Concept note
Title: Ambassadors of Diversity and non Discrimination @ new Methods in non-formal Education
Acronym: ADD@ME
Programme: Erasmus+ – KA2 strategic partnership in the youth field
Duration: 24 months (from November 2020)
Participating countries: Be, Es, Gr, It, PL and RO
Addressed priorities:
Horizontal priorities:
Social inclusion
Priorities addressed in the youth field:
Engaging, connecting and empowering young people
Background and Objectives:
The 3rd EU Youth Goal (2018) states that 1/3 of young people in Europe are at risk of social exclusion. People with disabilities are included in this category and are often victim of indirect discrimination, being excluded from social life or being considered not capable of doing something e.g. taking care or taking decisions for themselves. Fake news and media arise stereotypes, prejudices and misinformation about these persons.
The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, in its preamble recognizes that disability results from the interaction between persons with impairments and attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinders their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others, furthermore it says that persons with disabilities continue to face barriers in their participation as equal members of the society in all parts of the world.
Some general principles of the Un Convention are non-discrimination and Full and effective participation and inclusion of disabled people in society (art. 3); while art. 8 says that states parties shall undertake effective measures To promote awareness of the capabilities and contributions of persons with disabilities.
The Eu resolution on the EU youth strategy 2019-2027 add that “disadvantaged youth are usually less active citizens” and that EU can’t waste these talents and can’t afford disengagement among its youth: so they should contribute to positive change in society.
All this considered, the project consortium believes that youngsters with visual impairment (VI) can play an active role in the society contributing to Positive changes and acting as key players in the
process of their own social inclusion. Through the use of the ADD@ME model, they will foster social inclusion and non-discrimination in the wide EU community.
Specific Project objectives:
– Foster the social inclusion and the active participation of VI youngsters through the development of new and innovative youth work practices (the ADD@ME model) to be used by VI youngsters themselves
– Empower and enhance self-confidence, spirit of initiative and self-estime of young people with VI through the development of a taylor made Blended Training Programme and a set of adapted tools
– Combat prejudices and misinformation through the design of new and innovative non-formal learning methods to be used by VI youngsters in awareness-raising events for their local community
– Encourage young people with VI to undertake actions of active citizenship and commitment in the society, through the implementation of Awareness Raising events (the ADD@ME Awareness Raising workshops) in order to make their community aware of diversity and disability issues
– Strengthen transnational ccooperation among civil society organizations dealing with visual impairment.
As exclusion, lack of active participation and discrimination of VI people are problems faced in all EU member states, the TRANSNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF ADD@ME is crucial for the design of an EU approach aimed at getting this situation better.
Therefore this new model will provide a bottom-up response to be used in youth work to face the EU challenges mentioned above.
It will involve young people with VI from the beginning of the project and will create an EU model which, starting with the empowerment of VI youngsters, will change the mentality of people at EU level. Indeed, knowledge and awareness are the first steps to enable the social inclusion of people with disabilities in the society.
Target group
VI youngsters will be the ADD@ME DIRECT TARGET GROUP as they are the main users of the project products and results, and the main actors to promote their own social inclusion in the local community.
However, the whole EU community will benefit from the products which will be developed as people at local, NA and EU level will be able to participate into the awareness-raising events organized by VI youngsters both during the project lifetime and after the project’s end.
Expected outputs
IO1 – ADD@ME Blended Training programme: composed by a training handbook with adapted non-formal learning methods for a Face-to-Face training and 7 E-modules (in audio format), will be used to empower and increase self-confidence, self-estime and sense of initiative of VI youngsters.
Through the blended methodologies they will gain confidence in their capacities and they will be empowered to conduct awareness raising activities on diversity and disability in their local communities. All educational methods and training tools will be innovative and specifically designed for visually impaired (keeping into consideration the needs of the visual disability e.g. use of tactile drawings, Braille or large print materials, 3D materials). The training handbook will be built in accordance with accessibility and usability criteria, so that it can be used by visually impaired but also by all interested youth workers. Translation in partner languages will be provided for a wide transferability and sustainability at EU level.
IO2 – ADD@ME Mobile Toolkit: a WebApp which contains non-formal learning methods/activities VI youngsters can use to implement awareness raising workshops on disability (focus on VI) for their local community. This workshops will also be part of this IO and they will be called ADD@ME Awareness Raising Workshops. In these workshops VI youngsters have the possibility to make people aware of diversity and disability using the ADD@ME readymade model. Instructions on how to implement these workshops are contained in the ADD@ME Mobile Toolkit. Workshops may include people of all ages (from children to adults) and may be organized in several cultural or educational institutions (schools, youth centers or centers for elderly people, libraries, public places, etc). The WebApp will have accessibility and usability features, translated in all partner languages to ensure a wide transferability and sustainability at EU level.
IO3 – ADD@ME Online Trivial Game: an educational online game (similar to Trivial Pursuit) that can be used as a further tool by youngsters with VI to animate the ADD@ME Awareness Raising Workshops, aimed at increasing local and EU communities knowledge on disability and diversity (wedges and quizzes will be linked to disability). The game will be a WebApp with accessibility and usability features, translated in all partner languages to ensure transferability and sustainability at EU level.
Expected Impact
Impact will be first on the target group of visually impaired youngsters who will benefit from a Blended Programme which can empower and increase their self-confidence and self-estimein order to participate actively in the society. They will acquire competences and self-confidence to become active citizens. In this way they feel more included in the society and they feel the sense of belonging to their community.
Partner organizations will also benefit from the developed Blended Training Programme Mobile Toolkit and Online Trivial Game, because they can use them in the future to make other visually impaired youngsters active citizens, organizing Awareness Raising Events in the future using the ADD@ME model.
Other organizations for VI from all over EU can also use the developed tools to empower VI youngsters and to make them actively participating in the society for the promotion of their social inclusion.
Both the local communities and the EU community will also benefit indirectly from the project activitiesand from the sustainable results which will be developedbecause, thanks to these methods
and activities,they will understand better disability and diversity and they will be more aware about these issues.
Other activities
Joint-staff training event – C1
Through a joint-staff training event the IO1-Blended Training Programme will be tested at international level.12 youth workers from partner organizations (2 per organization) will be trained to use it with their VI youngsters. Back in their countries, they will organize local training sessions for their VI youngsters (10 per country, a total of 60). In this way the training will be tested at 2 levels: at first with youth workers during the C1 event and then with the VI youngsters at local level. The feedbacks received will be used to revise and finalize the output and then to translate it in all partner languages.
C1 is also useful because trained youth workers will be able to transfer what they learn during C1 to other youth workers in partner countries, ensuring a cascade and multiplying effect.
Blended Mobility for Young people with VI – C2
After being trained in their country, 5 out of 10 VI youngsters / partner country (for a total of 30 participants) will participate into a Blended Mobility for Young people in order to test and familiarize with IO2-ADD@ME Mobile Toolkit and IO3-ADD@ME Online Trivial Game. The physical part of the Blended Mobility for Young VI will also provide a good occasion to connect young people with VI from different countries. They will have the possibility to share experiences andcompare the reality of their countries. They will benefit from a personal and sociocultural development in an intercultural learning setting.
After the physical Blended Mobility they will come back to their countries and they will share what they have learnt in C2 with the other involved youngsters at local level. Then, they will organize ADD@ME Awareness Raising workshops (part of IO2). During these workshops they will continue and will be supported through the blended mobility thanks to virtual sessions (thanks to audioconferences).
Multiplier Events
In the last months of the project, we also foresee to organize: – a multiplayer event in each partner country – a final conference in Florence/It.
In these occasions the products developed through the project will be presented to relevant stakeholders and the young people who participated into the project activities will be directly involved in organizing such events. During each event an ADD@ME workshop will also be organized in order to show in a practical and interactive way what has been developed and how young people with VI can do something for their community.
We foresee the participation of at least 30 participants / multiplier event, amont them the 50% will be VI youth which will be the future users of the project products.
Contact
Project Coordinator: Unione Italiana Ciechi ed Ipovedenti Sezione Provinciale di Firenze, Florence- Italy
Contact Person: Lisa Bucciolini
Email : firenze@irifor.eu
tel. : +39055580319
| Project Partners
1.Unione Italiana Ciechi ed Ipovedenti Sezione Provinciale di Firenze, Project Coordinator, www.uicifirenze.it 2.Fundacion Docete Omnes, www.doceteomnes.com 3.Visually Impaired Education and work support international AISBL, www.viewsinternational.eu 4.Polski Zwiazek Niewidomych, www.pzn.org.pl 5.OFENSIVA TINERILOR ASOCIATIA, www.ofetin.ro 6.University of Thessaly, Greece, http://old.uth.gr/en/ |