Call for Volunteers ESC in Italy - Growth and Inclusion in Utopia

1 Year in Rome (Italy)

01.09.2020 – 31.08.2021

Servizio Civile Internazionale (SCI Italia) – La Città dell’Utopia

Addressed to:

This project is suitable for someone who is interested in both grassroots political activism and the world of project management, specifically related to local and international volunteering, active citizenship, social inclusion, and non-formal education for youngsters and adults. It is for someone who would like to improve their professional skills in social project and group management, and someone who is flexible and can easily adapt to different contexts.

The hosting organization:

Servizio Civile Internazionale (SCI Italia) is the Italian branch of Service Civil International network (SCI), 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.

SCI Italy’s project “La Città dell’Utopia” started in 2003 and it is located in the neighborhood 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.

The main activities carried out in La Città dell’Utopia are:

Organizing and hosting of international workcamps, north/south trainings, and international youth meetings (trainings, seminars, youth exchanges, and capacity building activities);
Organizing and running awareness-raising events;
Organizing conferences, meetings, festivals, photo exhibitions, thematic meals, farmers’ markets, and courses on music, group dancing, language courses, gardening.

Objectives:

to involve young people in the promotion of international volunteering as a practice of active citizenship, intercultural education, as well as personal and social growth;
to spread the news about different initiatives organized in Italy, in order to promote intercultural respect and international solidarity;
to give volunteers a chance to actively participate in the development and implementation of a specific project, which is an opportunity for personal, professional and political growth;
to navigate relationships and improve cooperation among different groups and associations hosted in La Città dell’Utopia.

Activities:

The volunteers will take part in the following activities, mainly in “La Città dell’Utopia”:

supporting the coordination of the work of the local activists in order to ensure that everything is running on schedule;
helping in the planning and organization of cultural events and workshops on active citizenship, especially in the levels of communication, logistics, and operation;
implementing an international dimension to the project through the coordination of international exchanges, workcamps, and seminars;
supporting the promotion of activities taking place in La Città dell’Utopia;
facilitating the social inclusion of refugees and asylum seekers that take part in activities in La Città dell’Utopia;
running a course for the neighbourhood (language, music, IT or any other skill)
developing a personal project following the lines of the project and the hosting organization is an important part of the project. The volunteer has to 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 organize events, as well as produce and spread materials about their experiences here.

Tasks:

La Città dell’Utopia is a self-managed project and the volunteers’ activities consist of:

office work (communication and supporting administrative tasks);
physical work (cleaning, maintenance, preparing the space for the activities, shopping, cooking);
work on social relations (with participants of the activities, activists, the members of the organizations who run the activities, colleagues, tutors and other long term volunteers);

NB:

tasks are organized and monitored by SCI staff members;
activities are often during the weekend, in the evenings, and take place in La Città dell’Utopia so being adaptable and flexible with working hours is a must.

Volunteer Profile

Requirements:

good command of English;
being able to work in a team;
have good communication skills and motivation to cooperate with your colleagues and the activists of La Città dell’Utopia;
motivated to learn and share knowledge and skills;
have good computer skills (Ubuntu or Microsoft Office, email, internet, graphic software);
previous experience in social network communication;
being responsible and proactive and take initiative towards their tasks;
have organizational skills;
have good educational and social skills to be able to work with several target groups;
have an open mind and flexible attitude towards working hours

Preferable skills:

good command of the Italian language
basic administrative skills
webmastering or basic use of wordpress

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 Erasmus+ 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 accomodation has all the basic facilities (wifi and washing machine included). The building is historic, so the accommodation is basic. There is no centralized 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.

Web:

www.sci-italia.it

www.lacittadellutopia.org

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/sci.italy/

https://www.facebook.com/lacitta.dellutopia.7

Twitter:

Tweets by SCIItalia

https://twitter.com/SCIItalia

https://twitter.com/CittaUtopia

Application procedure:

The deadline for applying is 12.07.2020