Volunteering is FUN
An exciting youth exchange on discovering the world of local volunteering
When: 8-19/06/2025 (including travel days)
Where: Jurt camp, Vrábsko, Písek district
For whom: 36 people from Czechia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Italy, Hungary and Slovenia
“Volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they have the heart.” -Elizabeth Andrew
Ready to help?
Many things are happening around us and not everything is always positive. We might think there is nothing that we can do, but there is. We can help with our time and dedication. We can volunteer. This project will guide you through the first steps of local volunteering.
We will:
- talk about the world of volunteering
- spend 4 full days volunteering in different places
- create action plans to continue once we return home
- be fully submerged into community sustainable living in a beautiful yurt camp surrounded by nature
Main info
Background
There are many ways to volunteer, but not everything might suit us. It might be hard to choose the right area or to find anything we would like to do. We created this project to motivate you, help you find your preferred cause and equip you with the necessary competencies to carry on and not give up.
During the VIF, we will:
- talk about the world of volunteering
- spend 4 full days volunteering in different places
- create action plans to continue once we return home
- be fully submerged into community sustainable living in a beautiful yurt camp surrounded by nature
This Youth Exchange is for anyone compassionate enough to start the journey of volunteering.
- young people between 18 and 30 years old
- group leaders older than 18
- participants committed to taking part in the programme, including creating follow-up activities for their communities back home
- residents of Czechia, Italy, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Lithuania
- dedicated to spend 10 days being submerged into the world of volunteering
- ready to eat 10 days delicious plant-based meals
- dedicated to living in a sustainable eco-friendly community for 10 days and respecting the commonly agreed rules
- youth committed to learning how to communicate and respect each other’s boundaries and sensitivities and generally be gentle and considerate
We have space for 36 participants who are committed to participating in the learning programme.
- You will take a full part in the whole programme
- You will fill all the evaluation forms after the project
- You will create your action plan to continue the journey
- You will record a personal testimony about your journey after the project
- You will help with simple chores such as tidying the common areas or helping around the kitchen
- start with filling the application form.
- every partner organization (see below) will select 5 participants + 1 group leader to take part in the programme.
- if you are selected, you will receive a Confirmation Letter with more information regarding your participation. ONLY then you can start managing your travel arrangements and booking your tickets!
- if you have any questions, please contact us on an email info@czechinspire.eu
Learning Process & Programme
* This is a plan but it will most probably change according the current needs of the group. Thus, you have an idea what is coming, but nothing is written in stone.
- Program is fully plant-based
- Program is without alcohol
- You will be helping with cooking (and learning on plant-based cooking in the process, under the guidance of our vegan-chef) and tidying up the common spaces
- Once being accepted and arriving, one is expected to participate and be present at all activities (unless having an urgent need for doing otherwise, i.e. feeling sick, or having work call)
In this project, we aim to motivate you to become volunteers back at your home. For this purpose, we need to understand where you stand and what is your motivation, fears and challenges.
Before the Youth Exchange, we would like to meet you in one Q&A call, where we will answer all your questions and you will get a chance to meet the people behind this project. You will be also asked to answer a questionnaire, so we know more about you and can adjust the program to your needs 🙂
After the Youth Exchange, you will follow your action plans and join a local volunteering cause. We will give you some time, after 3 months, we will be gathering your testimonies about this journey and we will meet again online to share our feelings and thoughts 🙂
Accommodation – Jurtcamp
The venue is a yurt camp located just a one-hour bus drive from Prague. It is a part of the eco-community, which is located just next door. The yurts are comfortable and equipped with sleeping mattresses and storage spaces. Each yurt has a fireplace and lighting. Showers, a shared equipped kitchen, and toilets are fully available.
- There will be 3 meals a day + 2 coffee breaks. The food provided during the program will be an environmentally-conscious plant-based cooked by our amazing vegan chef who will be happy to provide you with information on sustainable and healthy cooking.
- Before the project, we will ask you about your special diet or allergies to arrange your needs in time.
- There are no shops nearby, please bring all the necessary stuff with you.
- In case of need, we can do shopping from time to time, based on availability of our shopping crew.
- We expect you arrival until 5pm on 08/06/2025
- There is a bus going to nearby village Čimelice, from where you will walk around 30 minutes. In case of need, we will pick you up, or gather your heavy luggage.
- We will help you with preparing your travel router, using common WhatsApp group. Nobody will get lost 🙂
- For traveling in Czech Republic, you can use this website: https://idos.idnes.cz/en/vlakyautobusymhdvse/spojeni/
Good tip:
It can be difficult to pronounce names of Czech cities. Put the names on a paper and show it to people! They will try to help.
Travel Reimbursement
The project is co-financed by the Erasmus+ programme.
The costs of the programme, including meals, accommodation, and travel costs (according to the maximum amount of money allowed per country) will be covered by the Erasmus+ programme. Please contact your sending organisation to learn more about the financial details, and how to arrange the booking of your travel tickets.
Very important!
The travel expenses will be reimbursed on the basis of tickets, bookings and invoices, so remember to keep them all with you!
Erasmus+ calculated maximum amount of travel reimbursement you can receive based on the distance band.
All participants are obliged to travel green, meaning you are not allowed to travel by plane. Given amount of reimbursement is valid only if this condition is kept.
€417 Lithuania, Italy
€285 Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia
For receiving the reimbursement, you need to provide all the travel tickets and invoices, and fill the travel sheet you will receive upon being accepted to the program.
If the journey is long, you can get reimbursed also your hostel and food, under the condition you provide all the receipts, and discuss the hostel arrangement in advance with us, going for economical options. This is not meant to pay for your Starbucks coffee, nor 5 star hotel, but for the necessary provisions and arrangement ensuring you will reach the venue in a good state, ready for the program.
- If you are paying any fee to your sending organization, we don’t ask for any extra fee.
- If you are sent for free, we ask you to pay a €30 participation fee. It will be send to your sending organization to cover their administration hours.
- If you can’t afford to pay any fee, that’s ok. Simply contact your partner organization or Project Supervisor (info@czechinspire.eu), and they will support you by discussing alternatives (i.e. you help us photos during the project, instead of the fee). We want to make participation open for everybody. All we care about is to have involved and motivated people.
Partner organisations
Trailblazers Network Trapani Erasmus Generation – APS
Italy
tnt.erasmusgeneration@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/tnterasmusgeneration/
Project's Team
Vojtěch Žák
Main facilitator and project supervisor
I am a trainer, facilitator, coach, storyteller, and writer.
The main topics I am focused on are the labor market, social inclusion (mainly of the LGBT+ spectrum), and personal development. The main methods I use are storytelling, coaching, systemic work, body movement, art, gamification, and LARP.
I went from a career as a journalist and marketing specialist to becoming a coach, facilitator, and trainer. I have worked for 6 years as a scout leader and later participated in the EVS program at Olde Vechte Foundation in the Netherlands.
info@czechinspire.eu
+420 775 636 658
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Michal Filípek
Facilitator and sustainability guru
Michal is a plant-based chef, who is in touch with Erasmus+ and volunteering for 9 years. He is focused on sustainability and how to make it understandable for everyone.
During his kitchen work, he was mentoring youngserts and passing the message that cooking is for anyone and by plant-based cooking, we have an actual impact on our planet. After years of volunteering in the community center in Bratislava, he decided to create this project and to motivate young people to join the world of local volunteering. He will gladly share his experiences and support you on your new journey of a volunteer.
mifilipek@gmail.com
+421 902 400 626
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