LTVSJ10 - Vir'Volt Solidarités Jeunesses, a national and international environment : Solidarités Jeunesses is the French branch of the Youth Action for Peace movement created in 1923 and have for principal goals : Volunteer participation for all especially youth and the disadvantaged to the local, national and international life. Local development caring for the individuals, the environment and the cultural historic sites. Intercultural learning among different cultures and different ages. Peace building Solidarités Jeunesses is registered by the Youth and Sports ministry as a youth and community education organization and is a member of Co travaux (French platform for international workcamps) and CNAJEP. To get to these goals, Solidarités Jeunesses uses the following means : Organizing International workcamps (long and short term) with local communities and for non profit projects. Hosting groups (schools, community centers, but also free leisure for groups). Organizing seminars, and activities facilitating the learning process of participants. Sending on international workcamps and on long term volunteers but also on seminars and trainings. Supporting local organizations. Organizing and participating to inclusion activities Organizing activities for youth with less opportunities especially international workcamps in France and abroad. At Regional Level Vir'Volt is one of the regional delegations of the movement Solidarités Jeunesses. Vir'volt stands up for the same values as the national movement. Defending peace aims at the international and national level, our local project is meant to develop similar activities. To reach those goals, the movement is implementing the following activities : Organizing international workcamps (long and short term) in cooperation with the local communities or partner organizations Hosting different groups (schools, community centers but also offering free leisure for different kinds of groups). Organizing trainings and seminars but also supports activities for members of our organization Sending volunteers on international workcamps but also to short or long term projects or trainings and seminars. Supporting local projects Organizing and participating to activities on social, economical and working integration involving participants with less opportunities. Organizing(training sessions for volunteers (France and abroad) with less opportunities.
How was created the Ile de France delegation? In 1995, a group of friends involved as volunteers in Solidarités Jeunesses at a national level has decided to create a delegation in Ile de France (area of Paris). At first, this group wanted to develop the dynamics of the international volunteer workcamps. It was also an opportunity to work with new partners on organizing activities mixing volunteer work, international mobility and insertion for people with less opportunities. Today, Vir'Volt, the delegation of Solidarités Jeunesses Ile de France, organizes about 10 international workcamps in 5 districts of the Ile de France region. Vir'Volt has developed the AMJ project. With the support of the region Ile de France and local partners, our organization has sent about 50 young people from undeserved districts to international workcamps in France and abroad every year. At a local level,vir'volt implement local projects in La Ferté sous Jouarre where the office is located. Project environment: The volunteer will integrate the team of Vir'Volt, regional delegation of Solidarités Jeunesses Ile de France. The staff of Vir'Volt has 4 employees. We host regularly interns and long term volunteers (civil service, OFAJ,...). 8 people are on the board, some living in La Ferté, some other in other areas of the regions but they're meeting regularly at La Ferté. The headquarter is at La Ferté sous Jouarre in the North of the Seine et Marne district, on a former camping, which enables us to host youth groups, seminars, training sessions and international workcamps from april to october. This place is located on behalf of the river Marne and 5 minutes away from the city center. La Ferté sous Jouarre has 9 500 inhabitants and is at 40 minutes by train from Paris and 15 minutes from Meaux and also close to the Champagne region. The town has one swimming pool, a public library, many associations and is on the bank of the Marne which allow to do many activities. Vir'Volt is involved with many organizations in the local community and the volunteer will meet and work with other organizations of the region. We especially work a lot with social (Germinal, ADSEA), cultural (Studio CREAM, Amitiés sans frontières), sport (boxing club, Sport Loisirs Fertois) associations. The volunteer will be hosted at the site of Vir'Volt and will be sharing a small house and a wooden caravan with other volunteers. The house has a bathroom, a kitchen and a shared bedroom fit to host volunteers. The wooden caravan has two bedrooms and a living room. Staff will be available to talk with the volunteers to be sure the volunteers will be able to gain all the benefits of his/her volunteer experience in a collective housing. The collective aspect is an important part of the project. The rules of the house will be discussed with the volunteers. Vir'Volt will be hosting 3 to 4 long term volunteers. Proposed activities for volunteers: Through their involvement in local activities, the volunteers will be able to get a sense of responsibility, to get involved actively in the local community and to think when they return to their country, about new ways of becoming active citizens in their every day life. We believe that volunteers, by running projects and activities in Vir'Volt, will learn to be more responsible and to take initiatives which will be useful in their social and professional life. For the short term and long term volunteers hosting a weekly evaluation will be organized with the group to give feedback about the projects and collective life.
Times will be organized for trainings and discussions but also to assess motivations of the volunteers, objectives and results of the activities. The volunteer will be able to request individual evaluations whenever he/she wants. Volunteers of the association (especially board members) take an active part in the implementation and support of the project. As a result, they will be involved in the support of the volunteers. During the national events, the volunteers will be able to discover the French territory and will have a better understanding of French association's life especially the Solidarités Jeunesses project. Many organizations have been created by volunteers when they return in their country, others have become project leaders in partner organizations. Vir'volt implements several projects in the social, cultural and integration fields. As for an organization based on people's education, it is highly important that they should work on projects with people coming from different cultural backgrounds. In this framework, volunteers bring the very necessary intercultural touch to our projects. In all our actions, they help us to keep an intercultural distance, to work on our prejudice, to cross our looks and views on the world. Thanks to their status and commitment, the volunteers bring along deep thinking about each one's responsibility and about one's involvement as a person and as a citizen. In every action, they draw people's attention about voluntary work and promote it. They are the stamina of our organization and they keep us aware. They make proposals, they have their external point of view and they ceaselessly question our project, to make it progress and get better. Permanent activities: Pre qualification activity (all year long and lasts 6 months for each group) : this action is based on mobility and will alternate working activities (wooden building, gardening on the campsite, workcamp in the town, painting) and training activities. We are hosting about 8 people in difficult situations, who are living in the surrounding area. The volunteers will take part in the work with the participants. They will also take part to some training activities as well and will talk about their country and what it is to be volunteer. Because of their presence, they will guarantee a social mixture in the group. By working in the workcamp (in and out of the campsite), they will get more responsible. For the volunteers, this is a real learning opportunity as a mixed social group and intercultural experience. N.B. : on this activity, the volunteers will never be responsible for the activity. This project will be lead by 2 staff members. Permanent workcamp (all year long) : it will be organized in the town of La Ferté sous Jouarre. Different sites are scheduled in the town. The technical aspects can be wall building, restoration of social apartments, gardening, painting...etc. The camping site where the organization is needs also some restoration and will be part of the permanent workcamp. There are some work in the garden which adds value to our project and group many people. This is also a site where initiatives can rise (one volunteer is actually organizing a project on painting walls). Moreover, to promote our project based on sustainable development and respect of the environment, the volunteers will maintain and develop the vegetable garden. This garden is considered as a tool to raise awareness on ecological issues. We use this garden to work with children and with groups coming to the structure. Because of the partnership with the town, Vir'Volt is participating to events of the town and the
volunteers will get involved in the following projects : " Fête de la Musique ", Ferté plage, festival " les mains bleues " (street art festival), public debate on actual issues (we developed this activity with a partner organization " Matière Prise "). Many other projects in the town can be lead by the volunteers (with schools, social center etc.). We are able to host groups since the organization has been in charge to run the former camping site. These groups are coming from different backgrounds : youth groups, community centers... We offer cheap accommodation, close to Paris, but " in the green ". The groups are sleeping in original nomad tents (yourts, tipis) and can participate to the daily activities : workcamp, garden, cooking, cultural visits... and also benefit of the local sports organizations. Our partners are regularly asking for these type of projects. The volunteers will work with these groups. Debates concerts : 4 cultural events are organized per year. The volunteers are part of the organization The debates are always about society issues (North South relations, environment, etc...). There is often an exhibition, a film,... The volunteers could present the organization or run the debate. We often finish by a concert. The involvement of the volunteers will go to the practical needs of the event. These events are mostly held in La Ferté Sous Jouarre but can be organized in Paris. The volunteers will be involved in the organization of the training of workcamp leaders and will be participants of the training. Usually, this training has 30 participants and is held in May. This event is organized at La Ferté and the volunteers will be involved to the hosting of the trainees. The content of the training is technical but also about intercultural learning, conflict resolution,...). From 2010, Vir'Volt is also organizing a musical festival at the end of June/beginning of July. Prior to the festival, we host an international youth exchange with people coming from different countries to create music and play their tunes at the festival. Called Vir'Volt festival, this event is likely to be run every year. Frequent interventions in junior high and high schools of the area : language courses. The volunteers are able to attend the French classes in these schools. Usually, it's about one day per week. Regional activities: International volunteers will be offered the chance to be an activity leader at workcamps for young international volunteers during summertime. Volunteers are responsible for the daily life of the group during the camp. As described above, they will have undergone training as activity leaders in May. This experience is in many cases a chance for volunteers to pass on the skills acquired during their volunteer experience. It is certainly a very rich experience in terms of responsibility and initiative. Our association, due to its regional spread, is often asked to promote volunteering in various salons, forums and meetings dealing with youth, and organized by General Councils, the Region and municipalities. Our volunteers lend a more dynamic character to our interventions. It is an opportunity for them to become aware of other initiatives and to better understand the context of the French system, as well as to report on their own experiences. With the General Council of the Seine et Marne, we have organized a series of activities in various towns and neighborhoods of the Seine et Marne, in order to mobilize youth and promote the involvement of young people. These activities begin with the organization of public debates
regarding involvement in strategic meeting places (Youth services, social centers, diverse meeting places from the parking lot to conference rooms...). They will then be trained to participate in work camps of young international volunteers, who are strong vectors of involvement. We will assist them with the registration process. They will then be mobilized with the aid of different types of meetings/training (training and education by their peers), in their neighborhoods. They will then become liaisons for the involvement of other young persons in the process of international volunteering. Young international volunteers hosted by Vir'Volt will be involved in this program as observers, activity leaders, facilitators. Life in the association: Volunteers hosted by Vir'Volt will participate in the daily life of our association: through our local, national and international networks, the association receives and participates regularly in meetings, training workshops, institutional conferences and festivities. Depending on the event, volunteers are invited to participate in, organize or lead these meetings. This depends on their own wishes and skills. They will be assisted in this process.