Dear ESC volunteer Candidate,
We are so happy that you have reached our lovely organisation. ?
We are Youth Work Association (Gençlik Çalışmaları Derneği) from Mudanya, Bursa, Turkey.
We are looking for long (3-12 months) and short term (2-8 weeks) volunteers to host in our organisation.
Please read the recruitment section below to learn how we select our volunteers!
About Mudanya and Bursa:
Mudanya is a town and district of Bursa Province in the Marmara region of Turkey. It’s a relatively small town in the south Marmara region of Turkey compering the other cities. The population of Mudanya by today is around 100k! And it is a cute seaside city with a slow lifestyle! It’s just 30 minutes to Bursa city centrum (0,35 EUR by bus) and 2 hours to central places of Istanbul (2,50 EUR by ferry). Our office is located in the main square of Mudanya and has access to Istanbul every one hour with IDO and BUDO ferries.
The city of Bursa was the capital of the Ottoman State between 1326 and 1365, until the Ottoman conquest of Edirne, then known as Adrianople, which became the new Ottoman capital between 1365 and 1453 when Constantinople became the final Ottoman capital.
Bursa is one of Turkey’s most important historic cities and is chock-a-block stuffed with monuments, mosques, and other tourist attractions dating from the early years of the Ottoman Empire. It’s also one of the best places to visit for touring foodies, as it is the home base for Turkey’s Iskender kebap, one of the most famous kebab dishes in the country.
Here is a link to a blog for more tips about Bursa: https://www.planetware.com/turkey/top-rated-attractions-things-to-do-in-bursa-tr-1-25.htm
About Youth Work Association:
Gençlik Çalışmaları Derneği (GENCA) (English: Youth Work Association) was established on 18th July 2014 by a group of youth workers to enable and develop the youth information and youth work. We aim to establish new partnerships with individuals and organisations working in this field, take responsibility to be executive and develop their activities, which will be implemented via cultural, sport and art activities.
The organisation focuses mainly on the target group, especially socially and economically disadvantaged young people aged 15-30.
Main activities you will be involved:
We are working with young people on youth participation, IT, social media, trainers’ skills, video and photography, international projects, culture and art, career management, entrepreneurship, sport, short-film, theatre, job finding counselling for young people etc. for our ESC activities.
Weekly activity plan for volunteers: https://youth.org.tr/en/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/ESC-Activity-Plan.xlsx
To get to know more about us, check Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/youthorgtr/
Check out our activity news on: https://youth.org.tr/en/blog/
Recruitment of Volunteers:
Please read this section very carefully! It explains all the steps you need to take to come to Turkey!
There are three kinds of organisations for an ESC project that need to be involved in one project.
Receiving Organisation: The organisation that will host you in Turkey. It is also mentioned as a hosting organisation by many people. In your case, Youth Work Association will be your hosting/receiving organisation.
Supporting Organisation: The organisation from your home country will help you come to Turkey. This organisation will help you with the visa to Turkey (if you are coming for longer than three months, you will need to apply for a visa to Turkey). They will also help you organise your trip to Turkey and give you the necessary information about the ESC programme, your rights, responsibilities, insurance etc.
Lead Organisation: The organisation that will manage the budget of this project. It’s not a third organisation that will be involved in the project, but one of the organisations (supporting or receiving) take this role to manage the budget for the project.
Finding Receiving Organisation: Suppose that we agree with you to volunteer in Turkey for Youth Work Association, bingo! You already have receiving organisation!
To be selected by our organisation, you need to send us your motivation letter and Europass CV to youthorgtr@gmail.com. But please bear in mind that you need to find a lead and supporting organisation. So please continue reading below before you apply!
Finding the Lead & Supporting Organisation: You need a supporting organisation with lead organisation accreditation to send you to Turkey. Youth Work Association can only take responsibility for being a receiving (hosting) organisation in projects. Because we do not have a lead organisation accreditation yet. ☹
How to find supporting organisation:
Go to: https://europa.eu/youth/volunteering/organisations_en
Select your home country from the left menu, select the scope as “volunteering”, and select the role as “Supporting” to filter organisations.
Once the website lists many organisations, these are the supporting organisations from your country.
You need to get in touch with them via email, phone or by visiting them in person to tell them:
Hello Dear [insert the coordinator’s name]
My name is [insert your name], and I would like to be an ESC volunteer in Youth Work Association in Bursa, Turkey. (www.youth.org.tr)
We have agreed with the hosting organisation. They will host me for [insert the length of the project] months in Turkey.
But the hosting organisation has only the receiving organisation accreditation. I need a supporting organisation with a lead organisation accreditation.
Would you like to get involved in my volunteering project as a supporting and leading organisation?
If you are willing to help me, please contact my hosting organisation via youthorgtr@gmail.com.
You can find my Europass CV enclosed by the attachment.
Best regards,
[insert your name, surname, contact information]
Once one of the organisations you got in touch with a positive answer to your email and accepts to be involved, we will make an activity agreement with them to send you here!
Practical and Logistic Arrangements:
Pocket Money: Every month, volunteers receive 120 EUR for pocket money.
Accommodation: It depends on the number of volunteers hosted at the same time.
- If we have three or four volunteers, you will share the volunteer house with the other two or three volunteers.
- If we have only one or two volunteers, including you, you will stay in a family house.
Details can be discussed in the Zoom meeting once we agree to host you.
Food: It depends on the number of volunteers hosted at the same time.
- If we have three or four volunteers, you will have food money to arrange your eating.
- If we have only one or two volunteers, including you, you will stay in a family house, and food will be provided three times a day.
Details can be discussed in the Zoom meeting once we agree to host you.
Insurance: Every ESC volunteer is insured by CIGNA, which covers your health expenses during the volunteer period and for the next two months.
Free Days: Volunteers work for five days (Monday to Friday) and have two days free (Saturday-Sunday). If an activity is planned for the weekend, the volunteer is informed in advance, takes leave during the week, and participates in the activity. In addition, each volunteer can also take two days of extra leave per month. The volunteer can be taken off on religious holidays and special days in their own country and Turkey by prior agreement. These leave days are given separately outside the scope of other leave days.
Language Support: During your time in Turkey, a volunteer teacher will provide a weekly average of 4 hours of language support.
Travel to Turkey: Depending on your residence city, you will have a budget to travel to Turkey and return to your home. It’s calculated according to the distance calculator. More details will be provided once we know which city you are from.
Visa to Turkey: In most cases, EU citizens do not need a visa to Turkey for up to 90 days. But if you may need it, your visa costs should be covered by your supporting organisation from the project budget. Just remind them to include visa costs in your project application form. If you stay in Turkey for more than 90 days, you need to apply Turkish consulate or embassy in your country to travel to Turkey. Once you arrive in Turkey with the visa, you will also need to apply for a residence permit to live in Turkey. And these visa and residence permit costs should be covered by your supporting organisation. Please remind them to add it to your project application form.
More details about visa to Turkey: https://www.mfa.gov.tr/visa-information-for-foreigners.en.mfa
Local Transportation: Once you are in Mudanya, your workplace and accommodation will be walking distance. So there’s no need for local transportation to work every day. If you would like to travel around the city or go somewhere else in your free time, you will need to arrange and pay for your local transportation.
Mentor: Every volunteer will have a mentor to guide them in Mudanya and Turkey. This volunteer will be a person between you and the hosting organisation to facilitate your integration into the local life in Turkey. If you have any problem, this mentor will help you overcome it.
NOTE: Our team has prepared the above mentioned practical arrangements in March 2022. These arrangements and logistic details may change when you apply for the project. The current situation will be signed with the “Activity Agreement / Volunteering Agreement” to be made with the volunteers.
If you need any questions, please get in touch with us via youthorgtr@gmail.com
To get to know more about our organisation; we would like you to take a look at our social media accounts to have a better idea of our activities and image:
Web: www.youth.org.tr
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/youthorgtr/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/youthorgtr/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/youthorgtr/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/youthorgtr/
We are looking forward to hosting you in Turkey!
Youth Work Association
European Solidarity Corps Team
