Long-term volunteering opportunity in the western part of Austria
Project details
- Number of volunteers: 1
- Duration: October to June
- Topics: Youth (Participation, Youth Work, Youth Policy), Creativity and Culture, Skills and Education
- Hosting Organisation: Offene Jugendarbeit Dornbirn – OJAD, Austria
- Supporting/Coordination organisation: aha – Jugendinformationszentrum Vorarlberg Dornbirn, Austria
Open opportunities
Open opportunities (vacancies) and information about the application can be found on the European Youth Portal: All opportunities | European Youth Portal
Project description
The association “Offene Jugendarbeit Dornbirn (OJAD)” – Open Youth Work Dornbirn – was founded in 1992 with the purpose to offer young people space for leisure time activities. We run two youth centres, several big projects on skills-development and training (boatbuilding, urban farm, crafting & design) and leisure sites such as a skateboarding area.
The youth centre Vis.m.u.t. (Vision: human dignity and tolerance) accommodates the youth café Vismut which is mainly visited by young people under 16 and the Kulturcafé Schlachthaus, where parties, concerts and discussions are organised.
The youth centre Arena runs a youth café and has the focus on sports (tabletop football, skating, basketball etc.).
Tasks of the volunteer
The volunteer will work five days a week, 34 hours a week including German course. S*he will have two days holiday per month. The volunteer will be part of our team and the areas he*she can participate are:
Kulturcafé Schlachthaus
Here s*he can help organise parties and youth culture events (concerts etc.) that take place about twice a week. S*he will learn to book concerts, organise everything around concerts (for example Gothic, Punk, Hardcore, EMO, Metal, Hip-Hop etc.), do the bar during different events, care for the bands, care for the young people visiting our house.
Youth Café Vismut
Our visitors at the youth café Vismut are a little younger (13 to 16) and come to the centre for a chat with other youngsters or with the youth worker or for workshops (for example gardening, handicrafts, dancing, skateboarding). The volunteer will help with the workshops and in the café (bar, preparing snacks, cleaning etc.).
Youth Café Arena
Youthcafé Arena is open every day in the afternoon or evening. It also offers space to meet informally for a chat with friends. The focus of activities is sports: tabletop football, billiards, basketball and skateboarding etc.
Youth Café Chill Out in the neighbouring village Höchst
Höchst and Dornbirn have had a cooperation for many years. Höchst has a youth café, and different projects and events are organised there.
The volunteer can also participate in the activities that we organise in the course of the year, for example:
- Youth Festival at the Dornbirn Fair (spring)
- Tolerance Days (April)
- Environment Week (May/June)
- Volunteer’s Own Project: If the volunteer wants, s*he can realise her*his own project in cooperation with the young people from Vismut. Since we offer a wide variety of activities s*he has a lot of possibilities to do so (sports workshop, creative workshop, antiracism project, project on her*his home country, concert with band from her*his home country, music workshop, cooking etc.).
Doing a voluntary service at “Offene Jugendarbeit Dornbirn”, the volunteer will learn a lot about youth work and will get a practical insight into the various fields of youth work: leisure time activities, intercultural dialogue, employment, education + training in youth work. In the daily contact with the young people, s*he will increase her*his social competences in establishing contacts and building relationships. By helping with our projects and activities, the volunteer will learn project management “by doing” and practice teamwork. S*he will get an insight into various youth cultures and will meet many people of different backgrounds.
Volunteer profile
S*he should like to work with young people and should be interested in different youth cultures, music, sports, nightlife, different kinds of ecology and youth centre work. S*he should care for young people and be prepared to take the initiative to get in contact with them. S*he should be flexible and be willing to take part in different kinds of projects.
Since our opening hours are mainly in the afternoons, evenings and at weekends s*he should be prepared to work late hours and at weekends.
Practical arrangements
The volunteer will live in a student accommodation, where also other volunteers, students and residents of different backgrounds live. The accommodation is organised by the hosting organisation. The volunteer will have a room with an own bathroom ensuite and share a kitchen and common rooms with the other residents.
The infrastructure with trains and buses is very accessible and frequent. Additionally, s*he will also have a bicycle at her*his disposal. The volunteer will receive a ticket for free use of any public transport in the whole region of Vorarlberg during the complete duration of the ESC project.
Support during the voluntary project
S*he will have regular meetings with her*his tutor in our organisation to talk about the development of the project, task assignments, general wellbeing, problems, wishes etc.
The Project Coordinator will hold a monthly evaluation meeting with all volunteers in Vorarlberg. At the end of the project, we will evaluate the project together with the volunteer: to see what s*he has learned and which competences s*he has gained and as a result fill out the Youthpass. Furthermore, there will be a final personal evaluation meeting with the Project Coordinator.
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updated 09/2025
