Location: Suonenjoki, Finland

Project name: Vanhamäki Activity Centre

Hosting organization: Vanhamäki Activity Centre

Sending organization: “Common Sense” Youth Organization

Purpose of the project: 

VANHAMÄKI is an activity centre and an organic farm situated in Suonenjoki in central Finland. The centre produces organic berries and vegetables and the products are also sold in the little shop. Vanhamäki provides different kinds of activities for visitors and runs an organic farm, and a foster home. Vanhamäki also has a lunch restaurant, which is famous for its delicious food, using organic and local ingredients as much as possible. In addition, Vanhamäki provides various activities and work for people who have fallen out of the job market.

The tasks of the volunteers vary according to the season: from spring to the autumn time the volunteers’ work is focused mostly on organic farming, working outdoors planting and harvesting the crops. The volunteers assist in different kinds of tasks, both outdoors and indoors, such as making organic products, social media tasks, and maintenance work of the park area. Volunteers can also assist, according to their skills, in planning and carrying out events at Vanhamäki. The volunteers can also carry out tasks in the office and kitchen of Vanhamäki as well as help or assist in the making and arranging of the activities and work for people who have fallen out of the job market.

Number of volunteers: 1 volunteer between 18-30 years old (Only Azerbaijani citizenship)

Project period – 01.04.2022 to 31.10.2022 (7 months)

Deadline: 5th December 2021

How to apply?  

1. Please get registration number through European Youth Portal

2. Please download, fill in the Application Form and send it to the esc@maailmanvaihto.fi with the subject of “Vanhamäki Activity Centre” 

How to get a registration number?If you don’t have account on European Youth Portal, please watch our instruction videos from this Link

All costs are covered by European Solidarity Corps

No participation fee! 

Language: English

Accommodation, food and transport arrangements: 

The volunteers will be accommodated at the Vanhamäki centre in single rooms with shared kitchen and bathroom facilities. What comes to daily meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner), the volunteers partly eat at the restaurant of Vanhamäki and partly cook meals themselves out of ingredients provided by Vanhamäki. The volunteers live at Vanhamäki, so they don’t need to commute daily to work. Suonenjoki town centre is about 3km’s distance from Vanhamäki. The volunteers will have the possibility to use bicycles to move easily to the centre of the town.

Application conditions and requirements for volunteering: 

It is important that the volunteers enjoy both practical and social work tasks and are ready to work outdoors in different seasons. It is good to have an interest in organic farming and nature.

If you are an applicant with a physical or sensory disability, please contact Vanhamäki prior to applying for consultation if the volunteering environment and tasks would be suitable for you and if the support needed could be arranged. The volunteering tasks related to organic farming are mostly physical, and the buildings of Vanhamäki are not completely accessible, for example. You can reach Vanhamäki via the coordinating organization Maailmanvaihto: esc@maailmanvaihto.fi