The projects location is Kézdivásárhely (Târgu Secuiesc, jud. Covasna), but other settlements of the county as well. Kézdivásárhely is the second largest city of the smallest Romanian county Covasna.
Covasna county has 4 other cities: Covasna, Baraolt, Sfântu Gheorghe and Întorsura Buz?ului. The number of the total population is 222.000 citizens, according to the 2002 census. There are 39 villages and settlements.
In our county, at the moment there is 250 NGOs activating, 20% is youth organization or has youth volunteers, beyond this there are organizations operating in the field of culture, social, sports, environment protection, and organizations with other domains of activity.
The county town, Sfântu Gheorghe, lies at a distance of 35 km, (along the road no. 11), and Brasov at 66 km. On railway it can be reached on the Sfântu Gheorghe - Bre?cu line. The town is at an altitude of 570 m.

Kezdivasarhely is today the second most populous town of Covasna county and the most important settlement of Felso-Haromszek district. In 1992 its population was of 22.912 inhabitants (from which 20.998 were of Hungarian origin, and 1.818 Romanians).
The town lies at the most eastern part of the Carpathian basin. Lying on the plain of the river Feketeügy and on the banks of Torja brook, Kezdivasarhely has been referred to as a town of guilds, of the shoemakers and as the town of alley-yards. The 600-year old town was formed along the commercial road that links Brasov to Moldova (on the road no. 11).

Its peculiar settlement structure - the alley-like yards opening from the gateway of the centre - unique in Europe, has aroused the interest of several researchers. The building up with yards is a peculiar way of space organization and building: only a few real streets lead out from the centre, as behind most gateways there are alley-like yards, where the guilds used to be.
Kézdivásárhely wasn't a castellated city. From the center the streets directed in five directions. Around the market place were built the first ring of courtyards, later the second courtyard- ring. Thanks to this, the street network of the city is concentric. This unique type of settlement-system survived only in Kézdivásárhely.
The courtyards are 2-4 m wide and 25-180 m long. The courtyards were closed, but today these are open and we count 73 of them.
Kézdivásárhely has a very rich touristic aspect. The tourists who come to the city usually want to see the courtyards, which are unique in the world. This is the reason why the whole center is considered as a historical architectural monument.

Today, the town is characterised by light industry, manufacturing industry, agriculture and commercial activity. The rate of unemployment is slightly bigger than the country's average. The town shows variety and tolerance because 3 different nations (Hungarian, Romanian, Rroma) live together peacefully and there are 5 different religious groups.

The city has proper accommodation for volunteers (apartment, hotel, youth hostel, etc), proper dining services (restaurants, canteens, take-out, etc), and programs that greatly facilitate the development of the volunteers personality and general knowledge.
The programs are as follows: cultural programs, activities of civil organizations, theatre, library, art caffé, concerts, volunteer activities and museum.

The town has tennis courts, football fields (indoor and outdoor), ice rink, and many excursion sites (lakes, mountains for camping and hiking - the region is extremely rich in mineral waters, skiing areas).
In August the city celebrates the days of the city with a big festival.
In Vigadó which includes a theater hall with 500 seats and a meeting- room for 200 people, there is also place for club, exhibition room, permanent gallery and other educational- and practice- rooms. The handcrafters from the city have also studios here.

The Museum opened in 1972 as a part of the Szekler National Museum. The aim of the museum is to give us a little insight to the guild's life. One of the most interesting place in the museum is the dolls room, where we can see more than 350 dolls which wear traditional clothes from all around Szeklerland.

Presently we do not have an office (yet), but we have a meeting room, where we use to meet regularly and we have two storage places. All our members have internet connection, so like this the office is "spread" between the members. In the town everything is in walking distance, so if needed, it's question of minutes that the group to get together in the meeting room.
We provide computer and internet connection for the volunteer, to be able to work and communicate from her/his place of residence. (As well on the main square and on two other points of the city there are free hotspots (WI-FI) if the volunteer would like to work outside, in case of pleasant weather.) Till we get the office, the not official office is the meeting room, where the daily hot tasks and ideas are discussed.

ZNE is an organisation which is constantly changing and is always open for new ideas, new projects. For that we encourage the volunteers to realise their own project ideas and to develop as much as possible. For that the members of the association are like "mentors" for them.
Volunteers can participate in our existing projects as well as in new ones designed by themselves.
The volunteer has the chance to take part in national and international workshops where we are invited or which are organized by us. There is the opportunity to make and publish films (documentary, campaign films, animation …), to learn web content development, basic graphic design, to get experience in project-management, but as well he/she can volunteer for other organisations.

The volunteers can decide in which activities they want to be involved more deeply and they can devote most of their time to those activities. In addition, besides these tasks the volunteers will have the possibilities to make exhibitions or other cultural programmes (for example they can show their countries and traditions). We support these programmes with our personal help and by providing tools and materials to a certain extent. We also provide them with sufficient time - within their work time - to prepare and organise these events.

What actually we offer as learning opportunities, is the experience to work with a dynamic, open-minded group of people, in the work to really make a change in our society.

The role of the EVS volunteer in our organization has many levels:
- the ZNE can learn a new approach from the volunteer
- meeting is always exchanging experience
- building international connections between organizations, building channels, thus communicating in a larger scale for the sake of our goals.

Some examples, what we did and in what the volunteer could be involved:
- giving lectures, projections about climate change and other environmental problems (ex. chemical waste)
- Critical Mass and other demonstrations and events for bicycle path and for more rights for cyclists
- charity evenings with concerts for sick children and for a playground
- planting trees (lastly we planted more than 1100 saplings during the Spring Green Days for 3 days)
- building playground
- making the map of the green road in our region with bicycle-tours
- big collection of used cooking oil
- first aid workshop
For more details please visit our website.
Every idea worth to think about. (Like this we are organizing every year the celebration of the international peace day with happenings, like this appeared the "Buy local products" campaign, or a photo-contest and so on.) We support everything that raise awareness that helps us to make a better world.
We are always lack of people in web development, English translation, graphic design, movie makings, but we lack mostly the good ideas and the work to make them to happen.


Competences and skills expected from volunteers:
- conversational knowledge of a foreign language (e.g. English)
- open and receptive attitude
- sensitivity to environmental problems
- ability to work in a team and work individually as well
- creativity and sociability
- basic PC and internet skills
The age of the candidate is above 18 year since the volunteer will live independently and no permanent supervision will be given.

Recruitment process

The recruitment of volunteers will take place through the channels the association has in place, which are: advertising on the association's web page (www.zoldnap.info), circulating e-mails to all the contacts on our database and distributing the information in social, cultural and other national and international organisations we have collaborated with in the past.
Candidates will be considered on the basis of the above listed expectations and advantageous attributes.
Everyone is welcome as candidate who believes that he/she matches these expectations. In case of similar candidates, strength and nature of motivation will help us to choose the most suitable candidate.
Sending organizations which are interested in the following themes and are involved in activities in connection with these themes are preferred: - environment, urban/rural development, education through sport and outdoor activities, minorities, equal opportunities, media and communications, health, art and culture, anti-discrimination.


Number of volunteers hosted: 2

The EVS volunteer will live in a flat alone or she/he will share it with other volunteers (she/he will have an individual room). The organization will be in charge of finding a suitable flat.
ZNE will work towards guaranteeing a safe living and working environment for the volunteer. The volunteer will be assigned a mentor, who will monitor his or her progress, answer any doubts and see to that the volunteer is integrating well.
We help the young people coming to our organisation with the integration in every possible way, not only professionally but in their daily personal lives; they can always turn to us for advice and help. We will try to find for them the ideal surroundings, accommodation, cultural environment and company. The daily personal contact gives us the chance to handle the daily problems and the possible difficulty in the integration process.

Handling crisis situation

The volunteer will have his/her own mentor, whom s(h)e can always turn to with any kinds of personal or professional questions. The mentor will help him/her to arrange official papers and also helps the volunteer with the integration process: s(h)e take him/her out to different programs and introduces him/her to many people.
We will have private talks with the volunteers every week, where psychological questions can be discussed. ZNE has various graduates in the field of pedagogy and it has partner organisations who already work with EVS volunteers. We wish to build on their help and expertise as well.
ZNE can receive volunteers over 18 years of age only.
The volunteers will be living in a safe living and working environment. They will get all sorts of risk prevention preparation and protecting equipment if the activity requires so, although generally said our activities do not include any dangerous elements. In the case of serious problems and crises of the volunteer maximum personal and - if it is required - other types of support and help will be ensured. Most of the time, other members of the organisation will accompany the volunteers and give full attention during the activities.

- each volunteer will be insured, instructed about work safety, and trained by a person who will be taking care of them throughout their stay (mentor)
- they will be given information about the local customs so as to prevent potential misunderstandings and complications
- they will be briefed about emergencies and provided with useful phone numbers (police, fire department, emergency medical services)
- health risks (illness, injury) will be covered by insurance
- social risks (homesickness) should be balanced by giving the volunteer a number of opportunities for socializing
- a motivational programme will be set up to deal with the possibility of a "burnout" on the part of the volunteer

Asociatia "Zöld Nap" (ZNE) - Green Sun Association, initiates to take part in the European Voluntary Service as this program fits within the general mission of ZNE which is:
- to facilitate cooperation and communication concerning green values among different people, especially youth
- to facilitate active citizenship
- to provide alternative forms of education and
- to raise awareness concerning ecological and social issues.
We believe that EVS is a very good possibility to realize these objectives in many ways. The long term experience abroad as being part of another organization makes it possible for young people to exchange green values, experiences, knowledge and practices. Since volunteers play an active role in the life of the host
organizations, they practise active citizenship as well. During the voluntary service young people learn by
personal experience, by facing a lot of new and unusual situations and by constant communication with the
members of the host organization in various situations, which all contribute to a complex learning process.
Lastly, the new environment in which the volunteer works and lives gives an opportunity to see the world from another cultural perspective and to develop one's openness and tolerance. Since most social and environmental problems have global aspects, in our work it is very important to see these problems from a different point of view.
ZNE's important objective with European Voluntary Service is to provide the possibility for the youth to be part of an outstanding, comprehensive experience which in the future helps them to be an active civil member of society.
Due to the service our basic values such as diversity (environmental and social), solidarity, equality and creativity should be supported more by the volunteer and also more deeply understood.
Volunteering also encourages the establishing of new partnerships and the exchange of experience and good
practice between the partners.
Asociatia "Zöld Nap" does not have any experiences in European Voluntary Service.
Following EVS accreditation, the organization is planning to present the first EVS project in April 2011.

The Zöld Nap Egyesület - ZNE (Asociatia "Zöld Nap", Green Sun Association - Nap in hungarian means sun but day as well, so the name has double meaning: green day and green sun) is an environmental organization which was established in the summer of 2009.

The members of the association are ecologists, economists, fine artists, but one can find in the group teacher, engineer and sociologist as well. We formed alliance in the consciousness of our dissimilarity, fighting for a politically and religiously independent cause, a fight that we have to win together.

It is our fundamental belief that you cannot have a healthy environment without having a healthy society, that environmental and social questions can only be resolved in the long term through recognising the organic, inherent inter-dependence of the two spheres.

The coming together of local knowledge and global communication is vital. Therefore participation in international networks is considered one of our priorities.

The 'mission' of ZNE is to create dialogue and expand communication. This involves drawing public attention to a wide range of ecological and social problems (which otherwise often go unnoticed) as well as to those individuals or groups who posses both a vision and a working alternative for the solutions to such problems.

The target group we generally work with are the young generations (approx. ages 15-35), but we organized environmental lectures in daycares and charity evenings with concerts for the older generations as well.

Selected activities:
-giving lectures about climate change and other environmental problems in schools and daycares
-Spring Green Days - a 3 days event organized by us with programs for everyone (lectures, projections, concerts, sport events, folk-dance evening and tree plantings - lastly we planted more than 1150 saplings during the 3 days)
-Critical Mass and other demonstrations and events for bicycle path and for more possibilities for cyclists in the region
-volunteer camp with lectures, concerts, toxic waste collection and volunteer work for young people (ages 14-25)
-the "Buy local products" campaign with happenings, movie making and several meetings with local manufacturers and businessman to sensibilize them about social responsibility
-big collections of used cooking oil, battery and other toxic waste
-charity evenings with concerts for children with leukaemia and for a playground
-building playground with our hands from raw material
-first aid workshop
-making the map of the green way (Nemere trail) in our region with several bicycle-tours (this spring we'll start to mark it on the field during several "green" camps for young people with lectures, concerts…)
-celebration each year of the international peace day with happenings
-a big projection tour with the documentary movie "Home" by Yann Arthus-Bertrand in the surrounding villages and cities
-sport events (24 hours running, family-running)
-photo-contest on the theme of the four seasons of our region for amateurs and professionals
-representing our organization in other events (green games for children, toxic waste collection, lectures)

For more events and details please visit our website: www.zoldnap.info