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Green Hostels
Държава: Исландия
Проект номер: 4441
Свободни места: Запълнени !
Доброволец в екологичен проект:
- Екология
- Опазване на околната среда
Three places available; starting in May 2011, for 10 to 12 months.
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Outline the project environment for the suggested voluntary activities, including the local community where the project will take place (e.g. geographical, social and economical environment). If the host placement is located in a live-in community, please include the rules and conditions that apply also for the volunteer.
Hostelling International (HI) Iceland is a non-profit membership organization established in 1939. The organization is a member of Hostelling International, a worldwide network with members in more than 80 countries around the globe. Its mission as stated in its constitution:
Opening the World to Youth: "To promote the education of all young people of all nations, but specially young people of limited means, by encouraging in them a greater knowledge, love and care of the countryside and an appreciation of the cultural values of towns and cities in all parts of the world, and as an ancillary thereto, to provide hostels or other accommodation in which there shall be no distinction of race, nationality, colour, religion, sex, class or political opinions and thereby to develop a better understanding of their fellow men, both at home and abroad."
The Hostel network enables young people of different nationalities, cultures and social background to meet informally, share experiences, learn about themselves, each other and their surroundings. Hostels foster a remarkable international awareness about current issues.
Hostelling also has a fundamental, but unofficial, role in the development of young people as future employees in a global market. The hostel environment encourages social awareness and the importance of living in a community, plus it develops the kind of self-discipline skills that result from experiencing different situations, having to make individual decisions and learning from them.
The young have become the spearhead of environmental concerns on this planet and they expect us to join them. Through the continuing vigour of the youth hostel movement, we are living up to their expectations. And we will continue to do so as new generations are born, and as today's youth become the hostelling families of tomorrow.
EUFED - European Union Federation of Youth Hostel Associations
EUFED's role is to gain financial and political support from European Union (EU) institutions (primarily the European Commission and the European Parliament) for the wider benefit of participating Youth Hostel Associations, their members and visitors. EUFED enhances co-operation between Associations, particularly on EU funded projects and programmers that benefit young people, including the European Voluntary Service.
UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation
"Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed."
UNESCO's main objective is to contribute to peace and security in the world, by promoting collaboration among nations through education, science, culture and communication. Hostelling International works with UNESCO to realise these aims through our Youth Hostelling for Peace and International Understanding campaign. To find out more, visit: www.unesco.org
The Reykjavík City hostel is a busy international key hostel (170 beds in 40 rooms with 90-100% occupancy May through September) within the Hostelling International (HI) movement owned by the Icelandic HI-I Association, an independent non-Governmental, non-for-profit association working with the HI vision colored by local needs and interests regarding social and quality/environmental issues.
The aim within the leading team of HI-I has been to make Reykjavik City Hostel a model of excellence in the field of quality management and a leader in environmental management. We have worked constantly on developing and implementing the Hostel own Environmental Policy and methods in all daily work for many years now. It has now come to the point that the biggest challange is to train and maintain the system on the longterm and find ways how to promote the vision to our guests in a more diverse and colorful way in order to influence them during their travel within our beautiful fragile nature.
Please explain:
" what you can offer to volunteers in terms of Service and learning opportunities,
" what will be the role of volunteers in the Host Organisation,
" the activities in which the volunteers could be involved and the activities the volunteers could create in your organisation. Please give examples of typical activities for the volunteers.
As mentioned above, one of the ways in which the youth hostel differs from just any budget accommodation provider, is that there is the aim of creating a "green" and environment-aware atmosphere in the youth hostel. The hostel is concerned about the environment and the subjects of sustainable development and use of resources. An environmental agenda has been developed and the hostel aims at passing knowledge to guests, staff and members of the local community
The Environmental Charter
Hostelling International seeks to encourage awareness and good practice among its member Associations, so enabling the Youth Hostel movement to play its part in environmental conservation. In order to enable execution of this objective, the Federation has laid down its objectives in the following seven issues.
1. Energy Conservation, 2. Recycling, 3. Pollution, 4. Transport,
5. Nature, 6. Environmental Education and 7. Consumption.
The Youth Hostels are establishments that provide budget accommodation, promoting the movement of youth throughout the world, with emphasis upon encounters and understanding between peoples. With a tradition of intercultural exchange and the practice of a communal lifestyle, youth hostels exist as places of learning, listening and discovery. Moreover, youth hostels offer an environment particularly well suited to school groups with collective dormitories, classrooms/meeting rooms and a board service.
The basic aim of the project, Grænt Farfuglaheimili - Green Hostels, is to raise awareness about environmental issues, both within Icelanders and among the International guests of the Hostelling International Association in Iceland. Goals to reach:
1. Maintaining sustainable policy and promote cross cultural experiences of guests and staff members at the Hostels in Reykjavík.
2. Special care: training and promoting environmental awareness - of staff members and volunteers staying in the hostel.
3. Partly Þórsmörk nature reserve - working on establishing sustainable and environmental policy and implementing it to daily routine.
4. Organizing special environmental projects.
A range of ways will be explored to show and explain in practical works, speeches and printed material how environmental matters are tied in with methods of travelling, daily life and each person's actions.
The scope of activities for the volunteers will change during their stay and can be chronologically clearly divided in five (6) different stages: On-arrival training and language orientation (stage 1), research for the work in the hostel (2), organizing, compiling and producing information about environmental-friendly awareness and responsible travelling (3), developing a more environmental friendly atmosphere in the hostel (4), developing environmental policy in Þórsmörk nature reserve (5) and evaluation and planning for next volunteers (6).
1. Introduction to the Hostel and getting to know the life in the hostel (0,5-0,75 months/2-3 weeks)
During the first days of the volunteer's stay in Iceland, the volunteer will have several introduction and training meetings with the Hostel's staff as with her/his working team on her/his project, ways of working, agenda and planning, evaluation methods and possible results. Weekly meetings with the supervising and guiding staff member(s) will be scheduled in order to follow up closely the development of tasks and to reschedule the activities if needed.
She/he will be given enough information and resources as knowledge on the association, its aims, philosophy and Environmental policy. Part of the orientation should be to live in the Hostel, talk to the guests from their side, taking part in the activities that are in offer outside of the city and to the Hostel Team by doing some work with them and by doing so, getting to know the Hostel as the main work field.
Getting the sufficient knowledge to understand how the hostel works, taking part in some of the regular work activities in the different areas and meeting both guests and staff members (e.g. in the offices, at the reception, in the kitchen, at the camp-site …).
2. Researching the attitude of the staff and guests towards environmental and responsible tourism aspects (0,5-0,75 months / 2-3 weeks)
At this stage volunteers will gather information and acquire knowledge about the different perspectives towards the environmental issues and responsible travelling, surveys among guests and staff members will be undertaken. During this period it will be important to understand the different types of guests the youth hostel receives.
Having organized and structured discussions with both guests and staff about their awareness but also their willingness to learn and change. The volunteer will make an overview of topics and discuss these with individuals or groups of both guests and staff members. She/he will summarize the results and base his coming work on this.
Investigation about other methodologies used by other Icelandic hostels might be undertaken and perhaps some visits to their sites can be organized in order to visit them and hold talks with the responsible staff members around the country.
3. Organizing, compiling and producing information about environmental-friendly awareness and responsible travelling. (2 - 3 months / 8 - 12 weeks)
During this stage the volunteer will evaluate the information gathered and produce information compiling sets of best practices and actions to be undertaken by both staff members and guests in order to lower the impact we have on nature and environment in our daily life and while travelling. Materials to produce might be:
" Handbooks, tool kits or leaflets to be distributed both to guests, staff and visitors of the Hostel.
" Posters to be displayed in the premises of the Youth Hostel
" Creation of a green board, to promote the environmental concerns shared by the association and a free space for individuals and groups to access information about the work develop by the hostel itself and the network in Iceland
" An environmental friendly guide for hostels in Iceland including f.i. addresses of biological/environmental friendly producers/farmers, evaluation of practices, etc.
" Documents to be used for promotion of the Youth hostel and its environmental policy, like in the website, press releases, etc.
" Documents are going to be produced in electronic format as well in order to make it easier to share and distribute among other Hostels, associations and interested individuals. A knowledge database will be created and documents will be updated or adjusted by upcoming volunteers.
4. Developing a more environmental friendly atmosphere in the hostel (2 - 3 months / 8-12 weeks)
Volunteer's tasks during this period aim at sharing and disseminating the knowledge and experience gained after gathering and evaluating the work done. The goal of the volunteer's work will be distribute the habits and practices to:
" The guests and staff: Informing and organizing educational activities, using adequate means of communication, on topics of importance as recycling, efficient use of energy and its conservation, biological/organic agriculture, the importance of nutritional equilibrium to health, fair and social responsible trade and travelling/tourism.
" Tasks like giving aid and advice, making information available, easy to find and understand, collecting addresses of producers and manufacturers, etc.
" Bringing to guests, staff and interested individuals alike, activities and events related to environment, nature protection, responsible tourism and sustainable development. Apart from raising awareness, sharing of knowledge and teaching of easy-to-put-in-practice skills on particular issues, stimulate the inter- and cross-cultural side of the life in the hostel.
" Developing activities such as study sessions, workshops, group discussions, role games, practical actions on the field, presentations, exhibitions, different exercises, etc.
5. Developing environmental policy in Þórsmörk nature reserve (0,5 - 2 months / 2-8 weeks)
Volunteer´s tasks during this period will include explore surrounding Þórsmörk nature reserve area as a new opportunity to establish environmental friendly travelling goal for visitors in Iceland. The goal of the volunteer's work will be distribute the habits and practices to:
" Assist with organizing educational activities using topics like waste management, efficient use of energy, biological/organic agriculture and environmental friendly travelling.
" Work on implementing the standards of Green Hostel into waste management, daily housekeeping and maintenance. Help with making of signage and information to guests.
" Tasks like giving aid and advice, making information available, easy to find and understand, collecting addresses of producers and manufacturers.
" Assist with organizing shorter hiking tours, environmental friendly events and activities for guests.
6. Evaluation and planning stage for the upcoming volunteers. (0,5-1 months / 2-4 weeks)
In the final period of the voluntary service, the volunteer will have the time to evaluate her/his whole experience and the results of the work. At the end of her/his stay in Iceland, there shall be also a set of recommendations and/or suggestions to continue with the tasks by a new volunteer. Advice and guidance concerning the stages and possible sources of information, contacts and gathered data.
Volunteers will work 5 days a week (around 35 hours) and will have 2 days off per week. The schedule of activities will be decided jointly once the volunteer arrives during the first stage. Holidays are foreseen as 2 days/month. Working hours are flexible as some activities will take place out of regular working hours.
For the future, volunteers might help implementing programmes oriented to make the hostel children and environmental friendly at the same time.
The hostel is concerned about the environment and the subjects of sustainable development and use of resources. An environmental agenda has been developed and the hostel aims at passing knowledge to guests and members of the local community. One of the ways in which the youth hostel differ from just any budget accommodation provider, is that exists the aim to create a "green" and environment-aware atmosphere in the youth hostel. Most of the hostel stock is supplied by small biological / environmentally friendly producers.
The volunteer will be living in Reykjavík, the capital of Iceland, and working closely with the staff of Farfuglaheimili (Hostelling International Association, Iceland) developing activities related to Environment and responsible tourism for both Icelanders (including the staff of the association) and International guests staying in the premises. Hostelling International Iceland and the employees of the Hostels want to contribute to supporting and strengthening the environmental consciousness and sense of responsibility of both Icelandic and foreign travelers in Iceland.
The volunteer will be lodged in an apartment located nearby the Hostel premises and it will be an apartment shared by the volunteers working at the Hostel. A bicycle is given to the volunteer as a mean of transport (Bus card will be available, in case it is needed) and half board will be provided the Hostel, while dinner will be prepared by volunteers themselves in the apartment. The volunteer will be living in a very International environment, both at work and in the apartment; therefore we strongly believe that the significant Intercultural-learning side of the project will be one of the greatest benefits for the volunteers.
Volunteers will be based in Reykjavík from 9 - 12 months but occasionally might have the opportunity to volunteering part of the time in Þórsmörk mountain resort.
The hosting organization, has already experience working with Youth and also hosting volunteers during the last 6 years: Through an agreement with Dutch Universities, every year 4 to 8 volunteers from the Netherlands arrive to the Hostel for periods of time between 4 and 8 months, these volunteers are in the same age range as within the Programme Youth, they are aged between 18 and 25.
Having said that and additionally having within the staff individuals who have served a long-term voluntary service abroad, the Hostel counts with sufficient experience and enough resources to be able to receive and continue hosting properly volunteers through the European Voluntary Service.
Reykjavík is the Icelandic capital and held the prestigious title European City of Culture in the year 2000; a welcome recognition of the energetic and colorful cultural life of the capital. The world's northernmost capital bridges the Atlantic, between Europe and North America is framed by the majestic Mt. Esja and the blue waters of Faxaflói Bay. The population of the city is about 115,000 (40% of Iceland's population) in the metropolitan area and 180,000 (60% of Iceland's inhabitants) including its suburbs. It is growing steadily and 45% is younger than 30 years old; 83,1% of men and women aged 16-74 are active on the labor market. Reykjavík is a dynamic, modern city in harmony with beautiful nature, using renewable energy sources, geothermal power and glacial rivers. It is an International city with a lively Cosmopolitan cultural scene.
Our organization, the coordinating organization, was founded in 2005 and relies on a small staff and long term volunteers. At the moment it gets support from its founding members. Since 2005 Our organization has grown to become one of the leading non-governmental organisations in its field in Iceland. In the year 2009 Our organization organised more than 40 workcamps all over Iceland, hosting over 400 short term volunteers, 13 long term European Voluntary Service volunteers, few long-term volunteers and interns.
Our organization is a member of the Icelandic National Youth Council (LÆF), the Icelandic Environment Association (LANVERND), the Senior European Volunteers Exchange Network (SEVEN) and works actively as partner organisation of the Alliance of European Voluntary Service Organisations (The Alliance), Service Civil International (SCI) and Youth Action for Peace (YAP).
Whilst Our organization itself could still be considered as a newly established organisation, it is growing every year. Each year more new and exciting workcamps are developed and more and more short-term and long-term volunteers are hosted. Its members and staff have a wide experience being themselves volunteers and also actively involved in organising, planning, executing and following up activities under the frame of the Programme Youth in Action of the European Commission. Moreover, expertise on non-formal and formal educational activities supported by the Council of Europe and the European Youth Foundation, as the Leonardo Programme hold by either staff or members are valued as one of the strenghts of the organisation.Posted by: Ivan
19.01.2011, 11:31
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