News about our EU Aid volunteers

We welcomed humanitarian volunteer Laura

18.7.2019

The deployments of our volunteers were kicked off by Laura, and in a way, uniquely so. She is the only one of our 5 volunteers who will do a 2-month internship with us at ADRA Slovakia before going to her host organization. As we have a lot to offer in terms of her future work, we believe that this opportunity will facilitate her start at ADRA Albania, where she will be seconded as a „Project development assistant“. Laura will assist our international department with the preparation and implementation of international projects.

Arancha acclimatised in Albania

1.10.2019

Volunteering is an activity where you help others, but you don't go away empty-handed either. By volunteering, you work on your own self-development and discover that giving is more than taking. An example of this is our EU Aid Volunteers humanitarian volunteer Arancha. Arancha works as a therapist at a centre for disabled adults and children in Tirana. The centre provides care to people who are in material need and have no means to receive treatment.

Work vs. school duties

21.10.2019

Our EU Aid Volunteers Laura and Cyriakus are fully integrated in their host organisation ADRA Albania after 3 weeks and are working hard on new and established projects. Equally integrated are the youngest beneficiaries at school, who are fully engaged in their school duties under the supervision of their partner ADRA Albania.

Daniele, EU Aid volunteer in Georgia, also reports

29.11.2019

Daniele is the Communications Manager at the Mercury Association in Zugdidi. She has completed the first two months of her secondment and is already proficient in basic communication in Georgian. She is currently working on a series of activities called „16 days against violence against women“.

*Update, January 2020: Unfortunately, Daniele's mission was prematurely terminated.  

*Update, March 2020: he was to be replaced by Éva. Her posting had to be postponed due to the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic. 

 

Our volunteers from the earthquake site in Albania

30.11.2019

Albania has been hit by a wave of earthquakes in recent days with magnitudes up to 6.4. The epicentre was 21 kilometres north of the capital Tirana. More than 40 deaths and hundreds of injuries have been reported so far. After the first reports of the earthquake, we contacted our partners, the host organisations, who assured us that everyone was fine.

ADRA Albania prepares aid for Roma families. Tents, clothing, blankets, portable beds and clothes. ADRA field workers are coordinating on the ground assistance in cooperation with the municipality of Kruja and other NGOs. Our volunteers Laura and Cyriakus are also involved.

Aya also played her role to the fullest in Turkey

14.2.2020

Muhra is a social enterprise in Istanbul, where 50 Syrian women are gaining new skills through handmade products and thus chances to improve their employment and life prospects. Thanks to the European Humanitarian Volunteers Programme, Aya has been helping these women since last July. Her role is mainly to support the team in communication and to spread the success of this enterprise.

In the photo, Aya with her co-workers from the Muhra social enterprise after a successful day's training.

Covid-19 outbreak and its impact on our EU Aid volunteers

19.3.2020

The safety and health of our deployed volunteers is our priority, taking precedence over anything material. That is why we are monitoring the situation very closely, not least at this time of the Covid-19 pandemic, so that we can intervene quickly to protect them if necessary. Volunteers are also trained in personal safety issues prior to their departure, and it is their right to request repatriation (return to their home country) at any time if they assess their situation as dangerous for their continued work in the country.

All of our volunteers, namely Laura, Cyriakus, Arancha and Aya have decided to stay in their posting. Laura does not feel threatened, rather she considers the situation at home in Italy to be risky. She feels well, stays and works mostly from home. Cyriakus also assessed the situation similarly and confirmed his determination to stay in Albania for a longer period of time. Arancha also perceives a higher risk of returning to her native Spain, she has decided to stay for the time being. Aya is considering the evolution of the situation, for the time being she has taken the decision to stay in Turkey.

How is our volunteer Arancha in Albania experiencing her „covid days“?

25.4.2020

„I hope that society will change after this situation. We can no longer turn a blind eye to the inequalities that we see every day and that are being amplified at the moment. We cannot let those who are often overlooked fall to the bottom. People who, for various reasons, lead lonely lives will now feel even lonelier. Also those who have to live with violent or mentally ill people who do not understand what is happening in a changing reality.“ This is the message of Aranche, who has decided to stay in Albania in her position as a physiotherapist and give a helping hand to her patients in these difficult times. Read more in Arancha's blog  here.

Volunteering in quarantine

4.5.2020

Small Projects Istanbul - rebuilding lives or SPI is our partner organisation in Turkey. Apart from our Aya, they are currently hosting two other EU Aid volunteers, Martin from Slovakia and Lucia from Italy. When the pandemic also arrived in Turkey, our volunteers had to make a quick decision - to stay on their secondment or leave. All three decided to stay and help as much as they could within these constraints. You can read how they are currently doing in short article from SPI. Aya eventually had to return early to France, where she will continue to help Muhra, a social enterprise where Syrian women handcraft beautiful jewellery, for the next month.

Again, we would like to thank Aya for her 10-month work for Muhra and wish SPI and our volunteers every success and patience in this difficult situation.

Some things the Crown has taken from us, others it has given

7.5.2020

Laura also shared her experience of quarantine during the coronavirus pandemic in Albania. She titled her post „Everyone needs good neighbours.“ You can read what happened in Laura's neighborhood in her lovely story here.

Drapes for people in need

21.5.2020

On a typical day of her deployment, Arancha provides physical therapy to clients at the community center of our partner organization, the National Center for Community Services. However, the last few weeks have also meant for her that the events of a normal day have been replaced by quarantine and later the provision of humanitarian aid due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Arancha decided to use the so-called microgrant in this situation. Through it, volunteers sent by us can use a certain amount of money to implement their own idea or intervention in their place of deployment. Arancha used this microgrant to help Albanian seniors by distributing drapes.

Solidarity in practice

22.5.2020

On the occasion of today's Global Day of Solidarity, we bring you the testimonies of our volunteers from Albania. In their testimonies, they describe, among other things, how the pandemic has highlighted the needs of the most vulnerable and how they have tried to mitigate its impact on them. Cyriakus, for example, presents the situation from the perspective of education, which is the common denominator of the activities of his host organisation, ADRA Albania. He therefore considers it crucial to find innovative ways to provide accessible online education for children from the vulnerable community of Roma and Egyptian families in Tirana, who even at standard times struggle to attend school. „This requires a great deal of creativity and unorthodox thinking. I am therefore all the more pleased that we have been able to use the time of isolation to develop some promising project proposals and to submit a project application in the currently open grant call. I think we are on the right track and I am cautiously optimistic, ”adds Cyriakus. Their full testimony is available in the article here.

Sharing experiences with EU Aid volunteer candidates

31.5.2020

From September this year we planned to send 7 volunteers to Turkey, Albania and Georgia in a new EUAV project, namely „Sustainable development through humanitarian volunteers 3“Sustainable Development through Humanitarian Aid Volunteers 3„ (SuDHAV 3 for short). We managed to complete the selection process and the next step was a professional two-week humanitarian course and pre-departure training in Bratislava. These plans were also affected by the pandemic. On the other hand, it allowed us to organize an interesting online meeting between the volunteers currently deployed in the HVA project and the candidates who will follow up on their results, activities.

What to expect from a humanitarian course? What does your normal working day look like? How do you rate the experience overall? What do you like most about the country of posting? This and much more was answered very willingly and patiently by Cyriakus, Laura, Arancha and Martin (he is also a volunteer of the HVA project, but his sending organisation is our French partner ADICE). Now we just can't wait to get on with the preparation of their secondments.

Aya has ended her tenure at SPI in Turkey

11.6.2020

Aya, our Junior EU Aid Volunteer, Marketing and Income Generating Activities Specialist, finished her almost year-long assignment in Turkey in May. In other words, Aya was helping Muhra Social Enterprise to improve their sales position in the market. How does Aya rate her assignment?

“I managed to prepare and partially implement a new sales strategy, in which I was given a free hand. My role was to strengthen but also to establish new business relationships. I was also responsible for Muhra's visual identity and external communication. Since my arrival, Muhre's followers have increased from around 600 to 1000 (organically). During the Christmas period, we achieved our highest sales ever, which was more than in almost three years of Muhry's operation combined. Also, since we couldn't find a replacement designer, we designed the jewellery ourselves. I am very happy that I could be involved in this way too, even one of the earrings was named after me (Aya) and my mother (Leyla). An irreplaceable experience for me was working with the women working in the business. They were amazing and creative, I learned a lot from them. Moreover, I was able to practice my Arabic with them without being shy and always feeling welcome in their group,” summarized Aya.

Continuous medical assistance to 30 people in Albania thanks to Aranchi

14.7.2020

Today marks the end of our volunteer Aranche's secondment with our partner organisation, the National Center for Community Services, which has provided regular physiotherapy to patients at local centres in Tirana and its neighbourhood. Thanks to her year-round involvement, people suffering from motor disabilities and some with associated mental health difficulties have been able to access this type of health care that is not normally available to people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

At the same time, Arancha passed on her skills to the staff of these centres, as many times they can only employ a social worker or a psychologist. Among the patients were eight children. In addition, Arancha conducted 2 trainings for 20 unemployed women, where together they trained how to provide care to elderly people with physical disabilities.

We feel great joy and gratitude for the work Aranche has done. At the same time, we, as the sending organization, had the opportunity to watch from the sidelines her great resilience and see how she handled the initial difficult conditions from lack of equipment, language barrier, and at times the absence of support from the local team. Because that's what these partnerships are all about. Volunteers often have to go through a “baptism of fire” as hosting volunteers is often a learning and internal capacity building process for local organisations. Arancha, thank you!

Tani, a key partner of the ADRA team, a role model for 35 families in the local community in Tirana

19.7.2020

Egyptians have been one of the ethnic groups in Albania for centuries. The end of the socialist era in Albania is closely linked to the gradual reduction of the living standards of this group to the point of extreme poverty. Today, local Egyptian communities are among the poorest marginalised groups. A vicious cycle of poverty is also at work here, conditioned by the social exclusion of communities living in places with poor infrastructure, their low education and lack of job opportunities.

Laura, our volunteer at ADRA Albania, where they are dedicated to helping these communities in Tirana, approached one of the community members - Tani. Tani plays a key role in the ADRA team's communication with his community of 35 Egyptian families. You can read Tani's perception of their community's situation in a short testimony written by Laura here.

„The most amazing thing for me was to see them do things they had no idea they could do.“

31.8.2020

These are the words of Aranche, who spent a year in Albania as an EU Aid Volunteer, i.e. an expert volunteer deployed under an EU programme. She came to Albania to provide physiotherapy to those who do not have access to it due to social exclusion or economic reasons. To find out how she evaluates her work and why you will hear more from her, read the following interview here.

 

News about our volunteers from Albania

26.9.2020

Cyriacus and Laura are in full swing after the summer holidays. In addition to helping their host organization ADRA Albania with project applications aimed at helping local, socially excluded communities, they also worked hard on their own mini-project. This is an opportunity for our volunteers to get their own ideas off the ground. This week they completed their project, we look forward to sharing the results with you soon. For now, we'll just disclose that Laura and Cyriak have managed to get other local organisations involved and will be drawing on their help in the future.

We have one more news! Laura and Cyriakus are staying in Albania longer than they originally thought. Due to the ongoing pandemic and crippled deployments of new volunteers, ADRA Albania, beyond pleased with the two, has requested the opportunity for them to stay. Laura and Cyriakus will thus stay at ADRA for another two months.

Education out of poverty

6.10.2020

Our volunteers Laura and Cyriakus at ADRA Albania have this fact in mind. The Roma and Egyptians living in the suburbs of the capital Tirana are among the poorest inhabitants of the city. In addition to poverty and low levels of education, there are also occasional child marriages. It has been a year since Laura and Cyriakus have been involved in addressing the problems of these communities through the work of ADRA Albania.

As part of their secondment, both Laura and Cyriakus were awarded a microgrant, which they used for outreach campaigns. Through experiential puppet shows, they brought the importance of education to the children of these communities. They also included education on safe behaviour during the Covid-19 pandemic. They tried to multiply the effect of their activity in a truly exemplary way. Judge for yourself the result:

• 10 glitter puppets and 100 drapes were provided in cooperation with a local non-profit Social Development Investment. She was instrumental in setting up a business in Kukës, in the north of Albania, which employs 25 local women and is credited with revitalising the wool processing industry in the region.
• With the second NGO NISMA ARSIS, which runs a mobile school aimed at strengthening the education of children from excluded communities, they organized 3 puppet shows. 80 children took part along with 47 parents, as well as other young people. The puppets were left to the mobile school for their further creative activities.
• NISMA ARSIS also built a tailoring studio. Its opening ceremony was part of one of the puppet shows. Laura and Cyriakus procured sewing machines and materials for it. The studio will serve 12 women of the local community to practice their skills and increase their potential in the job market.

How to contribute to the social inclusion of excluded communities?

28.10.2020

Puppet Theatre. For more than a year, Laura and Cyriakus have had the opportunity to understand and constructively participate in the activities of ADRA Albania. The latter has long been dedicated to the Roma and Egyptian community in Tirana, whose members suffer from extreme poverty and low literacy, which is linked to limited access to education. Read more about how they have managed to connect local NGOs in their booklet here.

This is how our volunteers found themselves in the midst of a natural disaster and subsequent humanitarian crisis a year ago

27.11.2020

In late November 2019, a magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck Albania. It was the strongest earthquake since 1979. It happened just at the beginning of the deployment of Laura and Cyriacus. However, they came to ADRA Albania as development volunteers, more specifically to strengthen the capacity of our colleagues in project management.

Willingly or unwillingly, they had to try humanitarian aid activities at this moment and rescued the locals. However, they also used their expertise in this context, as ADRA subsequently implemented a humanitarian aid project for the people affected by the earthquake (almost 100,000 of them).

The project covered assistance to more than a hundred families by providing hot meals and material needs such as portable toilets and showers, solar water heaters, washing machines, hygiene items, tents and materials for building shelters. In addition, psychosocial support was provided in the form of individual counselling, group therapy for 3 500 children and adults. Also affected by the earthquake were members of the Roma and Egyptian minorities, to whom ADRA had been working for years and who had previously lived in difficult conditions.

Laura and Cyriacus are nearing the destination of their posting, you will soon be able to hear the story of their experience. We'll reveal the details soon!

Laura hosts the online discussion „Volunteering during covid-19: the power of stories from the field“

11.12.2020

Laura Naw spent more than a year in Albania, where she supported the ADRA Albania team in project management. Her secondment was unusual not only because of the coronavirus pandemic, but also because of the devastating earthquake that hit Albania a year ago. She has recently returned home from her volunteer placement - back to Italy.

Can't wait? Then watch this video about Laura and tune in to Albania:

The first in a series of three online webinars will take place this Tuesday, more information here.

Laura finished her posting in Albania

17.2.2021

Laura was one of the five Europeans we sent to low-income countries under the EU Aid Volunteers brand. In her role as a project assistant, Laura helped ADRA Albania maintain but also raise new resources needed to deliver their education programmes and support Roma and Egyptian families in Tirana. In her blog, Laura summarizes what she experienced in Albania, the footprint she left behind, as well as what this expert volunteering has brought her personally and career-wise. You can read it here.

Would you like to hear more about the impact of volunteers' activities on local communities? Sign up for our third and final webinar next Thursday, where more volunteers will tell their stories. Read more here.

Arancha hosts the online discussion „The impact of volunteers on local communities“

23.2.2021

Arancha is currently on her second deployment as an EU Aid Volunteer in Albania. Her role is to provide physiotherapy to those who do not have access to it due to social exclusion or economic reasons. During her first year, she worked with 30 patients aged between 3 and 80 years old who suffered from functional mobility impairments, which limited them in various activities. In addition, she was involved in training sessions where she trained 30 unemployed women in home care for family members with disabilities.

If you are interested in how physiotherapy improves the quality of life of disadvantaged people, how Arancha was accepted in the community, what led her to return to volunteering and much more, then do not hesitate to sign up for our third and final webinar on volunteering here.

You can also tune in to her story with this short video, which captures Arancha's beginnings in the NCCS organisation in Tirana:

Cyriacus completed his posting in Albania

25.3.2021

Cyriakus has worked for ADRA Albania within the EU Aid Volunteers initiative as an expert volunteer in the position of Programme Assistant. As he says himself, it was 16 special months during which he met many talented and inspiring people and was lucky enough to consider them as friends today. He has written a summary of his experience in the article here.

18 volunteer deployments successfully completed

30.3.2021

Wondering what expert volunteers can provide to your local organization and community? Watch the video below which captures moments of our „Humanitarian Volunteers in Action“, the name of a joint project (HVA) that has enabled 2 and a half years of skills and experience exchange between EU and low-income countries. For those who like numbers, here are some basic figures characterising the results achieved:

• 18 humanitarian volunteers deployed to Turkey, Georgia, Morocco and Albania
• more than 1000 beneficiaries of their activities
• 5 field visits
• 15 video testimonies. Available at here.
• 1 Handbook on mentoring volunteers. Available at here.
• 1 Workbook for volunteers

What is Slovakia's share in this project you can read in the press release here.

Many thanks for the cooperation to our EU Aid volunteers and partners, namely: Adice - Centre d'information Europe Direct Roubaix, MTÜ Mondo, National Center for Community Services, Small Projects Istanbul - rebuilding lives, ADRA Albania, ასოციაცია „მერკური“ (Association „Merkuri“), Association de Protection Contre le SIDA ORAN (Page Officielle), Association Isaaf Jerada solidarité et développement, Association AICHA Oumifiss.

Watch a beautiful video about the beneficial help of our volunteers in the world

31.3.2021

Two and a half years, 10 organisations, 18 EU Aid volunteers and more than 1000 beneficiaries. These are the numbers of our Humanitarian Volunteers in Action (HVA) project, which ends its mission today. Don't you like numbers? Watch the video about the volunteers that ADRA Slovakia sent as a sending organisation in this project. We guarantee you that it will breathe life into these numbers.

The HVA project was part of the EU Aid Volunteers (EUAV) initiative. This programme represents the European Community's efforts to help in low-income countries. The initiative brings together volunteers and organisations from different countries in common project areas such as resilience building, disaster risk management and linking relief, recovery and development as a practical expression of solidarity with communities vulnerable to humanitarian crises.

The opportunity to act as an expert volunteer is open to all EU citizens, including long-term residents, without age limit and regardless of the sending organisation's country of residence.

The programme is funded by the European Commission and managed by the EACEA (Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency) and DG ECHO (Directorate General for Civil Protection and EU Humanitarian Aid Operations), and from 2021 by DG EAC (Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture).