Development of a Cook Book for Students with Mental Disabilities Erasmus Project

Project Title

Development of a Cook Book for Students with Mental Disabilities

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 vocational education and training

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Access for disadvantaged; Disabilities – special needs; Gender equality / equal opportunities

Project Summary

Context and Background: The proposed project was explicitly conceived within MARGARITA during 2013. The core idea was based on the fact that Students with Mental and Intellectual Disabilities (SwMID) demonstrate a great interest in cooking lessons. Also, trainers and educators have concluded on the familiarity that SwMID have with cooking lessons. The proposal approved for funding, under the Horizontal priority ”Transparency and recognition of skills and qualifications” and the VET priorities “Further strengthening key competences”, “Enhancing access to training and qualifications for all”. The 1st evaluation concluded the need to add more activities; (1) training seminars on agricultural activities focusing mainly on how raw materials for cooking are cultivated while introduce them with new curricula; (2) explore the nutrition and calorie value chain of the easy cooking products giving the healthy added value to the final outcome.
Objectives: The main objective was to develop a Cookbook with the participation SwMID that attend in the Vocational Training Centers (VTCs). The instructors and trainers together with professionals from the fields of catering and agriculture and the SwID along with other relevant stakeholders, developed cooking and cultivating instructions based on the principles of “task analysis” and “easy to read” forms. To reach the main objective, the following targets had been set; (1) development of a cookbook, using the ‘task analysis’ and “easy to read” methods that contains new recipes from different countries, emphasizing the similarities and differences in terms of dietary conditions, calorie efficient, traditional cuisine, agricultural products, kitchen and cooking equipment, complementarity, cultural identity and historical course; (2) implementation of cooking sessions, based on the existing familiarity of the students with the ‘step by step’ procedure, the ‘task analysis’ and “easy to read” methods based on cooking training seminars; (3) development and demonstration of these new tools especially designed for the training sessions targeting at SwMID and the “Train the trainer” seminars; (4) development of training sessions specifically designed for SwMID on the cultivation techniques of a small scale urban vegetable garden; (5) development and publication of 2 intellectual outputs, easy cooking book and the trainers manual package, both translated into English, Greek, Portuguese, Spanish and Catalan.
Participants’ profile: This project addressed various people with disabilities mostly intellectual. Each partner organization engaged its students with different forms of disability and specifically: (1)VTC MARGARITA engaged with people, aged 14-54, with light and moderate intellectual disabilities who live in the region of Attica; (2) Orchardville worked with adults with learning disabilities and Autism; (3) Fundació Ramon Noguera worked with adults with intellectual disabilities (any kind); (4) E.PSY.ME. worked with people aged 15-45 with learning disabilities and autism who live in the region of Piraeus; (5) MARGARITA, FRN, EPSYME and ARCIL engaged staff with expertise in Vocational Training of people with intellectual disabilities.
Activities implemented: The project was divided into 9 activities (A1-A9). A1, A2 activities supported the project throughout the 24 months duration through the implementation of several action as described in project management and implementation section. A3 “Selection of Recipes” was the core preparatory activity and the backbone of A5 and A6 which tested the outcome through the training seminars. The successful implementation of A5 and A6 concluded at Girona, Spain with the implementation of activity A4: “Train the Trainer”. Conclusion of Activities A4, A5, A6 triggered activity A7 which was very important mostly for the dissemination activity while A8 is the core activity of the project for drafting, evaluating and finalizing outputs O1 and O2 of the project. A9 includes the “Multiplier Events” in Greece, Spain, Portugal and Ireland.
Results: The 1st project achievement was the selection of top 10 recipes based on a multicriteria system that evaluated these recipes considering social, technical, healthy and easy-to-make criteria. The 2nd main achievement of the project was the proper application of the task-analysis and easy-to-real methods on the recipes using only the assistance by the SwMID. These recipes where applied during the 5-day training seminar in the premises of FM at Girona. The 3rd and most important achievement of the project was the successful implementation of the training seminars both in cooking and cultivation. These seminars, as the core activities of the entire project, were successfully demonstrated in the 5-day “Train the Trainer” activity. The 4th main achievement of the project was the implementation of outputs O1 and O2 together with the successful communication and dissemination of the results at the multiplier events.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 215906,49 Eur

Project Coordinator

ERGASTIRI EIDIKIS AGOGIS MARGARITA & Country: EL

Project Partners

• Orchardville Society Ltd
• ASTIKI ETAIREIA PSICHOKOINONIKON MELETON
• FUNDACIO PRIVADA MONTILIVI
• ORGANOSI GI
• HAROKOPIO UNIVERSITY
• ASSOCIACAO PARA A RECUPERACAO DE CIDADAOS INADAPTADOS DA LOUSA (A.R.C.I.L)