2006-ISL-2. Environmental Messenger

Description :

The basic aim of the Environmental messenger project is to raise awareness about environmental issues both within Icelanders, being hosts of SEEDS workcamps, and among the International volunteers taking part in the mentioned projects. Furthermore than the raising awareness content, Environmental messengers will be a source of knowledge on specific topics of significant relevance about environment, nature protection and sustainable development but also will encourage the actors in those projects to undertake simple but easy-to-implement actions which will affect the way we use our resources and we deal with the environment and the world we live in.

The scope of activities for the volunteers will change during their stay in Iceland and can be chronologically clearly divided in four (4) different stages:

1. Volunteers will arrive in Iceland either in April or May. After arrival and once all have arrived, SEEDS, See beyond borders, will organise and carry out an on-arrival training and language orientation workcamp-seminar. During this period of time volunteers will be given enough tools and theoretical knowledge combined with practical tasks in order to prepare them for the stay in Iceland and the activities to be undertaken on the field at later stage. Volunteers will be introduced to four main topics, the hosting organisation, Iceland, environment and leadership. Intercultural, recreational and integration activities will be organised with the active involvement of the volunteers.

2. Before the starting date of the first international volunteers’ camp (which will be either at the end of May or beginning of June), the EVS volunteers will take an active role during their preparation to become Environmental messengers. Preparation will include intensive research on particular topics related to Environment, ecology, sustainable development and efficient use of resources. Apart from these suggested main topics, volunteers are also welcome to enfasize in particular themes according to their areas of interest. The staff and members of SEEDS will provide constant guidance and will follow up on the development during this stage.

   Activities might also include getting in contact with the communities hosting the international volunteers’ camps organised by SEEDS and with the international volunteers willing to attend them, in order to filter possible common issues of interest (e.g. recycling, waste management, water and air pollution, soil erosion, reforestation, fish stocks depletion, climate change, the United Nations Millenium Development goals, fair trade, healthy living, eco-tourism, etc.) and to be able to prepare in advance special activities (like workshops, presentations, exhibitions, games, discussions) related to those topics.

   Volunteers, Environmental messengers, shall be able to collect and acquire enough knowledge on few topics of high relevance for the activities to be carried out in the next stage. Additionally, they shall start drafting an “Environmental/Eco-guide” on a topic(s) of their preference, which will be then finalised at the end of their voluntary service, thanks to the whole experience gained working hand-in-hand on the field, both for the Icelandic local communities and international volunteers. This “Environmental/Eco-guide” will then serve as a knowledge database and an important tool to be used in the future.

   During the first two stages volunteers will have weekends free and work will be carried out within usual week-working-days, Monday to Friday.

3. On field work, to take place between June and September. International volunteers’ camps will then be executed and EVS volunteers will join those camps. Workcamps are the most common form of short-term volunteering and are projects where a group of (usually young) unskilled volunteers work and live together on a project which has been identified by a local community or a project working with that community. They generally last for 2 up to 3 weeks.

   The types of the projects are mainly nature or environmental oriented, and they can be for instance ecological research, removing invasive growth (luppina), building of walking paths or hiking trails, cleaning of the coastline, reforestation and erosion control works, construction or renovation of a community building (such as a school or medical block), monument or community centre, etc… There are sometimes cultural and study projects, agricultural projects and others depending basically on the identified need of the local community.

   International workcamps bring together volunteers from different nationalities and backgrounds aiming at building up international understanding and therefore encouraging peace while working for an identified need of the local community. Groups’ sizes vary between 5 and 20 participants.

   The responsibilities of an Environmental messenger will vary according to the hosting community, the type of project and areas of interest of the participants. The following list gives an idea of what they could normally be responsible for :

   • Bringing to Icelandic hosting communities, its inhabitants and international participants in the projects, activities related to environment, nature protection and sustainable development. This will be the main task given to the Environmental messengers.
   • Organising actions adressed to the different actors present or affected by the international workcamps hosted by SEEDS. In that sense, the Environmental messengers shall strive for an active involvement of members of the community and workcampers, which will at the end, apart from raising awareness, sharing of knowledge and teaching of easy-to-put-in-practice skills on particular issues, estimulate the inter- and cross-cultural side of the projects.

   Developing activities such as study sessions, workshops, group discussions, role games, practical actvities on the field, presentations, exhibitions, different exercises, etc. All those, once again as mentioned before, oriented to raise awareness, to exchange perspectives and knowledge but also to encourage partakers to become active citizens in the development and shape of the world and environment we live in.
   • Apart from being on charge of distribution of theoretical knowledge, they will also take a leading role within the workcamp, making it a whole environmental-friendly project and experience. In other words, they will apply as far as possible all the theory and transform it into practice, which will moreover be an example for the participants in order to turn that knowledge into practical skills in their daily life.
   • Taking care of the adequate use of resources and supplies inside the international volunteers’ workcamps. A siginificant part of Environmental messengers’ task is to help in turning the activities inside the camp more environmentally friendly by suggesting about practical actions that should be taken.
   • Collecting, gathering and processing of information of relevance for the International volunteers, Icelandic hosting community and SEEDS.
   • Producing resource material, documents and information related to the workcamp, which will be then distributed at the end of the project to the international participants and the hosting communities. This material might include articles of particular interest, summaries of the activities organised, results achieved during the length of the camp, pictures and videos made within the project, evaluations and reports of the actions, contact data of international and Icelandic participants, sets of recommendations for upcoming projects and all additional data which the people involved in the workcamp might find of important relevance.
   • Organising, jointly with the workcamp leader(s) and the local contact(s) in the community, an International evening. The International evening is a social event, where locals are invited to mingle and interact with the International volunteers. Through this, we aim at fostering the cross-cultural side of the projects and at giving Icelanders the chance to learn about voluntary service, the Programme YOUTH of the European Commission and the different opportunities offered in this field via non-formal educational activities.
   • Assisting the leader(s) of the workcamp in the organisation of free-time activities for the participants. These activities might include hikes and walks to discover the area and surroundings in the Icelandic community, field trips, sport exchanges with the locals, excursions to sites of touristic interest during the weekends, inviting locals to share their knowledge or skills with the International group, facilitation of events inside the group.
   • Helping the volunteers feel comfortable with the project, welcoming and talking to them, to establish a good individual relationship and to ensure they do not have avoidable problems, and that they remain happy with the project.
   • Updating constantly, either directly or through the staff of the organisation, the official web-site of SEEDS, See beyond borders, posting actual information about the past, present and future activities within the frame of their project.

   Volunteers will have enough days free after each work camp in order to rest and prepare the next project. In any case these four (4) months between June and September are extremely demanding and volunteers will be highly active, which will require a great deal of energy, enthusiasm, self initiative and ability to work under extreme conditions, travelling and moving in Iceland very often, meeting new people and leaving them after relatively short periods of time.

   During this stage volunteers will no longer be under personal supervision of the organisation, but in any case contact will be constant through telephone and some regular visits.

4. At the end of the camps’ season, volunteers will return to Reykjavík and a structured evaluation of their experience as of the projects will be undertaken. After evaluating the work behind, all the feedback and input provided will be used in order to plan next years’ projects and to raise the quality of the programme offered both for EVS as camps’ volunteers.

   The Environmental messengers are expected to produce environmental guidelines/checklists adapted to local conditions. The planned "Seeds Environmental/Eco-guides" should contain relevant information for all actors (Icelandic camp hosts, workcamp leaders, international participants, Seeds, etc) involved in activities of the organisation.

   SEEDS would like to involve the EVS volunteers in future activities under the frame of the Programme YOUTH as Seminars, Training sessions, Exchanges, which will then be arranged in order to share with similar organisations the knowledge gained, gathered and compilled. In this way, the work will have a wider European impact in the sense that there will be an active flow of information (input and feedback) between organisations or entities coordinating similar activities at a larger scale than at the Icelandic level.

   An important part of Environmental messengers’ work, during their whole stay in Iceland, is to assist in making all activities of SEEDS, See beyond borders, more environmental-friendly, advising about practical steps that should be implemented.

For more information, plus visit this website: http://europa.eu.int/comm/youth/program/sos/hei/hei_form_en.cfm?HEID=40000034801

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