Volunteering opportunity with Central Asia Solidarity Groups

Deadline: May 17th, 2021
Hosting organization: Central Asia Solidarity Groups/Centralasiengrupperna
Vacancy: 1 volunteering position
Start date: August/September, 2020
Duration: 12 months

Volunteering opportunity with Central Asia Solidarity Groups

The following vacancy is 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 this volunteering position must register at European Solidarity Corps portal and submit their CV together with one page letter of motivation no later than June 12th, 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 in English no more than seven pages (a piece can be an extract from a larger academic paper) to [email protected] no later than June 17th, 2021. Suitable candidates will be invited to take part in the interview process no later than two week after the submission deadline.

Please note that:
-a candidate must legally reside in the Russian Federation (have a temporary residence permit for the period of project’s duration) or hold a Russian citizenship.
– be within the ages of 17 to 30
– some of the activities described below may be subjected changes imposed by the global pandemic (due to the continuous developments around COVID-19, CAG is not able to provide any information as to what activities will be affected by the pandemic by the starting time of the project) 

 

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, a volunteer 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, advocacy and solidarity efforts in Sweden and Central Asia;
-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 own projects that are compatible with work of Central Asia Solidarity Groups and/or our transnational partners;

On other occasions, a volunteer is expected to provide translations (Russian, English), work with logistics, as well as work with our social media platforms.

We are looking for a volunteer with the following background:

-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;
-experience of working with issues related to climate/environment is a merit

 

About Central Asia Solidarity Groups and your volunteering opportunity

Central Asia Solidarity Groups (abbreviated CAG, or Centralasiengrupperna in Swedish) is a nonprofit, volunteer-run organization that is 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/