Programs
Life in Katimavik
Work projects
The Competency Approach
Community Development Activities
Group Life
Host Families
Katimavik is an intense life changing experience in which you will be immersed in volunteer service work, a stimulating learning process and an unforgettable experience.
Work projects
Volunteer service is at the centre of life in Katimavik. While in the program you will be providing valuable man hours to not-for-profit organizations that are making a real difference in communities across Canada.
Katimavik’s partners work in several activity sectors, such as social services, poverty reduction, sports and leisure, the environment as well as the arts and culture.
The type of volunteer work you will take part in will vary greatly but usually consists of manual, administrative or interpersonal work. Your involvement with our partners often helps organizations to carry out projects they would have been unable to do otherwise.
The Competency Approach
In addition to participating in work projects, Katimavik volunteers benefit from a stimulating learning process that focuses on developing competencies related to civic engagements, work experience, interpersonal relations, healthy lifestyle, cultural discovery, official languages and environmental stewardship.
The competency approach is a structured educational process that allows volunteers to acquire new competencies through experiential learning.
The 8 Katimavik competencies are:
- To interact with others in a variety of situations
- To adopt an open attitude towards the diversity of social and multi-cultural realities
- To communicate in both official languages
- To engage in diverse work experiences
- To apply habits that favor a healthy lifestyle
- To develop an integrated vision of environmental protection and sustainable development
- To engage as a citizen
- To prepare to integrate, as a citizen, into the job market, school or other life event.
Community Development Activities
Beyond their volunteer placements and learning activities, Katimavik volunteers take part in group activities that benefit the communities in which they are living. Development activities vary greatly but always meet the pressing needs of your host community.
Activities may include:
- fund raising initiatives for local organizations
- event management
- community beautification or restoration projects
Group Life
For the duration of the program you will live with 10 other young people from across Canada. Group life is one of the most difficult yet most rewarding aspects of the program. Living with diverse people from different social, ethnic and linguistic backgrounds is a rich source of learning for Katimavik volunteers. Groups are supervised by a live-in Project Leader who ensures the successful implementation of the learning program and group activities.
Katimavik groups reflect the socio-demographics of Canadian society and are usually made up of 50% young men and 50% young women as well as a certain percentage of visible minorities and aboriginal volunteers. Each group is composed of 70% Anglophones and 30% Francophone.
A typical group would be composed of the following members:
- 1 bilingual Project Leader from anywhere in the country
- 1 volunteer from British-Columbia or Yukon
- 2 volunteers from the Prairies, North West Territories or Nunavut
- 4 volunteers from Ontario
- 3 volunteers from Québec
- 1 volunteer from a maritime province (New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland)
Host Families
During each trimester, volunteers live for a short length of time with a host family in order to better understand the culture of the host communities. This is an amazing opportunity to practice your language skills and meet new people in your adopted home town.
