PROJECT ENVIRONMENT: PROFILE OF THE ORGANISATION AND LOCAL COMMUNITY
The Botanic Garden serves mainly the Lisbon community which represents nearly 1/10 of Portugal's population (about 1 million inhabitants) in its largest urban centre - the capital in the centre littoral of Portugal. It is very well located, alongside the Tagus River forming an estuarine zone ending in the Atlantic Ocean. Transportation is good including an underground network, trains, trams and buses either to the urban crown or to the surroundings. In terms of urban centre with cultural opportunities Lisbon offers several museums and national and historic monuments, gardens, theatres and cinemas. Lisbon also offers many expositions and facts about Portugal history, kings and navigators. The cost of life is considered to be middle-low when compared to other E.U. countries being the services the main sector of production.
In terms of urban environment Lisbon presents a medium-high degree of pollution comparing to other Portuguese cities but a low European or even world level therefore it is very urgent to develop an environmental education in a space with such natural importance as the Botanic Garden in the centre of Lisbon. Nevertheless the Garden also receives visits of people and students from other areas of the country and many tourists.
The Botanic Garden presents four different offices with specialized staff: the investigation office with projects on botany, the herbarium and the bank seeds offices which are responsible for the preservation of plants and seeds and the environmental education office, responsible for divulgation projects on botany and sustainable development. The gardening team is also part of the permanent staff. The Botanic Garden has a group of Portuguese volunteers working with the herbarium and education offices, as well as with the gardening team. This EVS project is a proposal of the environmental education office.
PROPOSED ACTIVITIES FOR EVS VOLUNTEERS
Environmental education is one subject that we consider to be extremely important - especially nowadays! This project intent to promote the environmental education in the Botanic Garden receiving European volunteers who can help the Environmental Education Office to create in this space an example of actions where people like to participate learning about Plants and Nature Conservation. It is also a goal to adapt and use information in the herbarium database to finally spread scientific contents into the internet for the public use (because without information it is impossible to achieve understanding about sustainability).
The volunteer will integrate actions that are already included in environmental education projects to be developed in the Garden, will be coordinated directly by the tutor of the project and helped by all people from Environmental Education Service. Nevertheless it is expected from the volunteer to give some new ideas adaptable to the actions which will require direct contact with the public during the visits to the Garden, some interest about plastic expression and environmental education methods in thematic workshops and some divulgation effort in order to create papers, posters and flyers to distribute through the city. Furthermore the fact of being a foreign volunteer brings the advantage to discuss, learn and apply new methods, themes and activities. The project also gives the opportunity to learn about ecology and about the essential importance of a sustainable development to achieve and maintain life quality.
The possible tasks for the volunteer are the following related to the types of activity:
1) Research on Environmental Education methods and activities
Tasks: help in the research on the internet about environmental education methods/activities/materials and programs; help to contact other volunteers, collaborators, interested public and participants of the activities in order to pass information.
2) Thematic workshops
Tasks: learn and give new ideas to improve the methods and activities about plant characteristics and ecology; help to prepare materials for the workshops; help to perform workshops giving support to the participants and monitors applying the chosen methods.
3) Working with Herbarium database
Tasks: adapt the information on the Herbarium database in order to create an internet format for public use. This will also work as an instrument for educational activities as well as a source of information about plants and the importance of its conservation.
4) Creation of informative and supporting materials; promote the Garden and the activities
Tasks: help to create flyers and posters about the project; help to distribute by mail, fax or hand those informative materials to promote the project; help in the creation of supporting materials to project activities using computer programs.
The volunteer will be informed and taught about all the actions, methods or specific themes to work on and will integrate the team. The tutor will provide all work orientation within the proposed tasks. The day work starts at 10h00 in the Botanic Garden and ends at 17h00 with lunch time from 13h00 to 14h00. If it is a day for workshops it will be necessary to help in these actions (most of them with children from schools and/or public in general). If not, it is expected from the volunteer to research on the internet about environmental education methods/activities/materials and programs, to help in the creation of informative materials for the target public, of flyers and posters to promote the actions or to help to adapt the Herbarium database into an internet format for public use. On a typical day the volunteer arrives at the Garden to meet the tutor and colleagues and perform the weekly tasks. A weekly schedule will be created for the volunteer to know exactly in what day will work on a workshop, at what time will integrate groups to create supporting materials for workshops, which day is taken for network research, divulgation effort and creation of flyers or to adapt the Herbarium database.
The volunteer will receive a continuous support from the tutor and from the team of the Botanic Garden Environmental Education Office. A meeting once a week will be provided to guarantee the good evolution of the volunteer's work. The volunteer will be informed and coached about all the actions and will integrate the team. It is not expected that he/she works alone and the tutor will always work on his/her side. Every effort will be made to integrate the volunteer in the team, in the local community and in the city both in work and free time. The volunteer will participate in the formation provided by the National EVS Agency and in all national EVS meetings.
The tutor in this project will manage to arrange a house in Lisbon with a room, W.C. and with possibility for cooking, as near as possible to the Botanic Garden for the volunteer to stay during the period of the project. Nevertheless the volunteer is free to request change of room/house if something against his/her will is found. It is guaranteed that the volunteer will receive Portuguese lessons from a language teacher during the project: twice a week during about 4 months (aprox. 50 hours).
Holidays are considered in normal terms and periods of the year and will be arranged between the volunteer and the tutor of the project in the interest of both.
VOLUNTEER PROFILES AND RECRUITMENT PROCESS
The aim of this EVS project is for the volunteer to integrate the Environmental Education Office and to develop some informative materials, database for public use, internet research, contacts and environmental education actions (workshops) in the Botanic Garden in order to create a continuous public information and concern about the importance of plants and their conservation in natural and urban environments. The Botanic Garden counts upon the voluntary help of many friends and is very pleased with the opportunity to receive an European volunteer to work in the environmental education area so that its big importance and little concern and development in Portugal.
In order to exchange knowledge it would be good for the project that the volunteer feels interest for the biology, ecology (specially of plants) or/and environmental education themes, to work with children, about the creation of materials to support some specific activities (eg. plastic, music and drama expression, design, drawing) and about computer programs.
The choice of a volunteer for this project will only concern the profile required: the volunteer needs to be dinamic, to like working with school public (sometimes young children) and local communities and to have an interest in the learning of Biology and Plant Ecology, about research methods and the creation of informative materials and sources. It would also be good for the project that the volunteer presents interest to learn (or some experience) about research methods and the creation of informative materials and sources using computer programs.
In the recruitment process all curricula and motivation letters will be carefully analysed concerning the described profile and a permanent communication will be maintained with all candidates (usually by e-mail) in order to choose the volunteer for the project and change information respecting dead-lines.
The volunteer will have her/his own project not to substitute anyone's job. She/he can help others in the Education Office but the aim is to construct her own working project within the context of the proposal or to propose concrete activities, studies or materials to include in the project.
A close contact with the sending organization will be maintained during the six months of the project mainly through electronic mail.
RISK PREVENTION, SAFETY AND PROTECTION
Please describe how you will guarantee a safe living and working environment for the EVS volunteers, how you will prevent risks and crises and how - in the case of EVS volunteers aged 16 or 17 - you ensure appropriate supervision, child safety and protection.
The hosting organization /coordinator of the project will make every effort to honor all the principles of the Youth in Action Program, respecting the rights and duties of the volunteer and the organizations involved. The tutor will always support the volunteer and be aware of the signs to try to solve any crisis before it happens. All the issues will be discussed in the best interest of the volunteer and the organizations, respecting the guides of the Program and all the people involved.
The Botanic Garden, the surrounding area and Lisbon itself are secure areas, with no problems for self protection. Nevertheless the volunteer will always work in the same place with the tutor and another person from the education office, who are responsible for the project and for all needed support inside or outside the institution.
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