- Project:
Organic Farming Institute
- PROJECT FOCUS:
Organic farming teaching, social work guiding and counseling and capacity building at grassroots.
- PROJECT LOCATION:
Situated in Juja constituency of Central Province.
- Project duration:
3, 6, 9 or 12 months.
- Application:
Should be received at least one month before the start of the volunteering period.
- Outdoor education cultivates full humanity:
Large proportion of present day education is still completely detached from the problems of the modern world. Experience so far gained, teaches us that a person with a good education may be an excellent university lecturer, doctor, businessman, mother or father and at the same time be a bad citizen, unable to form a sound judgment on public affairs. Present education ignores a person’s great function in life, one’s duty as a member of the community neither knowing nor caring about the lives of fellow citizens. One’s education should make one feel at home with the community, sharing in its tradition, its present actions and its aspirations and responsibility for the future. One’s daily work will acquire a new significance once one becomes aware that it may be done for the service of one’s nation and through the nation, for humanity at large.
- Voluntary service the bridge of human trust:
Voluntary organizations exist in many countries, helping towards the development of various aspects of community life. Our voluntary work projects mean a great deal more than just a group of people building or repairing something. They provide an opportunity for volunteers to give something other than money or skilled service. They provide a means by which people can express a concern for others in a very tangible way through their investment of time and physical energy. They enable you to live in a community which needs you and your help, to learn and understand their life and aspirations of one another, to become aware of human needs and of the necessity for working together in search of practical solutions to the country’s educational, social and cultural problems. You only appreciate and respect one another’s different cultural background once you have understood why others behave and live as they do. This voluntary service gives you the opportunity to work to attain local and world peace in a very personal way, by demonstrating a commitment to the society of humankind.
It is the bridge of human trust and understanding. The denominator of international concern.
- Arrival and orientation schedule:
Arrival will be before the orientation date and volunteers will be received at the airport in Nairobi upon provision of full flight details and taken to KVDA Residence where they will be accommodated for two days ahead of placement to respective projects.
KVDA advises volunteers to arrive through Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi preferably at the end of every month in order to ensure that they participate in the orientation meetings scheduled to run from 1st-3rd of every month.
It should be noted that it is the duty of KVDA to receive the volunteers at the Airport and requests by volunteers to be picked up by friends/strangers will not be accepted by KVDA.
The 2-day orientation session is mandatory and late arrivals will not be allowed as this would interfere with the smooth running of the program.
- Accommodation and meals at the project:
Host projects will identify host families to accommodate the volunteers and the volunteers will share in the day to day activities at the homestead. KVDA will subsidize the volunteers accommodation at the project through monthly project support accrued from the participation fees paid by the volunteer.
- Ban on public smoking in Kenya:
It is an offence to smoke in public places in Kenya and it attracts heavy penalties for offenders. If you are a smoker, ask for designated smoking zones where smoking is allowed and we request volunteers to remain open-minded to enable KVDA to serve them better.
- Educational tour and Kiswahili Teaching Program:
KVDA Educational tour and Kiswahili teaching program will be held before, in the middle or at the end of the project. Volunteers who are interested should inform KVDA in advance for planning purposes.
Educational tours cost €100 per day per person and the minimum is 3-day package to Maasai Mara National Reserve and volunteers have the possibility to participate in an 8-day educational tour that will take them to spectacular sites of interest in Kenya. Detailed educational tour schedule with variety of tour packages will be provided upon request.
10-day Kiswahili teaching program costs €200 that is all-inclusive and will cover elementary language course and ensure that the volunteers can easily communicate with members of the local community where they will stay for a longer period of time.
Interested volunteers should make arrangements with KVDA Secretariat before arrival in Kenya and for those already in Kenya; we need adequate notice to arrange for the program.
- Travel from Kenya at the end of the project:
KVDA will organize for volunteers travel from the project to Nairobi and then to the Airport at no extra cost. Every volunteer should officially sign out at KVDA office at the end of the project and will thereafter be taken to the Airport by KVDA representative.
- Submission of project reports and certification:
The volunteers are expected to submit written reports to KVDA office at the end of the placement together with a project evaluation as guided by a questionnaire designed by KVDA. This should be done at least one week before the end of the project placement and KVDA will share the evaluation output with the partner organization in the respective country. Certificate of participation will be issued to volunteers upon successful completion of placement.
- Caution:
Once participation has been confirmed and duration of placement noted, KVDA will enter an agreement with host communities regarding the volunteers’ duration of placement. For that matter, it will not be allowed for volunteers to suddenly change their placement duration once the commitment has been made as the consequences will be dire for all the parties involved. It is forbidden for volunteers to directly go to projects before completion of placement procedures with the KVDA office in Nairobi. Unilateral action by volunteers in this regard will lead to cancellation of placement.
- Participation fees:
200 Euro per month per volunteer payable upfront for the entire duration of placement. Meaning that 3 months placement €600, 6 months placement €1200 while 12 months placement €2400.
Partners are urged to discourage volunteers wishing to stay for a shorter period of time for this often demotivates hosting communities who wish to have a sustainable project impact.
What does the participation fee entail?
The €200 participation fee paid to KVDA will cater for the volunteer’s overall placement at the project including return Airport transfers, administrative costs, project/community support, monitoring/evaluation, certification and contingency.
KVDA has a memorandum of understanding with partner organizations at the local community that host volunteers and it disburses part of the fees to subsidize volunteers’ upkeep at the project and this is done in consultation with the host community. The volunteers are entitled to accommodation, meals, access to water for domestic use and will be empowered by the hosts to make good use of locally available resources to facilitate the placement.
It is important to note the key elements accompanying the project cost and KVDA’s role to ensure sustainable project planning and implementation at all stages.
- Project duration:
3, 6, 9 or 12 months.
- Application:
Should be received at least one month before the start of the volunteering period.
- Outdoor education cultivates full humanity:
Large proportion of present day education is still completely detached from the problems of the modern world. Experience so far gained, teaches us that a person with a good education may be an excellent university lecturer, doctor, businessman, mother or father and at the same time be a bad citizen, unable to form a sound judgment on public affairs. Present education ignores a person’s great function in life, one’s duty as a member of the community neither knowing nor caring about the lives of fellow citizens. One’s education should make one feel at home with the community, sharing in its tradition, its present actions and its aspirations and responsibility for the future. One’s daily work will acquire a new significance once one becomes aware that it may be done for the service of one’s nation and through the nation, for humanity at large.
- Voluntary service the bridge of human trust:
Voluntary organizations exist in many countries, helping towards the development of various aspects of community life. Our voluntary work projects mean a great deal more than just a group of people building or repairing something. They provide an opportunity for volunteers to give something other than money or skilled service. They provide a means by which people can express a concern for others in a very tangible way through their investment of time and physical energy. They enable you to live in a community which needs you and your help, to learn and understand their life and aspirations of one another, to become aware of human needs and of the necessity for working together in search of practical solutions to the country’s educational, social and cultural problems. You only appreciate and respect one another’s different cultural background once you have understood why others behave and live as they do. This voluntary service gives you the opportunity to work to attain local and world peace in a very personal way, by demonstrating a commitment to the society of humankind.
It is the bridge of human trust and understanding. The denominator of international concern.
- Arrival and orientation schedule:
Arrival will be before the orientation date and volunteers will be received at the airport in Nairobi upon provision of full flight details and taken to KVDA Residence where they will be accommodated for two days ahead of placement to respective projects.
KVDA advises volunteers to arrive through Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi preferably at the end of every month in order to ensure that they participate in the orientation meetings scheduled to run from 1st-3rd of every month.
It should be noted that it is the duty of KVDA to receive the volunteers at the Airport and requests by volunteers to be picked up by friends/strangers will not be accepted by KVDA.
The 2-day orientation session is mandatory and late arrivals will not be allowed as this would interfere with the smooth running of the program.
- Accommodation and meals at the project:
Host projects will identify host families to accommodate the volunteers and the volunteers will share in the day to day activities at the homestead. KVDA will subsidize the volunteers accommodation at the project through monthly project support accrued from the participation fees paid by the volunteer.
- Ban on public smoking in Kenya:
It is an offence to smoke in public places in Kenya and it attracts heavy penalties for offenders. If you are a smoker, ask for designated smoking zones where smoking is allowed and we request volunteers to remain open-minded to enable KVDA to serve them better.
- Educational tour and Kiswahili Teaching Program:
KVDA Educational tour and Kiswahili teaching program will be held before, in the middle or at the end of the project. Volunteers who are interested should inform KVDA in advance for planning purposes.
Educational tours cost €100 per day per person and the minimum is 3-day package to Maasai Mara National Reserve and volunteers have the possibility to participate in an 8-day educational tour that will take them to spectacular sites of interest in Kenya. Detailed educational tour schedule with variety of tour packages will be provided upon request.
10-day Kiswahili teaching program costs €200 that is all-inclusive and will cover elementary language course and ensure that the volunteers can easily communicate with members of the local community where they will stay for a longer period of time.
Interested volunteers should make arrangements with KVDA Secretariat before arrival in Kenya and for those already in Kenya; we need adequate notice to arrange for the program.
- Travel from Kenya at the end of the project:
KVDA will organize for volunteers travel from the project to Nairobi and then to the Airport at no extra cost. Every volunteer should officially sign out at KVDA office at the end of the project and will thereafter be taken to the Airport by KVDA representative.
- Submission of project reports and certification:
The volunteers are expected to submit written reports to KVDA office at the end of the placement together with a project evaluation as guided by a questionnaire designed by KVDA. This should be done at least one week before the end of the project placement and KVDA will share the evaluation output with the partner organization in the respective country. Certificate of participation will be issued to volunteers upon successful completion of placement.
- Caution:
Once participation has been confirmed and duration of placement noted, KVDA will enter an agreement with host communities regarding the volunteers’ duration of placement. For that matter, it will not be allowed for volunteers to suddenly change their placement duration once the commitment has been made as the consequences will be dire for all the parties involved. It is forbidden for volunteers to directly go to projects before completion of placement procedures with the KVDA office in Nairobi. Unilateral action by volunteers in this regard will lead to cancellation of placement.
- Participation fees:
200 Euro per month per volunteer payable upfront for the entire duration of placement. Meaning that 3 months placement €600, 6 months placement €1200 while 12 months placement €2400.
Partners are urged to discourage volunteers wishing to stay for a shorter period of time for this often demotivates hosting communities who wish to have a sustainable project impact.
What does the participation fee entail?
The €200 participation fee paid to KVDA will cater for the volunteer’s overall placement at the project including return Airport transfers, administrative costs, project/community support, monitoring/evaluation, certification and contingency.
KVDA has a memorandum of understanding with partner organizations at the local community that host volunteers and it disburses part of the fees to subsidize volunteers’ upkeep at the project and this is done in consultation with the host community. The volunteers are entitled to accommodation, meals, access to water for domestic use and will be empowered by the hosts to make good use of locally available resources to facilitate the placement.
It is important to note the key elements accompanying the project cost and KVDA’s role to ensure sustainable project planning and implementation at all stages.