On arrival Training for EVS Volunteers

Aims & objectives

This training was done for EVS volunteers that just started their EVS in Romania.
The objectives of this training were that:
1. The volunteers will get a general image of ERASMUS + Program and understand the philosophy of the program related to EVS projects;
2. The volunteers will describe the role of every partner involved in each step of the EVS project and the rights and responsibilities of the project implementation team: volunteer, host organization, sending organization, mentor, NA.
3. The volunteers will identify how different aspects of culture (intercultural aspects) have an impact on their learning experience in an EVS project;
4. The volunteers will be able to identify and deal with the specific aspects or Romanian context (history, geography, myths, civil society, social life, behaviors, mentalities, etc);
5. The volunteers will identify their personal motivation and learning objectives connected to the activities to be performed during the volunteering stage;

Target group & international/intercultural composition of the group & team

Team was composed by 2 trainers per group, 8 trainers in total. We worked both as a whole team but also separately in pairs of 2.
Our group had 19 people coming from 9 different countries: France, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Hungary, Poland, Spain, Slovakia, Greece, Italy.

Training methods used & main activities

We used non-formal education all through the week. Some examples of methods were: Name games, Energisers, Carousel discussions, pair work, Walking discussion, project gallery etc

We also used graphic facilitation and provided many visuals for the topics included (conflict management, group forming, cultural iceberg, health insurance etc.)

Outcomes of the activity

Volunteers understood better their EVS stage in Romania, their rights and responsibilities and got motivated and structured to start/continue their work on their projects.
They also entered a huge network of volunteers that can always support each other.

The group dynamic was a caring, supportive and fun one, which volunteers enjoyed. The training received very positive feedback in the evaluation forms.

Your tasks and responsibilities within the team

I planned and co-facilitated the whole week together with my colleague Cati. I also took on the creation of visuals for the topics discussed.

I worked on this training for 5 days as a full time trainer.