ASSOCIATION DE COOPERATION AL DESAROLLO ABARKA

ABARKA ONGD was created to serve the community by seeking solutions to problems and designing actions to prevent problems through formal and non-formal education activities. ABARKA brings together in its team trainers, facilitators, young people, social workers, youth policy makers, experts, volunteers and donors in different settings at national and international level. ABARKA is registered under Spanish law with charity number: AS/B/19631/2015 and has Tax Identification Number: G95836847 ABARKA Mission Statement “Improving the lives of people without borders and in a meaningful way, with sensitivity to the international and multicultural environment with respect to local realities”. The aims and purposes of this Association are: • Development Cooperation: develop actions and seek funding to improve education, health, sanitation, food, entrepreneurship and comprehensive training in Africa; with special attention to women and children. • Humanitarian Action: encourage citizen participation, cultural exchange and promote North-North and North-South volunteering. • Integration and Sustainability: Advise local entities on development cooperation and international relations, as well as promote the social and labor integration of immigrants and groups in a situation of social exclusion in Euskadi. Our beneficiaries, members and supporters are children, adolescents, young people, youth workers, social workers, social volunteers, students, teachers and social activists, companies, communities in developing countries. We also focus on people with fewer opportunities: cultural, social and geographical barriers. Our orientation age range varies from 4 years to 60 years. We decided to apply for the seal of quality because since the creation of ABARKA we have always worked with volunteers but never with the European organization. For this reason, we want to get involved in volunteering and European Solidarity Corps projects to broaden our perspectives and help foster these exchanges that enrich young people by giving them the opportunity to become true agents of change. In addition to all this and more than a certificate, this accreditation will allow us to evaluate our own internal standards. It will allow us to set up a useful mechanism to promote the reception, management, support and impact of each of the activities that we are going to carry out in our communities with the volunteers. Our association enters its seventh year of existence, this seal of quality will allow us to mutate/adapt in a constantly changing global environment in order to create more social values in our town and beyond its borders. Why are you applying for Quality Label? Please describe the motivation of your organisation to participate in the European Solidarity Corps and how you will contribute to the programme’s objectives of promoting solidarity and addressing societal challenges. In 2017, we began our path with the European Union within the Erasmus Plus program by chance and since then we have not stopped learning by doing, discovering new techniques and methodologies and trying new experiences and good practices. We have also been able to expand and diversify our network of contacts and collaborations throughout the European Union and neighboring countries. The most important thing is that we have managed to get closer to the populations through the exchange of experiences, training and the exchange of ideas, from such diverse realities but multiple. This trip has exposed us directly to the problems and needs of our environment, the multiple messages we received from our former participants with positive feedback on our projects, allow us to understand that continuity must be assured, but at the same time we must innovate in the face of change. constant problems of society. This accreditation is an opportunity for us in several aspects: 1) It will be an acknowledgment of the processes we have used in the past and a confirmation of the processes we plan to