Evs in Germany

[Ali Dindar]

• Contact person:�Ekkehard Lippold
• Coordinating organisation:�Steinbeis Innovation Centre European Projects
• Host:�Stiftungs St. Franziskus Heiligenbronn:�http://www.stiftung-st-franziskus.de
• Location:�Schramberg, Germany
• Deadline:�01/04/2011
• Start:�12/09/2011
• End:�11/08/2012
• 
  The foundation St. Franziskus Heiligenbronn is an ecclesiastical foundation under public law. It performs a charitable mission based on christian-catholic principles, in particular for people of all ages with impaired senses, elderly people in need of care and for children and young people.
  The foundation is represented at 10 locations in southwestern Germany, attends and conducts about 1.350 people in need and employs about 1.200 staff members. The Foundation is a registered non-profit organisation for care of the disabled and elderly people as well as youth welfare.
  Most of the staff members are trained in vocational fields like: geriatric care, inclusive education, residential care, nursing, special education as well as administration.
  On offer are internships for vocational preparation or as part of vocational training, alternative civilian service in divers fields as well as work shadowing. Collaboration is also possible on a volunteer basis during weekends and holidays; e.g. as additional support in group homes or attendance for holiday camps.

Tasks

During their voluntary service the volunteers will get non-formal qualifications as well as key qualifications in the areas of character-building and social and linguistic skills. They get to know different ways of life and learn to deal with young disabled people. They learn organisational structures of daily care for disabled people and how to find their place in it. Volunteers will get to know during their activities social needs of people with impaired senses. Volunteers get the opportunity to contribute – under guidance of staff members – to the support and leisure time program of the school and residential home. Volunteers can introduce their own ideas and abilities like computer literacy, graphic design, mechanical skills, music playing etc. In the beginning the volunteer will only assist the groupleaders, later she/he will take on responsibility – as far as admitted by legal liabilities. Emphatically volunteers are invited to bring in their own ideas. Staff members will appreciate all initiatives to develop additional proposals for leisure time activities and will support planning and realization. Volunteers could develop their ideas for new games, activities or stories into a personal project if they so wished - creative ideas are always welcome. Volunteers are invited to participate in internal vocational training seminars. Volunteers are expected to accomplish a fulltime voluntary service of 35 hours per week. Overtime doing will be balanced by additional freetime.

Criteria

The volunteer should be open-minded to work with young people with impaired senses. It's necessary for the volunteers to be sociable and outgoing, to have enthusiasm, and to be tolerant to foreign cultures. They should be able to interact well with different groups of people. An enthusiastic, responsible and flexible attitude towards the work is very important. Experiences in the care of handicapped people would be helpful, but not a prerequisite. Volunteers should able to get easily in touch with the staff members as well as the handicapped people. A basic knowledge of german language would be helpful. A driving license class B would be helpful.

Procedure

Candidates should describe their motivation for a voluntary service in this project in a detailed motivation letter. Important are neither national or social background, gender, language skills nor level of education, but a convincingly motivation. Furthermore volunteers have to fill in a questionnaire they will get upon request from the coordinating organisation.

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