The Project Activities
Here you will find some of our project activities:
21st of October 2020
The project partners conducted a common Online-Event, where they have summarized the activities and experiences of the project.
In the 60-minutes record you'll get a comprehensive overview of the interesting contents of the Volunteers4Europe - Project.
To view the record, please click HERE
2nd of October 2020
Annamaria Castellan and Andino Castellano
talked about the Volunteers4Europe project, the V4E-E-Book
and the
Volunteering sector in Trieste in a 2-hours-interview with the RDI Radio Station Trieste. For a while,
a representative from Padua,
the European Volunteering Capital 2020, was also involved.
15th of September 2020
The Volunteers4Europe - Exhibition opened its doors in Nice
The exhibition started in the library Louis Nucera in the center of the city.
Although an opening event was not possible under the conditions of the Corona pandemic,
many visitors to the centrally located libraries were able to see the exhibition.
From 22nd to 29th of September the exhibition was
hosted in the Leonardo da Vinci Library in Nice/Arianne.
It is a branch of the Mediatheque Louis Nucera. The exhibition was organized by the Mitra France team.
The V4E-Exhibition in the Mediatheque Louis Nucera, Nice, France
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The Volunteers4Europe - Exhibition in the Leonardo da Vinci Library in Arianne/Nice, France
All visitors of the library could see the inspiring pictures of the volunteers.
In the added explanatory texts, interested people could read who the volunteers are and what they do exactly.
28th of August 2020
European Final Conference of the Volunteers4Europe Exhibition in Trieste
Biblioteca Statale Stelio Crise
Taking into account the Corona measures, about 30 guests were able to attend the event at the
Biblioteca Statale Stelio Crise in Trieste.
The project partners from Estonia, Germany and France took part in the conference online.
A sign language interpreter translated during the whole event.
The organisation "Europe Direct Trieste" supported the event
18 representatives of the italian organisations dealing with volunteering held speeches on the conference
Photos: Radivoj Mosetti
Interview of the Italian TV channel "Telequattro Italy" with Annamaria Castellan about the Volunteer4Europe project
August 2020
The Volunteers4Europe Exhibition in Trieste / Italy started on 10th of August in the Public Library in Trieste
"Biblioteca Statale Stelio Crise". On 60 posters the visitors can get an Impression of the voluntary work of many
people in 5 different european countries. The exhibition will be shown in Trieste until 28 August 2020.
Have a look at the exhibition venues with our online-gallery HERE
All photos of the gallery made by Gianluca Specchia
January 2020
The VOLUNTEERS FAIR in Munich "Münchner Freiwilligenmesse"
On this fair lots of volunteers can introduce their projects to the visitors of the fair.
It is an excellent opportunity to inform people, make volunteering visible and acquire more volunteers.
The fair was really crowded and the people got an impression about the colourful world of volunteering in and around Munich.
December 2019
Volunteers of "Cube of truth" organised street action in Tallinn, Estonia.
The people in the non-profit organisation "Anonymous for the voiceless" (AV) are volunteers.
It is an animal rights organisation that was founded in 2015 in Melbourne Australia. Meanwhile more than 1000 groups
exist in different countries. They organize demonstrations in order to inform people about the terrible situation of millions
of mistreated animals. Always 4,8 or 12 persons that wear Guy Fawkes Masks a standing together as a "Cube". They have tablets
or screens in their hands and show terrible scenes of mistreated animals. Further members of "Cube of truth" inform the passing people
about the terrible situation of animals mainly in the industrial agriculture and slaughter houses. They promote a vegan lifestyle and demonstrate
against animal exploitation. They want to share their passion for total animal liberation.
Photographer: Leonid Smulskiy
November 2019
Volunteering with children:
During summer the volunteers of ALFA centre organized interactive camps for personal growth and creative development for those kids
and teenagers who had to stay in the city while parents had to work. There the kids had a chance to learn how to build teams and new
relationship, engaged in outdoor games and hopefully turned from outsiders into leaders.
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Photos by Arfenia Weber
Convoy of Hope - The Wheelchair Project or non-profit "Initiative for the Poorest of the Poor".
The project started in 2000 after the german Hans-Peter Dentler learned how urgently disabled people in developing
countries need wheelchairs and other aids. He started collecting defective and discarded wheelchairs, repaired them and sent them to needy
people in Sri Lanka.
He quickly developed a network of volunteers, aid organisations, companies, health insurance companies and orthopaedic workshops,
who participated in various ways, be it donations of materials, money or personal involvement in the organisation of collection campaigns, necessary
repairs of wheelchairs and other work.
So far, 50,000 disabled people have been provided with used medical supplies. By the end of 2018,
100 containers had been shipped to 23 countries, including Peru, Burkina Faso, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Burundi and Rwanda.
Here the team is presenting the project to the public in the city of Karlsruhe.
After the exhibition in Tallinn the project teams use the time till the next exhibition in Nice (February 2020), to work out their photo reportages
and make new photo reportages from interesting voluntary activities!
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The Exhibition in Tallinn was opened on 25th of September 2019 with an opening event in the
Info Center Tallinn of the City Government.
The exhibition was displayed on large double walls in the windows of the building,
which were viewed by passers-by in the streets and visitors to the information center.
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The Tallinn Deputy Mayor Betina Beškina opened the exhibition.
Representatives from all project partners informed the audience briefly about their work and were available for questions and talks.
The second part of the exhibition in Estonia took part in the Russow Galerii in the center of the old city of Tallinn
Opening of the V4E-Exhibition in Stockholm on 26th of August 2019
Notification: 26th of August: Volunteers4Europe - Exhibition in Stockholm!
16th of June 2019
Multicultural centre "Estety" in Stockholm
In order to do a good deed, it is not necessary to go far: every week for almost five years, the family multicultural centre
‘’Estety’’ holds interesting events for children and parents: family celebration, master classes and training seminars.
Most of the centre activities are run by volunteers. At ‘’Estety’’ the volunteers gain valuable experience
in non-formal education. Each volunteer spends his or her time not only on recreation and entertainment,
but also on helping visiting children to develop their native language.
Kids attend classes together with parents to sing and play together; learning through playing is the main method.
The school constantly grows thanks to the curious kids, progressive parents and enthusiastic group of volunteers
who tirelessly put their work into keeping the atmosphere of creativity and fun learning.
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April 16+17, 2019
The project meeting and the opening of the first V4E-exhibition took place in Rastatt. Here are some
impressions of the activities
The mayor of Rastatt, Arne Pfirrmann, |
 All project partners contributed to the opening with speeches and presentations. Here Yulia Usova from MoreMosaic, Sweden |
 The head of the italian project partner "Acquamarina Associazione Culturale" from Triest, Annamaria Castellan |
Christian Busch, the chairman of the rescue dog |
 Rescue dog FINN was allowed to come together with his master |
 Gunter Kaufmann, the chairman of the friends association of the "Memorial of the Freedom Movements in the German History", which is a part of the german federal archive and located in the baroque castle of Rastatt, is also a volunteer in natural issues. |
 The project partners together with Gunter Kaufmann (left side) |
 A part of the V4E-exhibition is also in the city library of Rastatt. The project partners visited the location and explained their posters to the others. |
 Paul Smulsky, the chairman of the french organisation MitraFrance explained some posters about volunteering in France |
 Annamaria Castellan, chairman of Acquamarina Associazione Culturale from Triest/Italy explained posters showing volunteering in Italy |
 Ruta Pels, chairman of Esti People to People from Tallinn/Estonia, explained volunteering activities in Estonia. |
 Some posters of the V4E-exhibition are shown also in the townhall of Rastatt. |
 During a panel the project partners discussed important issues about volunteering |
 The project partners had the opportunity to visit a big foodbank, which is located in Rastatt. They got comprehensive informations about organisation and management of the foodbank. About 80 volunteers are involved. |
Save the date! 16th of April 2019, 6.00 o'clock, p.m.
Opening of the first international exhibition "Volunteers4Europe" in 76437 Rastatt, Herrenstraße 18, Germany.
The exhibition is showing the colorful world of volunteering in Europe with an exciting potpourri of artistic-documentary
photos from the helpful activities of thousands of volunteers!
Where? In 76437 Rastatt, Herrenstraße 18, in the Memorial for the Freedom Movements in German History
(German Federal Archive) in the Baroque castle in Rastatt.
With the ability of photography to capture themes or events into an expressive imagery, it becomes a powerful
and influential tool of non-verbal communication. In more than 60 exhibits, the exhibition paints an impressive
picture of the diversity of volunteering in the participating countries.
The photographs and photomontages can be seen in the Baroque castle as well as in the
New Town Hall (Herrenstraße 24) and in the city library (Herrenstraße 15) in Rastatt.
March 2019
Senior Expert Service: After their professional life many women and men are still full of power and not at all ready to retire.
Additionally they have a high qualification and long experience in their profession, no matter if they are academics, craftsmen, managers,
teachers, engineers, medical doctors or other professionals. For those specialists the german "Senior Expert Service" organizes small projects.
The experts are travelling mainly in emerging markets or developing countries in order to offer their help, to transfer knowledge and
to initiate activities. They are providing help for self-help. (http://www.ses-bonn.de)
February 2019
Estonia. Volunteers from Georgian, Latvian and Ukrainian cultural associations organised on February 16, 2019 concert for local community
in Tallinn a week before celebration of the anniversary of Estonian Republic. Photos by Leonid Smulskiy (Eesti People to People).
February 2019
Sweden/Stockholm: It is not easy to meet today’s Swedish school’s requirements that demands critical thinking, debating and developing arguments
practically in each subject. But every week one can get help with home work when Tove Bäckström and Sara as well as other volunteers
patiently take their turns to assist newly-arrived students with their individual work. What an rewarding and enriching experience to do it together.
And there is no gathering in Sweden without traditional ’fika’!
The meetings are organised by an initiative EnsamkommandesförbundStockholm and won’t be possible without local volunteers.
February 2019
Italy/Trieste: Gattile - a center for homeless cats. In 1996 the Association Il Gattile was
born from the commitment of Giorgio Cociani and Miranda Rotteri.Its main purpose is to fight the stray through the
sterilization of the feline colonies, partly in agreement with some municipalities in the
area.The Association is managed only by volunteers, and supported by free offers.
Photo from Novella Predonzan
February 2019
In the World Kitchen refugees and volunteers from Germany are cooking together.
An excellent way to communicate, help and integrate! It is practised in many cities in Germany
February 2019
Numerous volunteers are working since many years without any public feedback.
Nevertheless, very often their work is extremely helpful in our society. Here an example of a falconer, who is bringing up little owls.
They are endangered animals. His special knowledge as a falconer is very helpful for this kind of work.
February 2019
Sweden: 'One for all and all for one' is a motto to be used fighting abuse of human rights and freedom especially when an individual
has to stand against a state. A Swedish writer and human rights defender Kurdo Baksi's struggle against racism, discrimination and
illegal imprisonments has no national, geographical or ethnical borders. Be it Ethiopia or Eritrea, Kurdistan or Turkey, Iran or Iraq,
Ukraine or China, a state abuse of its civilians or an unfair asylum decision, Mr Baksi has been tirelessly providing his time, help,
knowledge and solidarity to many people in need for decenniums.
January 2019
First aid for hedgehogs! This small health center for hedgehogs in Germany/Bischweier is led mainly by a women,
who is a professional veterinary nurse. She already helped different wild animals to recover from diseases. This year
it was too warm and too dry. The hedgehogs didn't find enough food in order to get fat enough to hibernate. If their
weight is not high enough, they die. Without further ado Anja Stark together with her husband and her helper installed
a hedgehogs station on her ranch. She already saved the lifes of many hedgehogs. She is a member of the NABU,
which is the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union Germany. The food and cages for the hedgehogs are
from donations. Anja and her helper are working as volunteers! The hedgehogs need support from October till March.
January 2019
Volunteers of Hille Tänavsuu Cancer Treatment Foundation "The Gift of Life" collect donations in the shoping center.
Photos by Leonid Smulskiy (Eesti People to People).
January 2019
Estonia. Volunteers organised Ortodox Christmas event for children and parents in Tallinn, distributed collected toys and books,
organised concert and performance. Photo by Leonid Smulskiy (Eesti People to People).
December 28, 2018
Estonia. Today volunteers in all ages organised in Oleviste church concert for people in need and homeless.They offered also food and clothing.
The parish organises charity events already for last 17 years.
Photo by Leonid Smulskiy (Eesti People to People).
December 28, 2019
Estonia. Volunteers from Ukrainian folk groups organised Christmas concert for local community in Tallinn.
Photo by Leonid Smulskiy (Eesti People to People).
December 26, 2018
Estonia. Today Tallinn Zoo invited all friends of animals to the Christmas holiday.
Santa Clauses from Estonian Santa Claus Association arrived with gifts for big and small inhabitants of the zoo.
Photo by Leonid Smulskiy (Eesti People to People).
December 26, 2018
Estonia. Charity ecumenical Christmas concert in Tallinn Oleviste Church.
Photo by Leonid Smulskiy (Eesti People to People).
December 21, 2018
Estonia.Varjupaikade NGO (Animal Shelters NGO) has many visitors with gifts for animals before Christmas,
so volunteers Ott Nikat and Raimo Nõu have more job but they are happy. One puppy found new family and home today.
Photo session in Tallinn animal shelter from Leonid Smulskiy (Eesti People to People).
December 21, 2018
The german National Agency published a gallery with photos from Erasmus+ projects (December 17, 2018).
The project "Volunteers4Europe" is introduced with a picture from a photo reportage of the volunteers day in Heidelberg September 2018.
December 20, 2018
Red Cross – Röda Korset Botkyrkakretsen #RödaKorsetBotkyrkakretsen holds many projects supporting young,
elderly and new-comers. The volunteers from Röda Korset Botkyrkakretsen organsied Christmas Market in Stockholm,
Sweden to give a helping hand to people in need.
December 20, 2018
Estonia. Eesti People to People photo session in Tallinn Toidu Pank
(Food Bank) with volunteers from Estonia, USA, UK, Germany, Ukraina and other countries.
Photo by Leonid Smulskiy.
December 20, 2018
Prime-minister of Estonia Jüri Ratas today with volunteers worked in Food Bank to prepare Christmas gifts for people in needs.
December 19, 2018
Eesti People to People staff members Ruta Pels and Leonid Smulskiy visited with delegation from
China "CleanUp" office in Tallinn and discussed details of world action on September 15. 2018.
December 17, 2018
Become a Night-watch and make your community safe!
One can definitely get inspired by a volunteer organisation #NattvandrarnaBotkyrka in Botkyrka municipality in Stockholm, Sweden.
Every week friends and members of Nattvandrarna Botkyrka organises a night promenade to over-see the area, aid locals and prevent possible troubles.
They are not police, but regular people who want to make their area safe along with walking and talking.
December 9, 2018
Do you know Repair Cafes? They first were founded from Martine Postma 2009 in the Netherlands. It was a successful story. Meanwhile exist 1651 such cafes
in many countries. Volunteers are repairing broken things instead of throwing them away. People can also get tools to repair their broken things.We visited one
of the cafes in Bühl in Germany.
December 5, 2018 - Esti People To People:
Today is the International Volunteer Day and we want to say THANK YOU to our fantastic volunteers
for their inexhaustible commitment to global solidarity actions!
Eesti People to People is partner in EU Aid project "More & Better EU Aid Volunteers". Coordinator of this project is GVC from Italy. GVC celebrates the International Volunteer Day, with the conference "V as volunteering", an event open to the public on the added value of volunteering, student mobility towards developing countries, development and exchange of knowledge between organisations.
Tuesday, December 4, at the Hotel Astoria in Bologna, there was the first of two meetings reserved for international partners, who discussed the results achieved, the dissemination of the project and the future prospects related to the initiative EU Aid Volunteers. The second meeting - open to the public - took place on Wednesday, December 5, at the Department of Economics & Management of the University of Bologna; Prof. Alessandra Scagliarini (Prorector for International Relations) opened the discussion, followed by Maria Chiara Lesi, coordinator of the EU Aid Volunteers program for GVC, who presented to the participants the advantages of the initiative and the new opportunities.
The event was attended by organisations from eight European countries: Alianza por la Solidaridad (ES), Eesti People to People (EE), Instituto Marquez de Valle Flor (PT), Latvian Platform for Development Cooperation (LV), NGO Support Center ( CY), Juanimo Karjeros Centras (LT), SLOGA (SI), HAND (HU), together with the Italian FOCSIV, EuropeDirect, ISCOS ER, Overseas and Valentina Manzato of the International Relations Dept. - University of Bologna.
In addition to the numerous international guests present with their stands in the exhibition space of the University of Bologna, two volunteers spoke about their experience: Alice Ticli for the EU Aid Volunteers project and Paolo Ribotta of the Civil Service and Civil Peace Corps. The aim of the initiative, as well as of the "More & Better EU Aid Volunteers" project, is to promote and improve the technical capacity of European organisations and to improve opportunities for EU citizens to participate in humanitarian aid actions.
A meeting entirely dedicated to the theme of the virtuous circle between cooperation, volunteers, institutions and NGOs to share together the value of solidarity. • Here we are at the International Volunteer Day together with @GVCOnlus and #EuAidVolunteers to listen to the "stories on the field" of our volunteers, the opportunities promoted by the organisations and celebrate the value of solidarity!
• # IVD2018: solidarity comes into action! We are proud to celebrate together with volunteers, NGOs and organisations the International Volunteer Day: a unique opportunity to share values, experiences and get together!
@GVCOnlus #IVD2018 https://bit.ly/2aFd4qM
December 2018
The european digital platform for adult education is EPALE. About 45 000 members of this platform share their experience, knowledge
and ideas about different topics in the field of adult education. There is also a BLOG, where members publish statements and essays, which
can be discussed or commented. The topic of the EPALE-BLOG in December 2018 is VOLUNTEERING
The V4E-Team contributed with an essay about volunteering:
To read the whole text, please click HERE
The Essay about volunteering on EPALE in italian language, please click HERE
November 2018
MITRA FRANCE team visited Association of non-governmental and volunteers organisations in Nice
and discussed with staff achievements of local volunteers with the aim to choose organisations for photo sessions.
November 2018
MITRA FRANCE members visited La Station association of art organisations working in Nice, France,
on installations, exhibitions and interactive art with volunteers, adult learners and children on creation art works
and organising different events for local community in Nice
November 2018
In November the project teams went out to make some photo reportages. One of them took place in Rastatt:
Since years a team of highly motivated volunteers organize a senior dancing cafe in Rastatt.
There is a lot to do before, during and after the event, for example to bake the cake, serve the beverages,
prepare nice sketches,
organize the DJ, making seasonal decorations, communicate with the seniors and so on.
This type of volunteering is a continuous process, where locals try to contribute to the improvement of society.
In the different fields, e.g. the work with seniors, there are often informal networks of experience volunteers. It can
happen, that people are asked directly if they want to help. The informal networks are very important.
October 2018
Estonia. Sharing best practices of campaign "Aga mina" for value-based attitudes,
driven by the desire to give healthier and safer living environments to future generations.
October 2018
The V4E-Team photographed the volunteers of the "Bergwaldprojekt" (mountain forest project) during their
project week in the Black Forest. This amazing project aims at the protection, maintenance and preservation of
mountain forests and cultural landscapes.
October 18, 2018
The V4E-Team visited the 25th IAVE (International Association for Volunteer Effort) World Conference in Augsburg
to photograph the event, to distribute the V4E-Project Flyers, to listen to interesting conferences and forums and to enjoy
a very good conversation about different aspects of volunteering with people all over the world.
September 29, 2018.
AutumnCleaning Day in the village outside Stockholm, Sweden.
Volunteering and contribution to well-being of a community or society in general has a long tradition in Sweden.
It is estimated that most of people in Sweden are affiliated with 2-3 or more associations.
The public space
plays an important role as it is seen as a part that belongs to all, utilized by all and enriches all vs the concept of private property.
The mutual should be taken care of to make sure it sustains. Members of different communities gather to clean the mutual territory, to repair
or replace broken roads, fences or do other mending to ensure that things do not fall apart, look nice and serve longer.
September 15, 2018
The german team of photographers visited the voluntary day in Heidelberg, where many volunteers organized different projects.
The motto of the day was "Wir-schaffen-was" (we are working something). Organizer of this annual event is the "Metropolregion
Rhein-Neckar". On this day volunteers were active in the whole region: 7500 volunteers were active in 370 projects!
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2.-5. September 2018
First Project meeting in Nice / France
The project partners enjoyed a 2-days-meeting in Nice to discuss the project implementation and goals.
Together the project teams provide a huge pool of knowledge and experience that will be available for this exciting project!
