Actors of Change 2.0 - first stage comes to an end

Another volunteering stage has come to an end today! The #ActorsOfChange 2.0 volunteers said their goodbyes today and are heading to their homes. 
We are sad they leave, but we hope they carry some of the best memories from Arad!
During their work in Arad, they planned and conducted workshops aiming for a less discriminatory community, disseminated and analyzed them, and had a big impact on the kids they've worked with in all these months.
We thank them for their effort and time they've carefully put in, wish them good luck and also, hope to see them soon!

↪Here you have the youngsters' and volunteers' testimonials, showing the impact of the work from these months:
https://youtu.be/qC6T2KtonxA

Actors of Change volunteers in AIDROM Timisoara

Javier and Ruben are two "Actors of Change" volunteers that live and work in AIDROM Timisoara .
Here is what they say about their work in the last two and a half months:
"Our activities in Timisoara are of two types. First, we assist in preparing and organizing the activities taking place in AIDRom, a Romanian NGO that provides support for asylum-seekers and immigrants. These activities range from movie nights or karaoke to international cafes, fostering the social integration of these persons. Likewise, we also assist in the refugee camp located in the north of the city. Here we provide language lessons and logistical assistance when bringing food and organizing humanitarian assistance."

Participation to the "Closer to Eminescu" Contest

In January, Mert, Teresa, and Judit participated in the "Closer to Eminescu" Contest, held at Secondary School "Mihai Eminescu" in Arad. Each of the participants had the option to choose between 2 workshops: literary creation and artistic-plastic creation.

Our volunteers recited poetries in their native language from Eminescu's work, giving an international meaning to the contest as well.

Bullying in school OTI - Arad research findings

1 out of 3 pupils in Arad was the victim of "bullying." The main targets of the phenomenon are students who are "different". We are not only talking about them belonging to a vulnerable group but rather about a physical aspect or behavior that is different from most: pupils wearing glasses, being overweight, dressing differently, pupils who are shyer, have an academic performance above or below average, do not get engaged in same activities as their peers, etc. Three-quarters of all identified situations have such factors as the cause.

It's not a simple statistic! There are nearly 6,000 children and young people for whom the school is synonymous with fear! 6,000 destinies fighting aggression or daily humiliation!

Actors of Change 2.0 - impressions, on the volunteers blog

Our volunteers of the Actors of Change 2.0 project just uploaded some articles on their volunteering blog

Check it out and see what they are up to in Arad https://actorsofchange2.blogspot.com/?m=1&fbclid=IwAR2ft-Kgh5EJcSXncQSCoY9j3Yd9lzPrU1vzECYFYZThxg3y8euq-DzqGjc

Actors of Change 1.0

"Actors of Change 1.0" was a European Voluntary Service project carried during 1 year, in Arad and Timișoara. The idea of this project started from the so-called "Refugee Crisis" and the distorted perception society has about the refugees present within the European Union. The solution proposed by us, through this project, was to change society's perception of migrants and promote diversity among, as many youngsters in the local community as possible. These youngsters acquired the necessary skills to pass on information, thus becoming promoters of positive changes. The project involved 8 volunteers from Spain, Italy, and Turkey who carried out activities in schools, centers, and refugee camps. The results obtained were disseminated through TV shows, an evs-talk organized by the volunteers, or through multiple appearances in the local press.

We achieved great results during this project as two of the volunteers permanently lived and worked in AIDROM Timisoara, where they gave a hand and organized several integration activities for refugees and migrants weekly.

Actors of change 2.0

As the title suggests, the project Actors of Change II: Educate, Act, Inspire was created as a continuation of the first project with the same name. It took place during 2 years and brought together 9 young volunteers from Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, and Greece. Within this project, volunteers organized hundreds of workshops on cultural diversity, examining and combating prejudice and promoting tolerance, in order to reduce the level of violence in schools, the level of bullying and the school dropout rate. Analyzing the questionnaires completed by pupils from Arad, Pecica, and Vinga, we observed a significant improvement in their attitude and behavior, as a result of participating in the workshops organized by the volunteers. The teachers were also very satisfied with the results of the project, requesting other collaborations on similar activities in the future, from our organization.

All different

#allDifferent was an EVS project, carried out in Arad between 2017 and 2019. There were 16 foreign volunteers participating in this project from Italy, Northern Macedonia, Turkey, and Spain, during two stages, of 8 months each. The main activities implemented by the volunteers were the promotion of diversity, tolerance, combating discrimination, harassment, and violence in schools. The volunteers organized hundreds of workshops in Arad city and county, and the results were truly surprising. We managed to interact with over 2400 pupils and, after analyzing the questionnaires, given before and after the workshops a success rate of over 30% is observed in all participating parties. As a result, we can say that this project had a real impact on the local community and on all those involved, directly or indirectly.

To see what specific activities were organized by the volunteers during their service, please check out our Facebook page - Organizatia Tinerilor cu Initiativa and use #allDifferent or #alldifferent