ESC Individual Volunteering – “Volunteering for Hapiness”
Volunteers will plan and lead youth exchanges, creative workshops (e.g., theatre, photography, and podcasting), and sustainability initiatives like urban gardening and recycled art projects for children. They’ll also engage the community through CV-writing sessions, language exchange evenings, and social media content creation to promote Materahub’s mission and document its impact.
This program enhances skills in project management, multimedia communication, and teamwork while offering a deep cultural immersion in Matera’s vibrant heritage and dynamic community. Volunteers gain invaluable experience in an inclusive, multicultural setting, making a lasting impact while preparing for future opportunities.
Hello, I am Lydia! I am 25 years old and I originally come from the island of Zakynthos. I have studied Law in the university of Athens, but my passion for volunteering and living in multicultural environments led me to the world of projects and to my long-term volunteering. Offering to others without anything in return makes me full inside and is what gives meaning to everything I do.
It has been two years that I have been traveling around Europe by doing projects and so far, I have participated in about 15 Erasmus+ projects, but having a long-term volunteering project was always my goal.
My volunteering project was on project management of EU funded projects and lasted 10 months in the city of Matera in Italy.
This volunteering was an opportunity for me to gain experience on the world of projects. It is a field on which I want to work and combine it with my passion for fighting for human rights and equality but also environmental protection and sustainability. It was a very useful experience for my personal growth and my future steps, because I want to use all this knowledge and experience in order to have a big impact on the society and benefit as many people as possible.
About the volunteering project:
My volunteering project was carried out in the consortium called “Materahub” which works with European funded projects and has as a main goal the support of economic and social development through a network composed of strategic partnerships with many European and international projects’ coordinators. I was daily working on EU project management and the main tasks of my position were collaborating and meeting with partners, writing manuals and modules, organizing and coordinating meetings with young people involved in our projects, organizing events and workshops in schools and universities to promote EU projects.
During this experience, I had the opportunity to gain many new skills and learn how project management works. More precisely, I learned how to plan events for the community, improve my skills of team-working and collaboration, creative thinking, problem solving and collaborate with international partners, always with the aim of having an impact in the local reality.
Living in Matera:
Matera is a city of the southern Italy in the region of Basilicata. Small but full of little beautiful streets and the old part of the city makes you speechless. Except for the charm of the city, Matera is a city in which people are so warm and kind and the food is as good as it would be expected in an Italian city.
During these 10 months, apart from the activities of my project, I was also participating and helping in activities and events that were organized in the city of Matera. I also travelled a lot and explored the south of Italy and especially many beautiful small villages of Basilicata and experienced many traditional festivities with the most important one on the 2nd of July in Matera (an experience that everybody should have once in a lifetime). In all these moments, I always had the best company: the others volunteers doing their long-term volunteering in Matera and many Italian friends.
Overall, it was unique experience, that helped me grow, learn, connect with people, talk Italian and the most important: become part of the Italian culture and feel like a member of Italian families.
I feel grateful for having this unique opportunity in Matera. Many thanks to EKO Greece, Basilicata Link and Materahub for supporting me on realizing this beautiful project!