Mentoring projects Volunteering Center of Constanta

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Mentoring projectsVolunteering
Centerof Constanta

• CENTRAS Constanta
• ROUMANIA

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PROGRAMME Support the development of youth
and childrens life skillsPROJECT NAME I know
what I can, now I can try

• Duration of the project 1 August- 31 December
  2007
• 1. Summary of the project
• The general aim of the project to develop the
  auto valorisation (to identify their own value)
  life skills of 15 children, aged between 12 and
  17 years, from 3 orphanages from Constanta. Auto
  valorisation life skill consist in the
  identification, recognition of personal
  resources, in order to develop their self
  confidence, to improve their self esteem.

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• In this project, the roles of the mentor are
• - teach young people how to relate well to all
  kinds of people and help young people strengthen
  their communication skills.
• - help improve a young person's self-esteem.
• - provide support for young person trying new
  behaviors.
• help young people set goals and start taking
  steps to realize them.
• help the young people with homework and improve
  their academic skills.

All mentors have the same goal in common to
support young people to realise their goals, to
develop decision making skills and reach their
full potential.
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• The context, the problem identified
• Children from orphanages are affected by a
  severe affective privation, a lack of
  possibilities to have long relationships with an
  adult, relationship in which the child may
  identify himself with an image, a model. This all
  lead to an introvert or a depressive behaviour,
  abandoning hope of gaining affection or someones
  sympathy, having in mind the idea that they are
  worthless, they dont deserve the attention of
  the ones around them or better things in life.
• Long lasting institutionalization creates a
  feeling of dependence, an insufficient known of
  the skills, a wrong auto evaluation/
  valorisation, most times with subapreciation
  tendencies.

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• The project consists in a personal development
  programme with a 3 parts structure
• 1. Group Counselling sessions for developing
  self-conscience and self- confidence (important
  elements of auto valorisation), using modern
  techniques (active listening, reflection of
  emotions, reflection of the content from the
  client speech, types of questions in a good
  interview) and problem solving methods that will
  be applied in solving situations from their own
  lives.
• 2. A training regarding social/ forum theatre
  techniques that valorise each ones personality
  in order to develop their resources, their
  potential. During the project each child will be
  helped in developing his abilities by a mentor
  volunteer.
• 3. Individual working/ counselling sessions
  between mentor volunteers and abandoned children
  in order to valorise their free time.

In all 3 stages we used 15 mentors volunteers who
were trained in mentoring techniques, methods and
skills, in order to support the abandoned
children in a personal relationship (one to
one).
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• WHY IS THE SOCIAL THEATRE UN INOVATIVE METHOD ?
• The Oppressed Theatre is a system of Games and
  special Techniques developed as a method by
  Augusto Boal, meant to develop among the
  oppressed citizens the theatres language, which
  is an essential language. This form of theatre
  was created for being practiced by, about and for
  the oppressed, helping them against oppressions
  and for transforming the society which generates
  this oppressions. The word oppression is used
  for describing the state in which the person who
  has lost the right of expressing his will, he is
  reduced at the condition of a passive listener of
  a monologue.
• The method allows that the target group itself
  (discriminated persons or volunteers that work
  with discriminated persons) will be actively
  implicated in solving its own problems of
  discrimination and intolerance of the community.

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• Social Theatre is a form of participative
  theatre, which encourages the democratic forms of
  interaction among the participants and has the
  goal of changing attitudes, the key of change.
  Social Theatre was not conceived as a function,
  but as a form of communication and language which
  analyses and discusses problems of the oppression
  and power manifestation, explores group solutions
  of these problems, is a language accessible for
  all of the parts implicated in the process.
• Social Theatre is a form of interactive theatre,
  which starts from a discriminative situation,
  implicating the audience public in its solution.
  They may stop the play in any moment the desire,
  offering solutions for the discriminative one to
  fight against or for the persons around to react
  for protecting him. The audience can never act
  against the element that incites the
  discrimination, they can not replace on scene the
  oppressed.

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• In Constanta we used forum theatre in many
  project, like
• November 2006 February 2007 there had been 14
  representations of forum theatre in schools and
  high schools from Constanta, with the theme the
  discrimination of persons with disabilities in
  schools.
• There are apparent teenagers forms of
  discrimination in schools (press articles, people
  tales), disabled persons being perceived as
  limited persons, with no value, without equal
  chances of development and participation in
  communities and the efforts made for these
  persons are useless.

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• - March June 2007 there took place 11
  representations of forum theatre with the theme
  family violence in rural environment taking
  place in schools and high schools from
  Constantas rural environment. Family violence
  is a phenomenon with vast proportions in the last
  5 years, at national level and rural environment
  from Constanta, due to the low level of
  education, of poverty and unemployment , the lack
  of promoted and respected models and values in
  the affected communities.

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• The most important conclusion from the solutions
  proposed by teachers and students
• 80 of the publics interventions proposed a
  change at a verbal level, as a concept, an idea
  and less in the behavior or attitude. The general
  tendance was to teach the oppressor what he has
  to do, to speak a lot about ethics, without doing
  something themselves to determine the opressor to
  change. This has confirmed one more time the need
  of these programs of personal development in
  schools putting the accent on the life skills
  development.

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Youth in action projectMentoring peer to peer01
November 2008- 05 December 2009

• The proposed project under the 1.2 action -
  Youth Initiatives, is a local initiative that
  will be implemented during 13 months period of
  time. The project aims to support young people
  from 3 orphanages from Constanta (aged 15 to 17)
  in order to develop a positive motivation for
  life. It is expected that the youngsters will get
  involved in the social and professional life.
• Four main factors of motivation for life will be
  tooken into account strong values, healthy life
  style, positive image on themselves (based on
  appropriate self-evaluation), good qualitaty of
  the social relationship.
• These motivation factors will be achieved through
  the following objectives and activities
• O1 At least 20 youngsters from orphanages
  achieve correct self evaluation tools.
• Activities training provided by a coach to 20
  mentor/ volunteers, Councelling sessions for the
  selected youngsters, training Forum Theatre of
  the selected youngsters, 10 contests (forum
  theatre) in 10 schools.
• The experiential method will be used in all
  activities.

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• O2. At least 20 youngsters from orphanages will
  achieve a socialization model based on the peer
  relationship menthor volunteer - youngster.
• Activities Peer mentoring activities,
  supervision activities provided by two experts to
  volunteers mentors, evaluation session of both,
  the volunteer mentor and youngster, based on an
  individual activity diary.
• O3 The project results, products and methods
  (mentoring, experiential counselling, forum
  theatre), are transfered to at least 25 youth
  organizations.
• Activities editing posters and flyers, and the
  Mentoring guide peer to peer, information
  dissemination on the web site, producing
  sweatshirts/ t-shirts on the theme of the
  project, a dissemination seminar.
• Valorisation and follow-up At least 50 de
  representatives (at least 25 organisations, will
  be trained in order to improve their mentoring
  and councelling skils. A network of young
  menthors will be initiated in order to develop
  and promote social policies for youngsters from
  orphanages.
• The project will promote the european values
  like active participation, equality of chances,
  freedom of opinion, non-discrimination.

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• The most important questions of mentors during
  their mentoring relationships were
• 1. Why do we respond to some messages and not
  others?
• 2. Why we are open to some people and not others?
• 3. Why are we comfortable in some situations and
  not others?