Grenzenlos - Interkultureller Austausch
Latschkagasse 1/4, 1090 Castelligasse 21/6, 1050 Wien, Austria
A practice of processes and methods
With the beginning of the EU volunteering mobility programmes the city of Vienna decided to support the implementation of the programme in the city as well as the promotion to young people in the city. The focus and priority was to enable young people with fewer opportunities and disabilities to join EU mobility activities and to support local institutions in benefiting from the programme. Therefore the Melange Programme was founded. The MELANGE program is run by the organization Grenzenlos in close cooperation with WIENXTRA for the city of Vienna. It provides special support to volunteers and host organizations that participate in European Solidarity Corps volunteering activities in Vienna.
Together with WIENXTRA Grenzenlos is running several info sessions for young people in Vienna. We promote the programme and its opportunities to schools, youth centers and other multipliers working with and for young people, especially with fewer opportunities and disabilities.
The expertise we have created through the different volunteers hosted in the Grenzenlos office and sent to our partner organisations helps us to further promote the programme and its values.
The Melange programme enables young people from Vienna to go abroad, out of which many stay active in the field, create new initiatives and projects. The expertise of hosting volunteers with disabilities led to a increase in applications and associations, who were ready to host volunteers with disabilities in their organisation.
With this cooperation we have started to promote the programme to young people in the city and to diverse institutions, who were interested in the support through international volunteers. The focus and promotion of inclusion in the programme and the hosting of volunteers with disabilities in the office of Grenzenlos was the pilot to promote inclusive volunteering. Through various networking activities locally and internationally we could build a good network of organisations working with and for or who are open to host volunteers with disabilities or fewer opportunities.
Organisation and practice