| | SEEDS 2012 Practical
information about our projects:
Practical information about
our projects: 1. Participation Fees.
Participation/Contribution
fees are asked to take part in our workcamps, which helps to support the ongoing
work of SEEDS. Please note that your entire fee might not necessarily go
towards your particular workcamp, the fees collected by SEEDS are mainly used
to:
- Bear the administrative expenditures of the association: Salaries, rent,
office bills (energy, phone, electricity, insurance, heating), personnel, external
representation, mail, website, postage, equipments, supplies, banking costs, legal
formalities, etc.
- Provision of financial support and resources to aid develop
of some of our other activities (eg. to pay food and/or accommodation in some
of the projects, where the hosts do not provide it, co-funding for our long-term
voluntary service projects and the development of particular sessions during the
camps).
- Cover other costs associated with your workcamp/transportation,
e.g. food/accommodation costs, rental/fuel costs, administrative costs and also
supporting costs of the long term volunteers and project coordinators.
Most
European organisations similar to SEEDS raise funds by sending volunteers abroad,
charging outgoing volunteers a registration fee; while we in Iceland face a particular
double-folded challenge as voluntary service is not very attractive to Icelanders,
additional to the fact that the Icelandic population is quite reduced. Therefore
the amount of volunteers sent by SEEDS overseas does not represent a considerable
income to run our association.
Furthermore, SEEDS does not receive any governmental
funding or financial support from our local, regional or national government.
In the meantime SEEDS is taking actions in order to send more Icelanders overseas
and to raise funds in different ways to expand our sources of income.
Thanks
to the fees contributed by our participants we are able to run the association
and to offer different projects during the summer. The amount of the fees will
be stated in each camp's description.
SEEDS is a non-profit organisation,
and all funds go back into improving the quality and service we provide to our
volunteers and hosts, expanding the range of SEEDS projects and carrying out projects
in areas where funds are not available to the local hosts or to provide food and
accommodation to the volunteers. 2. Insurance.
Volunteers need
to obtain health and accident insurance for the whole duration of their travel,
prior to the arrival to Iceland and bring with them all needed documents, contact
numbers, etc.
European volunteers are advised to take with them the European
Health Insurance Card (EHIC) or the forms E-111 or E-104. Iceland is part of the
European Economic Area (EEA) so volunteers residing in a member country of the
EU or of the EEA and Switzerland benefit here from the use of EHIC, having access
to the Icelandic Health system as in any European country in the same conditions
as Icelandic citizens and will be treated on the same basis as a resident of Iceland.
Volunteers
residing outside the (EEA) must seek private medical/travel insurance for the
duration of the stay. It is strongly advised that this is obtained before leaving
the country of residence, as the cost of insuring in Iceland will be much higher.
Volunteers without insurance will not be allowed to participate in our projects.
3. Study part / Educational Content - Environmental Messengers.
Most of
our workcamps have an educational/awareness-raising approach to environmental,
nature-protection and sustainable development topics. We will have, apart from
the leader(s), a person fully dedicated to organising and developing fun, interactive
and educational activities within the workcamp.
This person is called the "Environmental
Messenger" and will be in charge of activities aimed at raising awareness
about environmental issues both within the local community and among the international
volunteers taking part in the workcamps. S/he will be a source of knowledge on
specific topics about the environment, nature protection and sustainable development.
S/he will encourage workcamp participants 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.
5. Arrival and Departure dates.
Volunteers participating
in our projects should arrive to Iceland the latest one day before the workcamp
starts, as travel to the project, if arranged by SEEDS (see point 6 below), will
leave Reykjavík on the first day of the camp in the morning.
If volunteers
choose to go by different means, they might need more than one day to reach the
destination by public transportation services. In the same way, volunteers shall
not book their return journey the day the camp ends, the earliest one day after
the camp finishes. In this way volunteers ensure they will be able to join the
camp for its full length.
From former volunteers' feedback you can consider
staying longer in Iceland; before or/and after the project. Volunteers may group
together and decide to travel the country and visit different areas to those of
the project itself. 4. Arrival and Departure dates.
Volunteers
participating in our projects should arrive to Iceland the latest one day before
the workcamp starts, as travel to the project, if arranged by SEEDS (see point
5 below), will leave Reykjavík on the first day of the camp in the morning.
If volunteers choose to go by different means, they might need more than one
day to reach the destination by public transportation services. In the same way,
volunteers shall not book their return journey the day the camp ends, the
earliest one day after the camp finishes. In this way volunteers ensure they
will be able to join the camp for its full length.
Participants in our camps
in Reykjavík do not need to arrive one day earlier to Iceland as they can
reach the accommodation the same day of arrival.
From former volunteers' feedback
you should consider staying longer in Iceland; before or/and after the project.
Volunteers may group together and decide to travel the country and visit different
areas to those of the project itself.
5. Domestic transport - Minibus.
SEEDS organises shared transport from Reykjavík city to the projects
sites for all of the workcamps outside the city. The meeting point will be in
Reykjavík on the first day of the camp, in the morning.
The "minibus
option" is offered by SEEDS to volunteers in order to provide them a more
convenient way to reach the camp, to allow them to meet their fellow volunteers
and leaders earlier, and to have a relaxed trip to the camp location, with the
opportunity to visit particular sites on the way and stop where possible (e.g.
to take pictures or take a short walk).
We try to research all possible transportation
to the projects and then offer a fair price for transportation compared with the
public transport options available. We recommend that you take the minibus, but
please feel free to investigate your own transport. 6. Accommodation
in Reykjavík.
Volunteers do not need to book any accommodation
for the period of the camp, as SEEDS provides accommodation and food during the
project, but you will need accommodation on the days before or/and after the workcamp.
As
mentioned in point 4, in order to be able to join the projects on time and fully,
volunteers should arrive to Iceland the latest one day prior to the starting date
of the camp and leave the country the earliest one day after the camp ends.
SEEDS
can organise sleeping bag accommodation in Reykjavík for stays before or
after the workcamp; it is a shared sleeping bag accommodation in dorms in a centrally
located house in the city. The house is equipped and volunteers have access to
kitchen and washing machine facilities.
The cost per night is € 13 (from
October 15 to April 15) and € 18 (from April 16 to October 14). Details will
be sent with the acceptance of the volunteer and the detailed Information Sheet.
The fee does not cover any food; it covers only the sleeping/accommodation.
7.
Language.
Icelandic knowledge is not needed in our projects. English is
the language used by our leaders and messengers. Therefore, basic knowledge is
expected from participants, even though it is not a requirement to fulfil.
8. Age.
We usually host volunteers aged 18 or over, nevertheless in
recent years we hosted few teenagers in our projects with very positive results.
Volunteers under the age of 18 need to apply through a slightly different
procedure, which involves parental/guardian authorisation. We do not have any
upper age limit. So far our youngest volunteer was 15 and the oldest 69! 9.
Conditions of Participation.
In order to be fully aware of volunteers'
responsibilities during the workcamp, please read carefully the following:
"
Volunteers are expected to be active members of the group and contribute to work,
housekeeping and free time activities.
" Volunteers are expected to work
seven to eight hours per day, five days per week, on a voluntary basis.
"
Volunteers are expected to inform the camp-leader in case they want to spend the
free time away from the workcamp. However, they should not spend the night away
from the camp, nor host other people at the workcamp.
" SEEDS camp-leaders
have been trained to run the workcamp; they are responsible for organising work,
food, contacts with local authorities and many other things. Do not forget that
they are volunteers as well, so try to cooperate with them at work and during
free time activities. Camp-leaders are not fully responsible for organising volunteers'
free time and they expect their ideas and contribution to do so.
" Smoking
is not allowed in the accommodation areas. Use of alcohol should be moderate with
consideration and only during free time.
" Volunteers are expected to
stay for the whole duration of the workcamp. If you MUST leave early or arrive
late, you should contact SEEDS in advance.
" Keep in mind that the use
of any kind of drugs is strictly forbidden.
" Volunteers without insurance
will not be allowed to participate in our projects.
" SEEDS does not accept
any kind of discrimination in our workcamps and such cases will be strictly dealt
with.
We would like to remind you, that SEEDS is NOT an alternative travel
agency, our projects are not cheap holidays. Therefore we expect a high level
of motivation from every volunteer, cooperation, flexibility and open-mindedness!
Our workcamps are based on self-organisation and self-management and this
is also what makes them unique and enriching! Please do not expect the leader
to organise everything for the group of volunteers, but be ready to contribute
with your own ideas and personality.
10. Additional information.
For
more details and up to date information please visit us at http://www.seedsiceland.org way
up
| |
