A Journey to Independence Erasmus Project

Project Title

A Journey to Independence

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for youth

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Overcoming skills mismatches (basic/transversal); Access for disadvantaged; Inclusion – equity

Project Summary

The aim of the project “A Journey to Independence” is to support young people with visual impairment towards the development of soft skills in the field of: teamwork, entrepreneurship, foreign languages, communication, establishing and maintaining interpersonal relationships, and exchange of experience at international level. The project also provides for increasing the professional skills of people working with blind and visually impaired youth and developing effective methods of using non-formal education to support formal education of people with visual disabilities through intersectoral cooperation and strengthening the attitude of continuous improvement of professional qualifications and personal development. The project will support social integration and increase the chances of young people with vision impairment as potential workers.
The beneficiaries of the project will be both visually impaired and blind youth, as well as people working with young people with this type of disability. The project will be realised together with foreign partners: Light into Europe Charity in Romania and Conseil Departamental de Seine St Denis in Bobigny. The project participants will be 18 young people with visual impairment from three partner countries: France, Romania and Poland (3 groups of 6 people) aged 15-24, and due to the special needs of young people, 12 people working with blind and visually impaired youth (4 people from each country). Based on the experience in working with young people with visual impairment and internal regulations of the coordinating organization, such a number of accompanying people is necessary to ensure safety and comfort of socially low-functioning project participants.
Project activities spread over 27 months result from the special needs of the participants. In the first year of the project (09.2020 – 09.2021) the following activities are planned: 2 International Project Meetings in Romania and France, in which 2 representatives of each organization and 1 representative of youth will participate; peer contact between project participants using online tools (e.g. Padlet, Google Hangouts) to get to know each other and work together; 2 Short training programs for people working with youth, where the diverse experience of partners and the number of solutions used in partner countries will allow the exchange of experiences and abandoning existing schemes in work with disabled people. The exchange of good practices in relation to a specific group of recipients will help to establish and strengthen cooperation between organizations and prepare the meetings for young people. In the second year (09.2021-11.2022) there will be 3 youth mobilities in each partner country, during which the youth will participate in thematic workshops (Poland – everyday activities, Romania – art therapy, France – accessibility of public places for disabled people). The peer contact of people from different EU countries is also significant here. It will serve to increase linguistic, social and intercultural skills, which will facilitate the process of entering into adulthood. Disabled youth will develop self-confidence, independence and positive life attitude. An International Project Meeting in Poland is planned in 10/11.2022 to evaluate the project and to develop a strategy for the dissemination of project effects. The assumed project results will include: increase of practical competences in the field of soft skills, establishing international contacts with peers, creation of 1 show of the effects of artistic workshops for the local community (exhibition of participants’ works, presentation), 3 scripts of youth workshops, 2 training plans for youth workers, 3 films/presentations summarizing the workshops. The scripts will be prepared taking into consideration the needs of people with visual impairment and could be downloaded for free from the organization’s websites. In addition, 21 people participating in short training programs will improve their skills in working with people with disabilities and increase their interest and positive attitude towards introducing methods used in non-formal education to formal education. Participants of short training programs will disseminate the acquired knowledge by conducting workshops or lectures for people who did not participate in them. The skills of cooperating with international partners will increase among participating organizations. The activities of the project will be valuable to the organizations participating in them, as well as to other national organizations. Due to working together and sharing good practices new solutions will be developed which will build the European network of relationships and contribute to strengthening international social capital.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 140122 Eur

Project Coordinator

Kujawsko-Pomorski Specjalny Osrodek Szkolno-Wychowawczy nr 1 dla Dzieci i Mlodziezy Slabo Widzacej i Niewidomej im.Louisa Braille`a & Country: PL

Project Partners

• FUNDATIA LIGHT INTO EUROPE
• 4YOUTH