Long-term volunteering opportunity in the western part of Austria
Project details
- Number of volunteers: 3 to 4
- Duration: September to August (changes possible)
- Topics: Agriculture, Inclusion – Equity, Access for Disadvantaged People
- Contact: karla.zweier@aha.or.at
- Hosting Organisation: Sunnahof Lebenshilfe Vorarlberg GmbH, Göfis, Austria
- Supporting/Coordination organisation: aha – Jugendinformationszentrum Vorarlberg Dornbirn, Austria
Open opportunities
Open opportunities (vacancies) and information about the application can be found on the European Youth Portal: All opportunities | European Youth Portal
Project description
Sunnahof is a limited liability company and an affiliated company of the association “Lebenshilfe Vorarlberg” (founded in 1967). Sunnahof is situated in Göfis, near Feldkirch, Austria.
Our general principle is “people need people”, no matter if you have a disability or not. Our work focuses on the uniqueness of each human being and the belief that society depends on each individual person, and each individual person depends on society.
Sunnahof is an organisation for people with light intellectual disabilities and behaviour problems from the age of 16 until retirement. Our core objective is to prepare this target group for the regular employment market. Therefore, Sunnahof provides four biodynamic working areas with naturalistic working conditions.
Those four working areas are:
- Agriculture
- Plant nursery
- Carpentry
- Gastronomy
All together we engage over 60 people with light intellectual disabilities and behaviour problems. Furthermore, Sunnahof offers a housing service for around 20 people with disabilities, which includes different possibilities of assistance.
Our staff is educationally and subject-specifically trained, a basic requirement for our concept. It enables us on the one hand to handle a farm with 60 hectare of arable land and a lot of animals, to produce a variety of wooden products exclusively per order, to receive about 5 000 visitors per year in our Café and shop and to grow and sell 500 different species of plants.
On the other hand, it qualifies us to accompany people with disabilities on their way to the regular employment market.
Tasks of the volunteer
The volunteer will work five days a week, 34 hours a week including German course. S*he will have two days holiday per month.
In terms of learning opportunities, the volunteer will have a varied role and therefore gain invaluable experience and skills for working with people with light intellectual disabilities and behaviour problems. On that course, they will learn a lot about their way of life as well as about disability issues and issues facing the local community.
They will also learn how to work with people with disabilities and how to increase their skills and promote their independence. Furthermore, they will gain access to the work as a farmer, carpenter, gardener and in the café/shop.
The role of the volunteer will be to work with our employees and people with intellectual disabilities and behaviour problems.
There are many different things to learn as a volunteer at Sunnahof. Every working area has its learning possibilities and challenges.
Apart from the working area, the volunteer will be involved in attending people with intellectual disabilities and behaviour problems. That’s the core area of the project.
Agriculture
The work is characterized by mainly outdoor jobs and substantial work. Examples are mucking out the barn, interspersing hay, feeding and caring for the animals, maintaining work, preparing goods for the farm shop.
Plant nursery
The work in our plant nursery is branded with substantial work and outdoor tasks. Examples of tasks are planting, repotting, weeding, harvesting etc.
Carpentry
The carpentry requires accurate work and craftsmanship. Engineering wood boxes, drilling, sanding and mounting are the main tasks in our daily affairs.
Gastronomy and farm shop
Customer contact and friendliness are key qualifications for this working area. Tasks can include preparing meals, baking cookies, washing the dishes, decorating, tidying, accepting and dealing with deliveries and so on.
Important
Each volunteer will work in one area during the year. We also expect that our volunteers do a small project at Sunnahof. The aim is to get to know each other better and to intensify the contact with people with disabilities a little. This can be a small project or activity like for example: creating a special cooking day with meals from your country or playing games with the team, for example a hide and seek in the surrounding area, to come close to nature with all the senses etc.
One weekend a month, all volunteers will have the duty to take care of the animals at the agriculture area. For this task, the volunteers can take their two free consecutive days off during the week.
Volunteer profile
We are looking for open-minded people who want to collect a lot of experiences in the daily work with people with intellectual disabilities and behaviour problems. We expect that the volunteer is highly motivated. Moreover, the volunteer should have a stabilized personality so that they are able to encourage and accompany people with disabilities to realise their potential and abilities.
Practical arrangements
The volunteer will live in a house next to the host organisation with the other volunteers. S*He will have a room on her*his own and share a bathroom and kitchen with others. The infrastructure with trains and buses is easy and quick and s*he will also have a bicycle at his*her disposal. The volunteer will receive a ticket for free use of any public transport in the whole region of Vorarlberg during the complete time.
Support during the voluntary project
The volunteer will have regular meetings with her*his tutor in our organisation to talk about the development of the project, task assignments, general wellbeing, problems, wishes etc.
The Supporting/Coordinating Organisation will hold a monthly evaluation meeting with all volunteers in Vorarlberg. At the end of the project, we will together with the volunteer evaluate the project, what s*he has learned and which competences s*he has gained and as a result fill out the Youthpass. Furthermore, there will be a final personal evaluation meeting with the Supporting/Coordinating Organisation.
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updatetd 09/2025
