Local activities in Romania
Manuel, Andrés and Jose were volunteering in Arad (Romania) for six months, with Younic’s partner Millenium Center. They carried out plenty of non-formal and sport activities in youth centers, kindergardens, schools, disatvantaged youth and children centers, centers for Roma people, etc. They organised intercultural events, language lessons, dance and sport sessions, and even a Summer school in Ghiba Birta. As Millenium Centre volunteers, they promoted sport practice through individual and group running and cycling, organising weekly sports events, creating publications and leaflets about sports or volunteering topics, and participated in mentorship sessions.
Besides, they took a really important part in the organisation of two big events in the city: The Tomatoes Festival and the International Marathon, half marathon and cross road in Arad.
TOMATOES FESTIVAL
The volunteers helped organising the Tomatoes Festival, a big scale event that took place between 6th and 8th July 2018. It hosted over 7000 participants and involved the collaboration of 100 volunteers. And Manuel, Andrés and José were among them.
Different departments coordinated to set up all the details for the event, which included different activities happening at the same time: a cycling race, a fishing competition, the exhibition of local producers from Arad county, the exposition of local traditional art, dance and music, etc.
INTERNATIONAL MARATHON, HALF MARATHON AND CROSS ROAD OF ARAD
This race took place in the summer of 2018 and hosted over 1250 participants and 1750 subscribers. The volunteers were working together with 200 more volunteers who were involved in the organisation. The event was sponsored by over 100 partners and advertisers and needed the coordination of different departments and institutions from the city. It consisted in six different routes race, from cross road to ultramarathon (0,7 km to 49 km). Months of preparation ended up looking like the following video shows.
MAIN OUTPUTS
The volunteers gained many attitudes, skills, behaviours and knowledges that have been described in their YOUTHPASS certificate. Over 90% of the activities activities can be used or adapted in their every day life or in a future job. The competencies gained can help them foster entrepreneurship in their local NGOs, applying what they have learnt in many aspects of their everyday tasks. They have also generated many documents and materials that can further be used by other youngsters both in Arad or in their local communities.
As a result of the experience, YOUNIC participants in Romania got an article published in the compendium book from the “Simpoziuonului international Cercetam, analizam experimentam, aplicam si comunicam” (International Symposium ‘We research, analyse, experiment, apply and communicate).
