2012 EVS Biketour International Coordinators needed – Apply Now!

Greetings bicycle lovers,

While we all get excited about the upcoming Ecotopia Biketour 2011 in Italy, the wheels are already in motion for next year’s cycling adventures. Ecotopia Biketour 2012 is looking for volunteers to help make this happen through the European Voluntary Service scheme.

Every summer for 20 years the Ecotopia Biketour has been promoting sustainable living throughout Europe. Pedalling through a different part of the continent every year, the Biketour is for anyone interested in do-it-yourself culture, social and ecological justice. Moving all our stuff by muscle power, the Biketour links with local environmental campaigns en route by both taking part in and organising actions and workshops. We create an international, mobile eco-community while visiting interesting places on our way: alternative, environmental, artistic projects and communities, natural areas and people struggling for ecological and social justice.

The Biketour 2012 will be focusing on the topic of degrowth and related issues. A suggested route is from Catalunya, through France and into Italy, though there is much room for creativity in helping to shape the direction of the tour.

The EVS position would ideally begin at the start of December 2011 and last for 12 months.

We are looking for another 1 or 2 international co-ordinators to do EVS, and each volunteer will need to have an EVS “sending” organisation in their home country.

The EVS scheme will fund travel expenses to the host country, accommodation, food, insurance and pocket money for the volunteer. However, the position is not officially ‘paid.’ The EVS scheme is open to those who are between 18 – 30 years old and resident of an EU country. If you are not in this category, there are many other ways to get involved so please contact us for more information.

The role of the EVS volunteers will involve:
– Helping to find a suitable EVS host organisation (We’re currently looking for organisations in Portugal,  Spain, Switzerland, Italy & France)
– Getting to know local environmental campaigns in the region
– Participating in on-arrival EVS training
– Help organise and take part in a winter meeting of Biketour organisers and participants
– Update the Biketour community as the organisation progresses
– Updating/maintaining the Biketour website, and online social network accounts
– Keep information and media produced on the biketour wiki so future organisers may use it
– Writing funding applications
– Assisting Biketour participants with securing visas
– Promoting the Biketour on a European level
– Identifying groups/organisers in different countries and providing them with support
– Maintaining contact with different national/local groups and organising meetings
– (Possibly) cycle part of the route of the tour to test suitability, get know the hills etc.
– Assisting in the search for (preferably free) sleeping space along the route for 20+ cyclists, (ie: community projects, farms, squats, campsites, schools, community-halls etc.)
-Co-ordinate the Biketour’s participation in actions and campaigns along the route, together with local activists (ie: Critical Mass, demonstrations, banners, leaflets, campaigns)
– Co-ordinate the translation of materials into local languages
– Respond to relevant enquiries from organisations of individuals
– Improving your skills of the host organisation’s language
– Helping with the host organisation’s other projects
– Co-ordinate the registration of participants
– Helping create and distributing route maps to biketour participants in summer 2012
– Take part in the entire biketour summer 2012
– follow up after the project (September – November 2012) by writing relevant funding reports, uploading media to the website, and handing over tasks to the next international co-ordinators.

Our EVS volunteers must like bicycles and cycling, be good communicators and be willing to take the lead in organising an international project. They must agree with the principles of the Biketour and, if they have not participated in the Ecotopia Biketour before, then it is an advantage to participate in the tour this summer for a couple of weeks.

Required skills:
– Speak and write well in English, as it is the common language of most Biketour participants
– Ability to communicate by email and telephone (mostly in English) and to organise parts of biketour from a distance as necessary
– Experience of online tools such as email-lists, maintaining websites, online forms, wikis, social network sites, blogging, etc
– Be able to work in a team and good at taking initiative
– Be able to make links with the local community and local activists
– Experience of building local campaigns and organising events or actions
– Experience in consensus decision making

Advantageous skills:
– Experience of bicycle-touring or participation in the Ecotopia Biketour
– Experience in producing leaflets, posters, press-releases and other written or visual materials
– Ability to speak and write languages of the route, and other European languages
– Ability to inspire other people to get active in organising the tour so there are more helping hands

Please do not hesitate to apply if you do not have all these skills but are willing and eager to learn. This is a great opportunity to gain skills and experience.

– For more info on Biketour, past tours and photos: http://www.thebiketour.net
– Join the email list: https://lists.eyfa.org/mailman/listinfo/biketour
– For more info on EVS: http://eyfa.org/projects/evs_projects
– For more information on Degrowth: http://www.degrowth.eu/

If you would like to apply for the position of International Co-ordinator for the 2012 Biketour, please email a letter of motivation with the subject “Biketour 2012 EVS” to info[at]ecotopiabiketour.net. Please include your relevant skills and experience, the name of your sending organisation and as many contact details as possible.

Applications should be sent as soon as possible and must be received by July 10th 2011.