Oporto are situed in northwest of Portugal, near the sea. This is the most important city in the North of Portugal (250'000 inhabitants) and there are many places to visit and to familiarize with the portuguese culture (gastronomy, traditions and arts, etc).

"Oporto is the cultural and administrative center of the Greater Metropolitan Area of Porto (Área Metropolitana do Grande Porto) metropolitan area, and Greater Porto NUTS III subregion capital (1,300,000 inhabitants), in Norte region. Porto is well known for its enterprising spirit, characteristic culture, people, and local cuisine. The city itself is sometimes referred to as Capital do Norte, or Capital of the North. In fact the city is today the capital of Norte, a NUTS II region which covers entire northern Portugal. Ribeira, the historic Centre of Porto, has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO (1996).

Due to its economic output and market size, Greater Porto area is one of the major financial and economic centers of the northwestern quarter of the Iberian Peninsula. Porto's municipality is the core of a large northern Atlantic conurbation, and Porto district is one of the most industrialized districts of Portugal."

(in, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porto)

The volunteer works in Oporto, coordination's center of the activities of Ecoclubs. Many of activities can be development in local community where exist ecoclubs. For transport: when we work at the university we can make a request of a car for work (when we go together and for visit the ecoclubs in the inner part of Portugal) and we can use metro and train in the litoral, it is easy nad fast.








Proposed activities for EVS volunteers

By hosting international volunteer, our organisation intends to promote intercultural learning, exchange and awareness, to care for nature and raise awareness of environmental issues and to promote voluntary work and a culture of volunteering, to establish new strategic alliances between the organizations and in this way also he/she have the possibility to develop new projects.

During their stay in our association the volunteers will have the possibility to get to know Ecoclubs network. As an added effect: through these actions in the community the volunteers also learn valuable leadership skills that help them to be prepared for leadership and to be more auto confident, to further improve the quality of life in their local communities, and help in the implementation of sustainable development.

Involving volutneers we want to interact with other community institutions to work towards the improvement in the quality of life of the population. In a joint effort with other institutions, their public awareness campaigns utilize participatory strategies searching for neighbors' involvement in the implementation of proposals that may be evaluated in a practical manner and that are characterized by their support.

Beside the theoretical knowledge on environmental education, the volunteers will work mainly with local staff and other local organizations and will be coordinated by a experienced team who provide training and guidance.

The volunteer brings an added value to the local community, young people and organizations which, thanks to this help, can participate in a better way in the different solidary and intercultural training projects that the coordinating organization has planned with other organizations from other European countries.
The volunteer would help first in the main stage of any project, in preparation, and then in the spreading stage. Collecting and spreading of the information to all partners in the networks.

There will be also the opportunity to make trips to the sea and explore some beautiful parts of Portugal. An understanding of the history and culture of Portugal will be an integrated element of the language classes.

As well as this the community is constantly building stronger links with the local community which the volunteer would be involved in. These include:
- visits to local ecological farms,
- collaborating with Ecoclubes network established,
- facilitator of some youth groups that beginning as Ecoclubes,
- Co-preparation of materials for help the facilitors with the ecoclubes that beginning,
- Stablishing contact with NGO to create partneaireship with ecoclubes.

The volunteer will have linguístic trainning with a private qualified teacher or courses at the university of Letters and they will have oportunity to contact with youth in Portugal.

The lodgement will be in Oporto in a rented appartment. The food will be cooked by the volunteer in the house.
The volunteer will be have 6 hours per day of activities during 5 days per week, with holidays during the project and 2 free days per week. To mention that sometimes the volunteers could be involved in activities at the weekend, but they can take days off after.

PROGRAMME:
The programme of the exchange we can divide into there parts:

(part I) Educational part (1 month)
If the volunteer don't know any language "understandable" by Ecoclubs - inclusion in classes for learn new language J
Training presenting the particular aspect of ECOCLUBES methodology in Portugal; (8 days)
Visit Ecoclubs in the field - participating in a presentation of each ecoclub (10 ecoclubs)

(part II) Preparation part (2 months)
Prepare the workshops, made contacts with another associations, visite anothers associations which works with youth and in the ecological field, and which can collaborate with us; participate in activities of Ecoclubs, support the national promotor and the facilitator to coordinate some activities of the Ecoclubs, etc.

(part III) Working part (9 months)
Realization of the workshops about Youth program "Youth in action" and others workshops in ecological themes (water, sols, biodiversity,etc)

Part I - educational part (8 days - trainning about Ecoclubs)
In detail
Day 1 - Integrating all participants and collecting the detail information about their expectances. International Network of Ecoclubs presentation: short history, aims, tasks.
Day 2 - International Network of Ecoclubs presentation - continuation: structure of network, future plans, partnerships. Analyze of local problems: methods of making the diagnoses (personal inquiry forms, questionnaires, data analysis), way of describing the problems, methods of putting the goals which we can achieve, priorities for action and solving the problems (making the decisions among the local communities), projecting the results. Methodology of ECOCLUBS.
Day 3 - How to prepare and realize inquiries, methods of encouraging people to participate in the action, analysis of inquiries, making report, decision taking process
Day 4 - how to prepare the project - stages of the project, creating the plan of activities
Day 5 - preparing the budget. Financing the local projects, sponsors cooperation, searching for new financial sources, estimate the cost of actions.
Day 6 - promotion our activities and its effects, cooperation with media, social and civil journalism.
Day 7 - Role of social leader, differences between animator and leader, who can stay the leader, how to focus people on the one point, issue. Group process, group roles.
Day 8 - evaluation of current activities, estimation of results, ways of evaluation, necessity of doing it, evaluation of methods of realization. Evaluation of the training, contents, different ways of leading, training materials.

(part II) "Preparation" part (2 months)
- Prepare the workshops > create a plan of needs - trainning during a year for ecoclubists;
- Made contacts with another associations, visite anothers associations which works with youth and in the ecological field, and which can collaborate with us > establishment of partnerships;
- participate in activities of Ecoclubs, (1 visit by ecoclub, by month);
- support the facilitators to coordinate some activities of the Ecoclubs;
- (…)

(part III) Working part (9 months)
Realization of the workshops about Youth program "Youth in action" and others workshops in ecological themes (water, sols, biodiversity, etc) adadpted to the needs of facilitators.












Volunteer profiles and recruitment process

Considered the role of the volunteer we think volunteer should be open-minded, creative and with initiative. In order to communicate with the workcamp participants it's that the volunteer speak English, or french or spanish (but if not we prepare before the begin of work in Ecoclubs some months of learning at the University of Letters in Oporto. The volunteer should be ready to travel in Portugal. He/she should bring his own ideas, personality and culture into the life of our organization.
The process of recruitment give similar oportunities to youngs who want to be volunteer, independently of origines, gender, religion and cultures. We want to inform sending organizations of this intent for receiving volunteer, the applications will be analized with care and objectivitity. For the selection of the volunteer we will do a inquiry by phone or by e-mail to know more about the motivations and the expectations of the selected volunteers.












Special needs

The placement of volunteers of fewer opportunities should demande some especial conditions, we have one person in continuus contact with the volunteer, attentive to the evolution and integration of the volunteer in the organization and in the country. We prepare a space and a computer for the volunteer for to be able to develop his work and all the material for the workshops we facilitate.

Maybe there are some culturals barriers we try to minimizate doing at the beginning a kind of reception: intercultural night with meal from different countries, nationals legends, musics. To find the diferencies and similarities between Portugal and country from which volunteer come from. We'll show the country differences ans similarities will appear.









Risk prevention, safety and protection
In the office the volunteer have the same conditions like all the workers. In the activities the volunteer participate we do insurance like a normal participant of the ecoclubs.

At the begin we will prepare a list of importants phone numbers (police, phamarcy, hospital, fire service, etc), in case there are some emergency at the home and something happens, and volunteer are alone.

We will have once a week meetings for to prepare and create the conditions for work of the volunteer. In this meeting the process of adaptation are one point we will discuss mainly in the first month. For a good work and good experience is very important the volunteer feel safe and feel there is a canal open for comunication all the time between him/her and the us, the host organization.

By hosting international volunteers, our organisation intends to promote intercultural learning, exchange, how to care for nature and raise awareness of environmental issues and education and to promote voluntary work. In this moment one of the projects we implement in the organization is the promotion of Ecoclubs. Ecoclub is an informal group of youth who prepares actions which have the aim - to increase the enviromental awareness in theirs local communities.

In 2005 in the region of Oporto we were working two groups. Now we are 10 groups which involve more than 125 youngs.

The movement of Ecoclubs began in 1992 in Argentina. In the end of 2005 there were 560 ecoclubs in the world which composing the Internactional Network of Ecoclubs (INE) (www.ecoclubes.org). In Europe, there are group in four countries: Poland, German, Spain and Portugal. Four associations are working to implement the metodology of INE in their communities.

In 2006 the Association of Amigos do Mindelo organized the international meeting In Vairão " Youth leadership for Sutainable Developpemnt" supported by Youth Programme. During this meeting four countries (Germany, Spain, Portugal, Poland) achieved the first steps for a consolidation of European network. We participate in some exchanges with the european partnears (some of them were running in Poland). In May 2007, two members of our association participated in a visit study in Ulan-Ude (Russia), also supported by Youth Programme. We promote Ecoclubs and we discuss about possibles projects in the future and the development of European network.


We are insterested in the spread of the philosophy and methodology of International Network of Ecoclubs and to receive one volunteer is a possibility for us to develop the activities of coordination of this 10 groups and to develop connections with others associations in Europe. During his stay in our association the volunteer will have the possibility to get know how Ecoclubs work.

http://www.amigosdomindelo.pt/ecoclubes/index.htm (in portuguese)
http://www.ecoclubes.org/METODOLOGIA/ingles/hacen.asp (in english)

As an added effect the volunteer also will learn valuable leadership skills that help him/her to work on a national and international level, to future improvement the quality of life in his/her country. Beside, after gaining the theoretical knowledge on environmental education the volunteer will be working mainly conducted with local staff and other local organizations and will be coordinated by experienced team leaders who provide training and guidance.


Volunteer will have a possibility of establishing new strategic alliances:

- to support in the preparation of workshops connected with ecologic subjects (water, deforestation, biodiversity, …);
- to prepare workshops about the European Programme "Youth in action" to increase the skills of the groups in abbility of gain the money for they ideas of activities in local community;
- prepare the presentations about the International Network of Ecoclubs to promote the ecoclubs in local schools and organizations,
- support of the national promotor in coordination of activities of the Ecoclubs: ex: national meeting, manifestations, happenings,
to see more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSgCUpXFby0 - environement manifestation, July 2007,
- support the association in work at european level: to communicate with other european associations which are working on a field of youths' activity in local community,sustainable development and ecological education.

AAMDA was funded in 1992 and it is an environmental non-governmental organization, working in:
- public participation (co-ordinating the local Agenda 21);
- environmental education (in schools and non-formal education, with thousands of young children visting the Natural Reserve;
- nature conservation (promoting the Mindelo Ornithological Reserve);
- organisation of Ecoturism travels during the year;
- participation in coastal protection projects;
- promotion of alternative energies.

The association has more than 700 members and the effective staff are 6 persons.

Many of this members are youth and it support the Ecoclub of Mindelo (youth group working for sustainability in close connection with the community, the theme is pollution of water)

http://www.ecoclubedemindelo.blogspot.com/ (in portuguese)

At this moment the association is an organization which promote the International Network of Ecoclubs in Portugal. We have participate in diferents exchanges in Europe:
- European exchange "PEER TO PEER", kazimirezs Dolny (Poland), March 2006 (action 1.1)
- International Exchange "III international youth exchange of experiences of Ecoclubs", in Argentina, May 2006;
- I European Ecoclub's Meeting "ECOCLUBES Network - transfer of good practice in youth work in the field of environmental education", Mielno (Poland), July 2006;
- II European Ecoclub's Meeting "Youth Leadership for Sustainable developpement", organized
by Association Amigos do Mindelo, Vairão (Portugal), August 2006;
- Organization of trainning of 10 polish facilitators "ECOCLUBES - exchange of experience in the field of social education and sustainable local development", by Leonardo da Vinci;
- Meeting of european promotors in Hamburg, March 2007 (monitoring of the project for European Ecoclub's Network " Youth for local development - creating resources ans sharing experience"
- Divulgation of the philosophy and methodology of Ecoclubs "Open youth for Europe's peace (spiritual & intellectual youth development for a stronger community and better Europe), in Rudnia (Ukraine), March 2007;
- Divulgation of the philosophy and methodology of Ecoclubs "Eco-brigde between East and West", study visit, in Ulan-Ude (Russia), May 2007
- III European Ecoclub's meeting, in Vila Decans (Barcelona) between 20 and 26 August 2007

We haven't got experience in EVS Programme, but we have a great support in others organizations around the Europe which work on this subject, especially polish association The Centre of Promotion and Development of Civil Initiatives "OPUS". This organization have great experience on a field of EVS Programme.

The volunteer will be working mainly in Oporto. Because there are a partneirship between Association of Amigos do Mindelo and the Portuguese Catholic University in Oporto. The volunteer will be working in an office at the University in Oporto, and also visit diferents ecoclubs in the North of Portugal (Sabrosa, Guimarães, Mindelo, Ermesinde, Vila Nova de Gaia, Felgueiras, Marco de Canavezes, and some of them in the Center of Portugal (Ovar, Aveiro).