Call for 12 volunteers

[MA-745] Eco Echo in Morocco, 18.11.2023-17.12.2023, Larache, Morocco

Key info

About the project

This is the first Eco Echo intervention outside Romania. The volunteers will mainly implement ecological awareness workshops in the highschools in Morocco. In Romania, the workshops already reached about 1500 students.

In October 2023, Eco Echo received SALTO Awards as the most impactful youth project in the category “Environment & Fight Against Climate Change”

Eco Echo Methodology

Our workshops are based on non-formal education. Non-formal education refers to any education received outside of traditional educational institutions. Therefore, everything we learn outside the classroom and school context is non-formal learning. Indeed, our aim is to help the students to open their minds by themselves. Most of the activities proposed involve the students discovering problems related to ecology and searching for solutions. This opens up dialogue, perspectives and points of view.

All of our workshops start with an ice-breaker to get the students in a state of mind open to non-formal education. Indeed, as all workshops are based on non-formal education, volunteers need students to be open to play and discuss. The icebreakers also allow the volunteers to get to know their audience better and give them a clue about the energy of the class.

GEYC’s background:

Sustainability is one of GEYC’s main objectives. We promote projects in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as our commitment is directed towards raising awareness, promoting and working on: Climate justice; Solidarity with a focus on social inclusion, minorities, migrants and refugees; Gender equality; Health and wellbeing; Partnerships for sustainability. Find out more...

Activities:

The volunteer will work five days a week, usually for 8 hours a day, with weekends off.

The regular program is from Monday to Friday between: 10.00-18.00, with a lunch break of 1 hour. It is possible that, for specific circumstances, the volunteer will be asked to work on weekends. When it is necessary for the volunteer to work a day during the weekend, s/he will receive days off during the following week ensuring that 2 consecutive days off are offered each week.

The volunteer’s main activity will be based on the following three activities:

Target group:

Young people from Morocco (4 people) and Romania (8 people)

• be from 18 to 30 years old;
• be interested in this project’s themes;
• be a good communicator, have responsibility and proactivity and be interested in the European Solidarity Corps programme and so recognize the value of being part of a project like this one;
• A priority will be given to young people with fewer opportunities.

Selection criteria:

• Strong motivation/previous experience in the field of environmental activism;
• 18-30 years old - Participants must have reached 18 and must not be older than 30 at the start date of the activity.

About the location and accommodation: 

Larache (Arabic: العرايش, romanized: al-'Araysh) is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is on the Moroccan coast, where the Loukkos River meets the Atlantic Ocean. Larache is one of the most important cities of the Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region.

Many civilisations and cultures have influenced the history of Larache, starting in the ancient city of Lixus during the 12th century BCE. Between the period of being a strategic Berber town and then a Phoenician trading centre to Morocco's independence era around the 1950s, Larache was a nexus for many cultures.

When looking at the flight connections, you can consider Tangier or Rabat airports, which are close to Larache and you can have a transfer arranged by the host organisation.

Weather: you can expect both sunny and cloudy/rainy days, with an average of 20 degrees in November and 18 degrees in December.

Accommodation will be offered in Larache: each volunteer will have their own bed, they might be sharing the same bedroom with other same gender volunteers, having access to a clean and fully equipped kitchen and bathroom.

Project timeline:

• Apply here before October 23;
  Due to the group size, we will confirm up to 50% of the spots before the deadline.
• Within 48 hours after receiving the acceptance email - the participants will be required to confirm the participation by signing the agreement and sending the travel proposal;
• Within 48 hours after receiving the confirmation of their travel proposal, booking the tickets;
• 10 November, 18:00 - 20:00 (Bucharest time) / 17:00 - 19:00 (Larache time)
  Pre-departure training (online) / mandatory
• 18th November - 17th of December 2023 - the mobility takes place;
• 7 days after returning from the mobility - ensuring project visibility and dissemination of results according to geyc.ro/visibility;
• January - March 2024: follow-up activities, locally and online;

Financial details:

The project is funded by European Solidarity Corps programme / project no. 2022-1-RO01-ESC51-VTJ-000080597, allowing us to cover the following costs for you:

-        Travel reimbursement, up to 360 EUR/pers for the Romanian volunteers

• Private transportation services (taxis, private transfers, etc..) and 1st class tickets are NOT reimbursed.
• The host organisation will be able to arrange transfers from/to the airport at a cost of 20 EUR/pers/transfer deducted from the travel allowance mentioned above.

-        Accommodation - directly arranged by the host organisation in Larache.

-        Travel and medical insurance, offered by Henner;

-        Food money in the amount of 5 EUR/day, 150 EUR for 30 days; The volunteers will arrange their own meals;

-        Pocket money in the amount of 3 EUR/day,

The volunteers will receive the volunteering subvention in 2 tranches:

• By 20th of November 2023, the reimbursement of 50% of the travel costs incurred and documented as well as the food and pocket money for the duration of the volunteering project;
• By 31st of December 2023 (upon presentation of all justifying documents for travel, completion of the dissemination and submission of the individual report), the transfer of the remaining travel reimbursement;

• For Romanian volunteers: All payments will be done via bank transfer in the account indicated by the volunteer. We recommend setting up a Revolut account/card;

Please note that GEYC is not charging a participation fee for this project.

Sustainability policy:

In line with the green policies of the European Union and of the European youth programmes, we adopted a sustainability policy that proposes the following measures:

🌳 Luggage allowed:

- for activities of 5-10 days, participants can opt for a second cabin luggage (included by the airline or added via the priority boarding option);

- for activities longer than 10 days, checked luggage becomes eligible.

🌳 Choosing the itinerary: Preference will be given to travelling as green as possible, thus when choosing flights is needed, opting for direct return flights (provided by the same airline) complemented by ground connections (buses, trains, ferries, etc.) when it is needed. If this won’t be possible, or the itinerary will be extremely long (more than 16h in total and/or including an overnight stopover) or expensive (there are alternatives at least 10% cheaper), we can also consider connections provided by the airline.

Green travel is defined as the travel that uses low-emissions means of transport for the main part of the travel, such as bus, train or car-pooling. In order for an itinerary to be considered as being done on a green travel policy, at least 50% of the itinerary length has to be done with low-emissions means of transport (train, bus, ferry, rideshare, bike etc.).

What to bring, what to prepare:

• Your motivation and curiosity!
• Your passport (Romanian citizens need to have a valid passport at least 90 days upon the expected return date);
• We will create e GDrive for you, make sure your filled agreement, tickets etc are stored there, we are not accepting any email attachment;  
• Medicines - if you need them (anti-allergy pills, pain killers, aspirin etc.)
• Your own water bottle, so we can avoid the use of plastic as much as possible.
• Toiletries and towels
• Raincoat, warm clothes  and waterproof shoes
• Typical foods from your country (non perishable).
• Other stuff you might need (camera/film, toilet things, etc.)

Other important information:

• Promote respect for the environment and its resources.
• The selected participants will need to assure the visibility & dissemination of results for this project: geyc.ro/visibility.

For more information, contact us at voluntariat@geyc.ro, subject: “[MA-745] - Questions” or with a private message on social media. 

                                                    Apply now!