Partnership-building Activity: PBA: Mountain spirit – Strategic EVS for Nature Conservation

Location: Peja, KOSOVO * UN RESOLUTION

Dates: 22 February – 1 March 2019

Number of participants: Max. 25 participants

Participating countries: Poland, Portugal, Spain, Italy

Erasmus+: Youth in Action Programme countries, Western Balkan countries

Organizer: GAIA

Apply here: Application form

Deadline to apply: 14 January 2019

Date Of Selection: 28 January 2019

Inquiries about this training course: Miroslava Popova at gaia.kosovo@gmail.com

Costs:

Participation fee

No participation fee

Accommodation and food

The PBA will happen in the city of Peja/Peć. Accommodation and food is covered. The participants will be sharing rooms (2-4 people in one room).

Food will be vegetarian or vegan, seasonal and domestic as much as possible.

Travel reimbursement

Travel costs will be covered up to 80 % and within the Erasmus+ limits of distance band (100-499 km = 180 euro, 500-1999 km = 275 euro, 2000-2999 km = 360 euro).

Be aware that we encourage environmental friendly means of transport (bus, train, etc.) therefore travelling by plane will be reimbursed only up to 60 % (unless really necessary).

Participants are expected to buy their own tickets and will be reimbursed once they sent the original tickets. The travel reimbursement could take up to 2 months.

PBA: Mountain spirit – Strategic EVS for Nature Conservation

Networking activity for NGOs, volunteers, youth workers, activists involved in nature conservation and youth volunteering activities. The aim is to provide space for establishing contacts, exchange and work on ideas and future cooperations.

Velebit Association Kuterevo and GAIA Kosovo are organizing a networking activity for organizations, volunteers, youth workers and activists who are or would like to be involved in nature conservation and youth volunteering activities. The PBA meeting is part of the Mountain spirit – Strategic EVS for Nature Conservation Erasmus+ project and aims at providing space for the participants to establish contacts, exchange and work on ideas and future cooperations.

Main topics include

European Solidarity Corps – new approaches and possibilities for cooperation
Nature protection and volunteering – examples, challenges, needs and opportunities
Mountain spirit project – what has been done, what comes next?

The specific objectives of the PBA are

To create space for developing new and strengthening existing strategic partnerships for nature protection projects through youth and voluntary work
To give opportunity to the participants to share good and bad practices in their work on the topics
To provide opportunity for partners within Mountain spirit project to meet and plan next activities
To give an overview and details on the possibilities of the European Solidarity Corps and Erasmus+ programmes
To serve as a place for setting up future projects and initiatives between the participants.

Within the PBA we will be discussing and working on the following subjects:

The new philosophy and opportunities which the European Solidarity Corps provide especially with the focus on nature protection (volunteer project, volunteer teams, solidarity projects) and cooperation with the Western Balkan partner countries
Solidarity and nature protection
Quality of Volunteer management
Challenges in establishing cooperation at local and national level;
Mountain spirit – Strategic EVS for Nature Conservation – presentation of 2018 activities and achievements, challenges, recommendation, next steps
opportunities and role of youth organization for working in nature conservation
Volunteering activities for nature conservation – realities (Balkan region, Central and Western European countries), needs, challenges, possibilities
Developing new or improving existing volunteering programs – i.e. NP Sharr, NP Bjeshkët e Nemuna
Service Civil International and nature protection
Erasmus+ and other programs

We are looking for 25 participants (age: 18+) from both Erasmus+ program and partner countries from the Western Balkans (eligible ONLY for: EU countries, Macedonia, Turkey, Liechtenstein, Norway, Iceland, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia). The participants should be representatives of youth or nature conservation organizations, volunteers or activists, who have interest, motivation and energy to work on the topic, who want to establish new partnerships and develop volunteering activities for nature conservation.

Profile of suitbale organizations:

Youth organizations with some or no experience with Erasmus+ volunteering programs willing to get familiar and active within ESC framework
Nature conservation organizations who would like to explore the oppotunities to include international volunteers in their work
Nature protection organizations interested to exchange experience and share knowledge
Youth and nature protection organizations from the Western Balkan countries
Mountain spirit project partner organizations
Members and partners of Service Civil International

Suitable participants could be:

Project coordinators
Decision makers in the organizations
Activists and volunteers with some experience in the field of nature protection, voluntary and youth work
Active members of the organizations with long-term project ideas