A. Project environment: profile of the organisation and local community

The volunteer activities will be carried out in the two centers of the association in the village of Jelen located at 60 km to the north of the City of Sofia, at 10 km to the town of Svoge - an old village with decreasing population. The first center of the association is an old house made of sun-dried bricks built in a renaissance style with a garden of 1200 sq. m - fruit trees and raspberry plants, vegetable and grain cultures, herbs, aromatic and decorative plants and a potato field covering a territory of 1400 sq. m. It is located in proximity to the center of the village, the shop wherefrom there is daily bus transport to the near town of Svoge. The second center of the association is located in the neighborhood "Cherni kamik" of the village of Jelen located at 4 km from the center of the village - at a one-hour walking distance or 20 min. by horse, and at one hour walking distance from the village of Tserovo. In the village of Tserovo there are several shops and a railway station along the line Sofia-Mezdra. The center is a small house made of sun-dried bricks and fields covering 15 000 sq. m - fruit tree gardens, raspberry plants, vegetable, bean, herbal, aromatic cultures, a field with grain cultures, horse-stables and pastures.
The living conditions in the houses are simple, the interior is folk-style, we pay special attention to the cleanliness and order of the house, the stables and the yard. The toilets are outside the house, the bathrooms are with solar heating of the water, suitable for the season from May to October. In the house in the center of the village /the first center of the association/ we have a heating system - local heating, hot-water boiler and an improvised shower cabin. At the moment we are in the process of construction of massive premises for in-house bathroom, toilet, reception and office of the association. We prepare and offer vegetarian food. We speak freely English, French and Russian.

B. Proposed activities for EVS volunteers

The activities we offer to the volunteers within the association provide a real opportunity for acquiring of knowledge and practical skills in the following fields:
- Life in a natural environment and care for its renewal and restoration;
- Animal breeding, plant growing;
- Preparation and marketing of environmentally clean products, traditional medicine
- Organization of meetings, conferences and events in the field of art and culture, establishing and development of local microeconomics.

The volunteers are organized in teams under the guidance of the responsible persons from "Trinoga" and do work on:
- Satisfying the living needs of the community - provision of wood for fire, cooking of food, cleaning and ordering of the living premises.
- Planting, nourishing, protection, overall care on growing of yearly and perennial plants, sustainable polycultures of useful plants.
- Care in growing of domestic animals- horses, goats, hens, dogs and cats.
- Identifying and proper gathering of wild growing, mountain herbs and their drying.
- Preparation of ecologically clean products following traditional technologies: fruit jams, bottled fruits, pickled vegetables and other preserved food, cosmetic and healing ointments, herbal mixtures for infusion, production of different objects.
- Building of "live fences" to combat erosion, identifying and work for restoration of spring areas and work on restoration of spring areas and water axes "reading" of natural fields and theoretical development of their opportunities for "environmentally friendly colonisation" by man, including water, wind and solar energy systems. These are tasks of the volunteers at the final stage of their stay.





Our practice is especially during the first months of their stay the volunteer to have an ample choice of working activities, as well as the offered work to be of a various nature, for example: Monday - horticulture, Tuesday - eco-construction, Wednesday - gathering herbs, then rest, Thursday - care for animals, Friday - market in the city etc. The volunteer may assume different roles in the association, as follows - at the initial stage of his/her stay he/she participates in different teams under the guidance of a responsible person from the association, gets acquainted with the different activities, and creates his /her own positions on different topics. There is a daily meeting in the association, at which each person shares his/her impressions, opinion and intentions. In the next stage of his/her stay the volunteer may, either continue to deal with various activities or express his will to undertake responsibility for a certain activity as per his/ her interests, abilities and the overall plan and schedule of the activity. He/ she may also organize a workshop or course in order to share with those who wish to participate his/her experience and skills in a given area.
In case of good development during his/her stay the volunteer may become a responsible person and to undertake the organization and responsibility for the activity chosen by him/her, or to be assigned the position of a chief organizer of the responsible persons and the work. Thus during his/her stay in our organization the volunteer will obtain valuable experience and knowledge as to the way of functioning of an environmentally friendly village.

In order to implement in practice its ideas, the association "Trinoga" organizes different seminars and fairs and provides a forum for free expression of the participants.
Two major events are planned for 2008:
The first event is the Artmospheric spring festival in May 2008, where the applicants may express themselves as artists, composers of digital music, picture visualization etc. in other selected fields.
The second event is the Great Trinoga Fair (from 10 to 20 July 2008) for live music, songs, dances, arts and handcrafts.

C. Volunteer profiles and recruitment process
Our association accepts volunteers of all ages. The persons below 18 shall be with a legal accompanying person. People for whom the simple life conditions are not an obstacle and who love to spend time in the open do feel well with us. We think that the inner sense of responsibility and diligence are essential for the creative development and expression of people who are with us, and also in life in general. For the moment the process of selection of volunteers for "Trinoga" is carried out through preliminary correspondence by e-mail. We receive an enquiry from the applicant, information about his/her stay, in reply we send him/her the plan, the activities envisaged for the stated period, we present to him/her the conditions of acceptance and our requirements. In the next stage of the correspondence the details on his/her future stay are specified. Transparency and equal access to the process are achieved by formulating and sending our letter simultaneously to all applicants.
We wish to interact with organizations from different countries, with objectives similar to ours and activities assisting the environmental and sustainable development.

D. Special needs (if applicable)

E. Risk prevention, safety and protection
We will provide the safe residence, living conditions and environment through detailed and careful instructions for the volunteers, both upon his/ her arrival and on daily basis for each specific task. During the period of adaptation (the first 2-3 weeks) the volunteer will be duly instructed about the natural and social environment, their characteristic features and opportunities. No high-risk work and tasks will be assigned to the volunteers. The volunteers will have regular contact and communication with the Mentor. On our part, we will keep informed about the needs and possible problems of the volunteers. As a chairman of the association and host I guarantee that the volunteers will not be exposed to risks and will have a healthy regime of work, nutrition and rest.

The motivation of the association "Trinoga" to participate in projects under the European Volunteer Service follows from and is directly linked to the targets laid down in its Articles of association.
Since the very establishing of the association "Trinoga" /12 June 2006/, in the association "Trinoga" we communicate, carry out an active exchange of experience and do real work towards achieving these objectives by accepting volunteers from different states.
Objectives and their fulfillment:
Popularizing the activity of association "Trinoga"
- The activities of the association for environmentally friendly life style is popularized by a number of media events - internet media, Sofianews, the local municipal newspaper in the town of Svoge, Radio "France International", the Bulgarian National Radio, Television 7 Days, New Television, Channel 1 of the Bulgarian National Television.
Events:
In September 2006 "Trinoga" hosted in the village of Jelen the International project "Language without words", financed under the "Youth" Programme. Twenty four young artists from Bulgaria, France, Austria and Germany took place in this event. In the course of 6 days trainings and experiments were carried out in the field of non-verbal communication and the influence of nature on human creativity. As a result the performance "Language without words" was created, which was presented in the center of the village of Jelen, as well as in the "Sphumato" theatre in the city of Sofia. In May 2007 "Trinoga" hosted in the village of Jelen of "Artmospheric spring festival". The event was visited by 700 people, the main topics being digital composing of music, maintaining clean environment and eco-construction.
In July 2007 Trinoga and the project M.I.R. (www.mirbg.info) co-organized and carried out in the village of Jelen a 9-day international seminar devoted to the environmentally friendly life style and bio-agriculture. About 70 people from Europe, Asia, Australia and America took part in this event.
The association carried out workshops in herbal science, bio-agriculture and sustainable development of the open-air festivals Artmospheric in the village of Govedartsi in August 2007 and Earthdance in the village of Kokalyane in September 2007.
Objectives of the association "Trinoga":
-Preservation and renewal of the natural inheritance and traditions is a principle and an objective underlying the activity of the association. This objective is carried out through the active exchange among people of different ages, regions, states and cultures who communicate with each other on environmental topics within the framework of the association and through the work performed on the territory of the village of Jelen. Work has been done on identifying plants of endemic, sustainable, useful cultures, combat against erosion, renewal of the spring areas and the water axes, management of forests as a renewable resource, eco-building, raising and breeding of the endangered breed "Balkan Karakachan horse" and holding of meetings for exchange between the local community and the "Trinoga" volunteers who bring different cultures.
-Guarantee of the authenticity and quality of the activity performed. The raw materials of "Trinoga" have been acquired following the methods of bio-agriculture. The production of ecologically clean products is performed following traditional methods and technologies. Thus employment is created for the people residing in the village, and the donations obtained by the association are completely reinvested in the activity and directed towards the microeconomics of the region.
-Developing handcrafts, music and culture is a part of our daily life and in the workshops and meetings organized within the framework of the association.
Previous experience of the members of the Managing Board of the association "Trinoga"
Philip Kirilov and Martin Tenev, the constitutors of association "Trinoga" and members of the Managing Board of the association "Trinoga" spent 2 years (from 2003 to 2005) as volunteers in "Association des Trois Salazes" on the island of French Reunion. The acquired experience in the work on field, the work with volunteers and the mutual activities with the local French Forestry, Municipality and the French army, as well as the model of the association itself have been reproduced and developed through the activity of "Trinoga" in Bulgaria. Philip Kirilov also worked for six months as a volunteer in Great Britain (in the period October 2005 - April 2006), where he was trained in breeding and training sport horses and in horticulture. In the period since the month of April 2006 about 400 people volunteers from Europe, Asia, Australia and America have resided and worked for different periods - from one week to six months - in our two centers in the village of Jelen.

Philip Kirilov and Martin Tenev, the constitutors of association "Trinoga" and members of the Managing Board of the association "Trinoga" spent 2 years (from 2003 to 2005) as volunteers in "Association des Trois Salazes" on the island of French Reunion. The acquired experience in the work on field, the work with volunteers and the mutual activities with the local French Forestry, Municipality and the French army, as well as the model of the association itself have been reproduced and developed through the activity of "Trinoga" in Bulgaria. Philip Kirilov also worked for six months as a volunteer in Great Britain (in the period October 2005 - April 2006), where he was trained in breeding and training sport horses and in horticulture. In the period since the month of April 2006 about 400 people volunteers from Europe, Asia, Australia and America have resided and worked for different periods - from one week to six months - in our two centers in the village of Jelen.