1. What do you do? What is your role in EVS world?
At the moment I work for the Czech national agency of Erasmus+ Youth in the pool of EVS trainers. I work on approxiomately 2 or 3 on-arrivals and their mid-terms each year. I have been working in EVS pool since 2007, and since then I also tried all other EVS positions: I was EVS coordinator, sending organisation, mentor, accreditor of future hosting organisations and for 1 year also evaluator of EVS projects :)
2. What did you study or what did you do to get this job?
I studied medicine - so something completely unrelated:)
But I took a gap year, year off during my studies in 2005 and I spent 10 months on an EVS project in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was a super important life experience for me, and also it got my involved in international youth work - since I did my EVS in an international NGO.
3. Which are in your opinion the best things that EVS can offer to the volunteers? And to the community in general?
I believe EVS makes a young person really independent and offers so many possibilities for development and growth. Also living in another country makes people much more flexible and open-minded, and for me it is the best way how to break down stereotypes. Often in a project there are volunteers from few different countries, so you not only learn about the culture of your hosting country, but also about cultures of your EVS friends.
I also think EVS offers a chance to "try" some field of work before people start to study that field - eg working with kids or working with seniors. Some people realize they completely love it, and some discover it would be a huge mistake because it is not a job for them.
For the community it brings energy, refreshment, fun, and some more colours and diversity.
4. Did you do EVS?
Yes, I did - and it was great! I spend 10 months in Copenhagen, Denmark, in an organisation called ISCA - http://www.isca-web.org/english/. We worked with the topic of sports in education, e.g. social inclusion through sports, or working with people with disabilities in sports etc. It was not always easy, but looking back it was really an experience that changed my life!
5. If you were thinking of EVS now which country would you go to?
Back in 2005 I was choosing a project and topic, not a country.
But now I would definitely go south, so Italy or Spain. In both countries I love the see, food, weather and warm and welcoming people. And also I would love to speak both Spanish and Italian!
