-term volunteering project funded by the European Union through the European Solidarity Corps programme, for the period between 15th September 2023 and 15th September 2024.
What is the European Solidarity Corps?
The European Solidarity Corps is a funding programme of the European Union that creates opportunities for young people to undertake a long-term voluntary placement with the costs paid. Projects can be of community interest, in the social, environmental, or cultural field. To participate in ESC you must be aged between 18 to 30 years old and be motivated by supporting important causes, discovering other cultures and living closely with people from other countries.
Volunteers abroad receive funding to cover accommodation, food, travel, insurance and pocket money through their hosting organisation.
Servizio Civile Internazionale: the hosting organization
Servizio Civile Internazionale (SCI Italia) is the Italian branch of Service Civil International network (sci.ngo), an international voluntary movement that is present in more than 80 countries around the world. It’s been promoting international volunteering projects for 100 years on the themes of peace and disarmament, conscientious objection, human rights, and international solidarity, sustainable lifestyles, social inclusion and active citizenship. In the core, there is a real commitment to make a change against inequality, injustice, and violation of human rights.
SCI Italia, founded in 1948, is an NGO recognized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Advisory Member of UNESCO and the Council of Europe.
It is based in Rome and it is supported by several regional and local groups of activists. The regional and the local groups support the work of the National Secretariat by dealing with trainings and the promotion of volunteering in various Italian regions.
“La Città dell’Utopia”
SCI Italy’s project “La Città dell’Utopia” started in 2003 and it is located in the neighbourhood of San Paolo (via Valeriano 3F – Rome), a popular suburban area inhabited mainly by elderly people, university students, and migrant families coming from Latin America, northeastern Europe, Asia, and Africa. The building is used to host several groups and associations working on active citizenships, especially in relation to migration, environmental sustainability, antifascism, gender, and self-determination of food and consumption. Currently the office where you will work is based here.
The main activities carried out in “La Città dell’Utopia” are:
- Organising and hosting of international workcamps, north/south trainings, and international youth meetings (trainings, seminars, youth exchanges, and capacity building activities).
- Organising and running awareness-raising events.
- Organising conferences, meetings, festivals, photo exhibitions, thematic meals, farmers’ markets, and courses on music, group dancing, language courses, gardening.
Activities
The volunteers will take part in the following activities:
Communication
- Supporting the management of social networks and the website of SCI-Italia.
- Supporting the coordination of activities to promote international voluntary projects and those related to the fields of intervention of the association.
- Supporting the drafting and publication of the monthly newsletter.
- Supporting the coordination of the editorial, printing, and distribution of the paper and online publications of the association
- Supporting in the management and conduct of interviews.
- Management of video creation and graphic design.
- Implementing an international dimension to the project through the coordination of international exchanges, workcamps, trainings and seminars with the network Service Civil International and the Italian branch.
- Management of relations with activists and local groups of the association for activities related to communication.
Support “La Città dell’Utopia”
- Helping in the planning and organisation of cultural events and workshops on active citizenship, especially in the levels of communication, logistics, and operation at “La Città dell’Utopia”.
- Supporting the communication area of “La Città dell’Utopia” during its big annual events.
- Running a course for the neighbourhood (language, music, IT or any other skill).
Personal project
- Developing a personal project following the lines of the project and the hosting organisation is an important part of the project. The volunteer must be proactive in proposing a project and SCI Italia will provide support to implement it.
- After the project finishes, the volunteers have the responsibility to organise events, as well as produce and spread materials about their experiences here.
Volunteer Profile
Who are we looking for?
- An interest in the communication sector of an NGO
- An interest in the management and conduct of interviews
- An interest in photography
- An interest in the ideation, creation and implementation of fundraising campaigns
- An interest in the topics of human rights, solidarity, volunteering, intercultural dialogue and specific project topics mentioned above, and who is eager to contribute to SCI’s mission of promoting a culture of peace
- An interest in increasing graphic design skills in software such as Indesign, Photoshop and Canva
- Good Italian and English language skills and/or be willing to improve
- Knowledge of how to use wordpress, instagram, linkedin and facebook
- Good communication skills and motivation to cooperate with your colleagues and the activists of “La Città dell’Utopia” and Servizio Civile Internazionale
- Creativity and self-initiative
- An interest to help, learn and share, to work in a busy international office, to multitask and to work in teams
ESC Volunteer management
The daily program consists of 6 hours 5 days a week. There will be 2 consecutive free days/ week and 2 days of holiday for each month. To facilitate the participation of a high number of volunteers, some activities will take place during the weekend. In these cases, the number of working hours done by the volunteer will be adjusted for the following weeks, by reducing working hour’s amount or taking days off so that the total number of working hours per week does not exceed 35h.
The volunteer should be legally resident in one of following countries:
Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland, Sweden, Iceland, Republic of North Macedonia, Turkey, Liechtenstein, Norway, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Territory of Ukraine as recognised by international law.
Project language: English, Italian
Local language: Italian
Pocket money: 300 €
Travel costs: covered according to ESC funding rules, 275€ as maximum reimburse
Visa cost: covered up to 100€
Lodging
In a separate flat in “La Città dell’Utopia”, with 3 shared double rooms (up to six international volunteers) kitchen, living room, and bathroom. The accommodation has all the basic facilities (Wi-Fi and washing machine included). The building is historic, so the accommodation is basic. There is no centralised heating or aircon, so it can be humid, cold in the winter, but also perfectly fresh in the summer. The building is surrounded by a very beautiful garden (which means mosquitos in the summer). It is located in a student area close to the metro.
Application procedure
Please send your application (CV and motivation letter in English) to comunicazione@sci-italia.it
The deadline for applying is 09/07/2023 h23:59
For more information please contact: comunicazione@sci-italia.it
Your motivation letter should answer to the following questions:
- Why did you choose SCI Italia and this particular project?
- What do you expect to learn and experience during your ESC?
- What can you bring to the work of the communication area of SCI-Italy?