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PROTECTING THE NESTING HABITATS FOR LOGGERHEAD SEA TURTLES IN GREECE
Start date: Mar 15, 2015, End date: Dec 15, 2015 PROJECT  FINISHED 

This was an EVS project held in partnership between Rota Jovem Youth Association from Portugal and Archelon – an NGO from Greece. Rota Jovem was the sending organisation for Susana Silva, a volunteer that during 6 months collaborated with this environmental NGO, supporting their project at Zakynthos, which has the most important nesting beach for loggerhead sea turtles in the Mediterranean. This was a first EVS collaboration between these two organisations – Susana was highly motivated in a volunteering project in the environmental field in particular with sea animals, as she’s graduated as environmental engineer and she has a personal interest with topics related with the sea conservancy. After some research, she found ARCHELON, then Rota Jovem initiated the contacts with this organisation and together we have decided to collaborate. The main objectives of this project were: (1) providing the volunteer an opportunity to work directly for the conservation of a protected marine species, (2) promoting the importance of protecting the marine and coastal environment, (3) acquiring knowledge that could make young people adopts a friendlier attitude towards the environment. All of these objectives were accomplished. This project met the EVS objectives because it developed as well solidarity and promoted tolerance among young people, in particular in order to foster social cohesion in the European Union through common activities held by a volunteer from Portugal with other volunteers coming from different continents and European countries, namely from Greece. The EVS project is an educational program based on the principles of non-formal education. Therefore Susana acquired new experiences, new skills and gain independence. She got in touch with different cultures and work for a useful project for the local community of the hosting country. The volunteer learnt to live with people from different backgrounds, with different cultural traditions and acknowledged the diversity. She had the chance to discover Greece, with its social, economic, cultural realities beyond the stereotypes of traditional tourism. The sum of all these practices helped the volunteer to expand her point of view and to acquire new skills. In addition, this project allowed the promotion of team work collaboration not only between volunteers, but also among the Portuguese volunteer and the staff working at the host organisation. Susana was involved in all the foreseen activities of the project, namely, collection of scientific data, active management of sea turtle nests as well as environmental education and public awareness. Furthermore, we think that sending this volunteer within the EVS Program was a great opportunity to start collaboration between Rota Jovem and Archelon, which we hope to continue in future.

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