Deadline: January 25th, 2020
Hosting organization: Central Asia Solidarity Groups/Centralasiengrupperna
Vacancy: 2 volunteering positions
Start date: March (flexible)
Duration: 12 months
Volunteering opportunity with Central Asia Solidarity Groups
The following vacancies are available at the Swedish organization Central Asia Solidarity Groups, through the European Solidarity Project funded by Erasmus+ and managed by the Swedish Agency for Youth and Civil Society. Candidates, who are interested in these volunteering positions must register at European Solidarity Corps portal and submit their CV together with one page letter of motivation no later than January 25st, 2020. Central Asia Solidarity Groups’ OID is E10064468. Candidates are also requested to submit CV, one page of letter of motivation, as well as one piece of academic paper no more than seven pages (a piece can be an extract from a larger academic paper) to [email protected] no later than January 25th, 2020. Suitable candidates will be invited to take part in the interview process no later than one week after the submission deadline.
Please note that according to project’s requirements, only holders of Russian Federation’s passports may apply for the position, who also must be between 17-30 years old.
General project’s goals:
-promote and solidify solidarity activities in Sweden, Russia and Central Asia
-promote intercultural dialogue between Central Asia, Russia and Sweden;
-promote civic engagement and active citizenship
-promote development cooperation between Sweden, Central Asia and Russia
-promote exchange of good practices
Within these goals of the project, volunteers will be given flexibility in their volunteering activities, while keeping their core responsibilities, such as:
-provide support in organizing and facilitating events within Central Asia Solidarity Groups (dialogue meetings, workshops, trainings, seminars and other public events);
-engage in Central Asia Solidarity Groups’ information and advocacy efforts such as theme days, conferences, lectures, etc
-assist Central Asia Solidarity Groups’ team in the process of project application writing;
-assist Central Asia Solidarity Groups’ with recruiting new members and volunteers;
-networking with local civil society organizations in Sweden, Central Asia and Russia
-produce at least one explainer clip dedicated to social issues in Central Asia
-implement your own projects that are compatible with work of Central Asia Solidarity Groups and/or our transnational partners;
On other occasions, volunteers will be expected to provide written and oral translation (Russian, English), work with logistics in related to activities organized by Central Asia Solidarity Groups and well as with our social media platforms
We are looking for volunteers with the following background:
-degree (or equivalent) in political science, development cooperation or related area of studies;
-experience of working with issues related to climate/environment is a merit
-experience of engagement in civil society;
-good understanding/knowledge of Central Asian contexts;
-fluency in written and spoken English and at least one local language – Russian, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Kazakh or Uzbek is essential;
-excellent written and verbal communication skills (public speaking is a plus)
-positive problem-solving approach;
-good interpersonal and team-working skills;
-responsiveness and responsibility.
About Central Asia Solidarity Groups and your volunteering experience
Central Asia Solidarity Groups (abbreviated CAG, or Centralasiengrupperna in Swedish) is a nonprofit, volunteer-run organization that is party politically and religiously neutral, based in Malmö, Sweden. Our goal is to promote strong, active, competent and inclusive civil society that contributes to human rights being respected, marginalization eliminated and social justice achieved. We do this through long-term solidarity work, capacity building and organizational development, exchange programs, residencies and volunteer service, training courses and advocacy work. We are primarily active in the thematic fields of youth, gender, conflict transformation, climate/environment. CAG has collaborations/partners in Central Asian region mainly in four post-Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. We also have collaboratons in other regions such as the Caucasus, Russian Federation, and Poland. Aside from exchanges, training courses and long-term development collaboration with partners in Central Asia, we have several activities in Malmö/Skåne which take place on a regular, weekly basis and targets local youth. For example, we arrange study circles, discussion clubs, workshops and critical movie watching about issues related to Human Rights, democracy, gender, youth issues, intercultural communication and conflict prevention. We also work with increasing public knowledge and general awareness about Central Asia as a region. We do this through public lectures, social and cultural events, study circles, language practice groups, blogging about development work among other activities. The office of Central Asia Solidarity Groups in Malmö is also our administrative hub, where we work with project design, methodology development, contact with partners abroad etc. Additionally, we have several major development projects in Kyrgyzstan, as well as regularly conduct youth exchanges and training courses in the Central Asia/Russia/Poland. Our solidarity work in Central Asia is done in close cooperation with local grassroots partners working with issues of democracy, youth, gender, conflict transformation and climate/environment.
As a volunteer you will have a chance to gain experience of being part of non-governmental organization in Sweden and be involved in other activities of local CSOs. You will also participate in on- arrival and mid-term trainings in Stockholm and upon completion of the program, you will be provided with Youthpass Certificate. You can find more information about Youthpass here: https://www.youthpass.eu/en/ Central Asia Solidarity Groups will provide volunteers with monthly allowance that will cover accommodation and daily living costs. All costs related to travel and visa expenses will be covered by the organization as well. Volunteering is envisioned to be a full-time position amounting to six working hours per day.
For more information about Central Asia Solidarity Groups, please visit: https://centralasien.org/en/home-page-2/