Full economic and social participation of people with disabilities is essential if the EU’s Europe 2020 strategy is to succeed in creating smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Building a society that includes everyone also brings market opportunities and fosters innovation. However, policy and regulatory frameworks do not reflect the needs of people with disabilities adequately, neither does product and service developmentFurther more, this Strategy sets in motion a process to empower people with disabilities, so that they can participate fully in society on an equal basis with others This European Strategy is shaped by the framework of The Article 19 (Living independently and being included in the community) of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)In this context and for the reasons about mentioned, EU-Assistant Project aims to define the relevant key competences for the development of the personal assistant role for dependent persons in a European Qualifications Framework (EQF)Besides EU-Assistant project is designed to achieve other objectives:-To contribute to the development of a professional training pathway for personal assistants-To provide a curriculum and training materials according to the EQF-To promote the profession of personal assistants -To create awareness about the need of the profession of personal assistantsTo carry out these objectives a competencies definition and learning path, a basic course and a Personal (care) assistance Online Collaborative Learning Environment (OER) will be developedDirect target groups of the EU-Assistant project are- Persons who are interested in learning about the personal (care) assistant role- Persons who want to become a professional personal (care) assistant- Persons who are already working in the assistance to dependant persons- Dependent persons who could employ a trained professional- Unemployed people without qualificationIndirect target groups are- Educational centers interested in teaching project´s topic- Employment centers which intermediate with the labour market- Government Educational InstitutionsTo ensure the smooth development of the EU-Assistant project different key transversal actions will be implemented: A1- e-mail distribution list A2- Moodle platform for an effective management of the project.A3- A group in Google hangouts will also be created A4- Quality Management Plan A5- Dissemination Plan A6- IPRA Four financial reports (A7), (A8), (A9) and (A10) and four evaluation reports (A11), (A12), (A13) and (A14).A15- Web 2.0. campaign. A16- Publications in press.A17-Elaboration of a video presentation of the project Two dissemination reports (A18) and (A19)The consortium will meet in four International Meetings as follows: M1-Palma de Mallorca (ES), M2-Vilnius (LT), M3-Perugia (IT), M4-Bucharest (RO)With EU-Assistant project we want to contribute to the implementation of the personal (care) assistant professional role in those European Countries in which still does not exist.
The full economic and social participation of people with disabilities is essential if the EU's Europe 2020 strategy is to succeed in creating smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Building a society that includes everyone also brings market opportunities and encourages innovation. However, regulatory frameworks do not always adequately reflect the needs of people with disabilities, nor the development of products and services that respond to them. In addition, this Strategy sets in motion a process to empower people with disabilities, so that they can participate fully in society under equal conditions. This European Strategy is made up of the framework of Article 19 (Living independently and being included in the community) of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). In this context and for the reasons mentioned, the EU-Assistant project set out to define the key competences relevant to the development of the role of Personal Assistant for dependents, based on the European Qualifications Framework (EQF). The EU-Assistant project addressed and led to the achievement of other objectives, among which we highlight: - To contribute to the development of a professional training path for personal assistants. - To provide a training itinerary and training materials, under the European Qualifications Framework. - To promote the profession of personal assistants. - To raise awareness of the need for the profession of personal assistants. Some of the main results, materialized in the intellectual products created, include: 1. The development of a training itinerary that, taking as reference the different contexts and areas of application of the figure of the Personal Assistant in those countries members of the consortium in which it already exists, defines the professional competences of this figure, as well as a series of training modules that lead to the empowerment of these professionals. 2. A collaborative learning environment, available online on a Moodle platform. This environment makes available to students and teachers six courses for the training of personal assistants (one in each of the project languages: English, Spanish, Italian, Lithuanian, Turkish and Romanian). Each course has a modular structure (based on the designed itinerary), and allows a responsive display in such a way that the student can access it from any device (PC, tablet, smartphone). The contents are offered online, but they can also be downloaded in electronic format so they can be consulted offline. One of the most interesting features has been the design of a common space for the generation of collaborative learning. Based on the Padlet software, this space has been built for the realization of individual or group activities, the exchange of ideas and experiences, in a structured format. Additionally, Moodle also offers communication mechanisms for the management of teamwork, such as forums or chats. All the direct target groups of the EU-Assistant project (people interested in learning about the role of personal assistant, both those who have not yet exercised in the care and attention of dependents as well as those who already do and want to deepen this professional profile), as the indirect ones (educational centers interested in this profile, employment centers and other institutions), have participated directly in the development of the project through various means, mainly: validation sessions and testing of products, events and presentations, meetings and dissemination actions. The impact has been significant in all these groups, and already begun to materialize in concrete actions. Just to give some examples, in several of the consortium countries the products are already being used in the training of personal assistants; public and private entities are joining efforts to offer integral training programs in this field; and work is being done for the adaptation of the training itinerary to NEETs (mainly youth with low qualification), as a potential area for professional insertion.