Place: Brussels, Belgium
Period: 12 months starting from June 2016
Deadline for application: 08/05/ 2016
Hosting organisation:
The International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements European Regional Group (IFOAM EU) represents the organic movement in Europe and promotes the further development of organic food and farming (http://www.ifoam-eu.org/). The organization works at European level and it has previous experience as a hosting organization.
Volunteering activities:
During their stay, the volunteers will have the opportunity to get in contact with the principles of Organic Agriculture and with the European Institutions. They will also take part in conferences, workshops and exhibitions. Each volunteer will be involved in the work of one of the certain units (e.g. events, communication, policy) and will, depending on their interests, work on a specific project during their stay.
During the stay at the IFOAM EU office, the volunteers will take part in the different activities outlined below:
1) Trainings in IFOAM EU’s working areas and on the principles of organic agriculture- Volunteers will actively participate in the trainings organic agriculture through moderated discussion etc.
2) IFOAM EU will give the volunteers the possibility to be involved in different events (seminars, advisory groups) to get to know the EU institutions and “political” Brussels. A staff member will introduce the volunteers to the European Parliament (Visitor’s centre, info office). They will also take part in many events organised in the EP (meetings, conferences), but also events like the Green Week (conference on EU environment policy) where they can meet MEPs, representatives of the Commission and NGOs. They will also take part in “Bruxelles Champêtre”, a “rural day” without cars and an organic market.
3) The volunteers will be assigned to one special work area (events, policy, communications or research). In each area, the volunteer will be able to develop an own project with responsibilities, supported by staff. All areas in IFOAM EU are fully staffed so volunteers would not substitute any staff, but will be able to contribute and learn from working with the colleagues. Example activities: the volunteer in the events area will have the possibility of getting involved in the preparation of an IFOAM EU event in Brussels or abroad. He/she can be involved in programme development, contribute with own ideas e.g. for an excursion during the event (including involvement with the local community, a possibility to learn more about the organic agriculture sector in the country). The volunteer in the research area can e.g. be involved in developing a position paper (coordinating input from authors). A possible project for the volunteer in the policy area can e.g. be the development of a publication on a “hot” political topic at that moment. In the communications area, the volunteer can e.g. be involved in developing a publication or help to develop a concept for a social media campaign.
4) Organising a seminar for young people (from their EVS network and beyond) focusing on healthy food choices/food production and the impact these choices have on the community and at EU level. Topics will include the environmental impact of food choices, including healthy&sustainable food choices in daily life or supporting environmental movements. The aim is to inform the volunteers and young people about how important the choices they make in their daily life are.
4) Stay at an organic farm in BE to get to know a farmer’s life, contacts with the local community. IFOAM EU will organise a stay at an organic farm in Belgium. The volunteers will be involved in the daily work of a farmer and gain valuable knowledge about how healthy food is produced, how important an intact environment is (on the farm and in an overall context).
APPLY NOW!!!
Application: http://www.ifoam-eu.org/en/vacancies/evs-opportunities
About EVS
For more information, please contact erasmus@zmergo.hr
Europska volonterska služba , popularno nazvana EVS, dio je programa Erasmus+, a omogućuje mladima od 17-30 godina da volontiraju do godine dana u drugoj europskoj zemlji te time steknu neprocjenjivo životno i radno iskustvo. Troškovi puta, boravka (stan, režije i hrana), vize i osiguranja su pokriveni sredstvima projekta, a uz to, volonter dobiva i džeparac na mjesečnoj bazi.
