Balkan Hotspot Media-Lab

United Societies of Balkans

U.S.B. is a non-profit, non-governmental organization based in Thessaloniki, Greece, working in the field of youth mobility, participation and promoting youth awareness of social issues. It was founded in 2008 by the initiative of a group of active young people who wanted to address the social issues which affect the youngsters in the Balkans and Eastern Europe.

Da ottobre 2022 - 7 mesi

About Thessaloniki

Thessaloniki is the second biggest city in Greece, and it is located in the North-East part of the country. It is
a coastal city full of life, with a lots of young people and students. It has served as the European Youth Capital in 2014. It is also a city with a long history and tradition. It has always been a crossroad between the West and the East and a trading harbor for many Balkan countries. It embraces many immigrants and cultural groups from many areas of the wider region of the Balkans, which renders it a colorful mosaic of cultures and trends.

The ‘Balkan Hotspot’ Project has been running since 2009, with more than 180 volunteers having been hosted by our organisation. The main activities of the project are related to Web Media:

• blog
• online magazine
• radio & podcast
• social media
• video and photography

Through these tools, the volunteers, in cooperation with the youth of the local community will contribute to create and maintain a space of free expression and communication among young people, always within the context of the subjects, the principles and the goals of the ESC Programme.

We truly believe that for volunteers the European Solidarity Corps is an opportunity to learn, to improve themselves and to discover and develop their personality and competences. For this reason we encourage our volunteers to develop a personal project besides the daily work for Balkan Hotspot project. With the support of their Mentor the volunteers will develop a concrete personal plan with the objective of creating a personal project based on their own interests and goals.

The activities in which the volunteer will be involved are:

• Organisation and development of documentaries.
• Organisation and development of the online magazine "Balkan Beats".
• Management of the website and its social networks.
• Organisation and participation in special events and meetings organised by the project, especially during dates dedicated to EU or Human Rights.
• Workshops organised by USB. The three workshop on Media (mandatory) plus the Creativity and Cultural Activities Coordination Workshops (optional).
• Deliver workshops for the other volunteers as well as for locals based on their skills and knowledge.
• Participation in some public events or festivals, such as the International Film Festival of Thessaloniki.

Our ideal volunteer candidate is an open minded person willing to learn, to improve her/himself and to help other people. It is important to be ready to work in a team and to share the daily life with people from different backgrounds. It is not necessary to have a previous technical knowledge of media. Although it is not required to have a high level of English, the volunteers need to have at least a basic knowledge of the language for their everyday communication with international and local people.

Daily work

The volunteers usually work in shift of 4 hours per day from Monday to Friday. The organisation can ask them to work more hour.s or during the weekends if needed, for maximum of 35 hours per week.

Accommodation

Volunteers are going to be accommodated in a fully equipped building located in the city centre (Anagnostara, 13) near the main bus and train station of the city. It is an autonomous 5 floored building of 150 m2 per floor and a terrace on the 6th floor. There are two living rooms and a big kitchen, showers in the common floors and toilets in every floor. In the building there are also accommodated the volunteers who participate in other projects in the city coordinated by our organisation. Each volunteer will share their room with one or three more people of the same gender (double and big quadruple rooms)

Food

Three meals per day will be provided to volunteers through a catering service that prepares the food according to their preferences and allergies (also if they are vegan or vegetarian). The kitchen is always available for the volunteers if they want to cook something more or add ingredients to their food.

Health Insurance

The participants will be provided with a private insurance by CIGNA, which covers all their needs for the whole duration of their project and even after that (for a few months).

Language course

Volunteers can take part in the online language courses through the online linguistic support platform created by the Erasmus+ programme: http://erasmusplusols.eu/ and an extra Greek language courses with a Greek teacher might be provided.

Budget

• Travel costs are covered
• Local public transportation is included
• Volunteers will receive a monthly pocket money: 5 euros per day plus 5 extra euros per day for the weekends, days off and official holidays of Greece (in these day the organisation will not provide meals).

Si prega di fare domanda inviando il proprio CV in inglese e una lettera di motivazione a invio@incoweb.org, specificando nell'oggetto il titolo del progetto ESC per cui ci si candida. 

Qualche suggerimento per la lettera motivazionale: cerca di farci capire cosa ti interessa di questo progetto, cosa ti ha colpito, cosa vorresti imparare, quale passione hai che vorresti condividere con lo staff e gli altri volontari.

N.B. Eventuali form o richieste particolari sono da specificare via email.