In the EU, people with disabilities are the largest social minority: about 80 million Europeans (European Economic and Social Committee - EESC). There is no statistics on the number of disabled youngsters (between 13 and 30), however, it is estimated at 15 million. All partners work with youngsters with disabilities on a daily basis, and by sharing their experiences, they have noticed that there is one common need that stands out in every activity with the youngsters: the need to be able to study and work, in order to feel independent and useful, mainly expressing the need to be considered as a person that can fully contribute to the society, just as any other person. The overall objectives are to increase the involvement of disabled youngsters in community life, reduce the percentage of youngsters with disability being NEETs, and raise awareness on the added value for the whole society of integrating disabled people by showing role models. One way to enhance inclusion is through volunteering in organisations providing leisure activities to young people. This will be done by: (1) Creating a face-to-face training content, including coaching activities to destroy the existing psychological barriers concerning youngsters with disabilities being volunteer instructors, and providing the necessary knowledge and skills to become a volunteer; (2) Piloting the training with 20 youngsters with disabilities per country, including a work-based experience in a sports organisation; (3) Promoting the exploitation of the training by other trainers and coaches, to allow the training of 40 youngsters with disabilities per country before the end of the project. The methodology will be articulated around different phases, including Preparation; Monitoring; Implementation; Evaluation; Dissemination and Sustainability. The project will particularly result in: - The involvement of 60 youngsters (20 per country) in the project’s activities; - The involvement of 6 trainers from the partner organisations to use the project’s results; - 30 youngsters (50%) involved as volunteers at the end of the project; - 4 EU organisations (partner organisations) becoming experts in the inclusion of youngsters with disabilities; - New methodological approach to inclusion, including on one hand emotional well-being and empowerment, and on the other hand specific skills needed for volunteering in sports organisations, which will be implemented in organisations from the 3 partner countries. - 4 newsletters to inform stakeholders on the progress and results of the project; - 1 impact report comparing the situation of the involved youngsters before and after the project; - 1 report on the implementation, including a best practice portfolio for replication; - 12 (4 in each country) press articles or radio/TV interviews or reports. - 1 project website gathering all the information about the project, its results available for download, and its implementation, including contact details of each partner; - Raised awareness about inclusion of youngsters with disabilities. At EU level, this project will: - Increase the quality of education Europe by making available a highly innovative intellectual output to encourage the take-up of initiatives to improve the confidence of youngsters with disabilities; - Improve the provision of transversal skills, particularly social, civic competences.
In the EU, people with disabilities are the largest social minority: some 80 million Europeans (European Economic and Social Committee - EESC). There are no statistics on the number of disabled young people (between 13 and 30), however, it is estimated at 15 million. All partners work with young people with disabilities on a daily basis, and by sharing their experiences, they have realized that there is a common need that stands out in each activity with young people: the need to study and work in order to feel independent and useful. , expressing mainly the need to be considered as a person who can contribute fully to society, like any other person. The general objectives of the "All Volunteers" project were: - increase the participation of disabled youth in community life, - reduce the percentage of young people with disabilities who are NiNi (neither in employment nor in training or education) - Raise awareness about the added value for the whole society of integrating disabled people by showing the role they can play in sports organizations. One way to improve inclusion is through volunteering in organizations that offer leisure activities to young people. This has been done by: (1) The creation of face-to-face training content, including training activities to destroy existing psychological barriers in relation to youth with disabilities as volunteer instructors, and provide the knowledge and skills necessary to volunteer; (2) Piloting the training with 57 young people in total with disabilities by country, including work experience in a sports organization; (3) Promote the exploitation of training by other trainers and coaches, to allow the training of more young people with disabilities by country before the end of the project. The project resulted particularly in: - The participation of 57 young people in the project activities; - The participation of 6 trainers from the partner organizations to use the results of the project; - New methodological approach to inclusion, which includes, on the one hand, emotional well-being and empowerment, and on the other hand the specific skills necessary for volunteering in sports organizations, which will be implemented in organizations of the 3 partner countries. - 2 newsletters to inform interested parties about the progress and results of the project; - 3 impact reports (1 per country) comparing the situation of the young people involved before and after the project; - 3 reports on implementation (1 per country), which includes a portfolio of best practices for replication; - 20 press articles or interviews or radio / TV reports. - 1 project website that gathers all the information about the project, its available results for download and its implementation, including the contact details of each partner; - Raising awareness about the inclusion of young people with disabilities. At EU level, this project: - Provides training content to encourage the adoption of initiatives to improve the confidence of young people with disabilities; - Proposes training content to improve the provision of transversal skills, particularly social and civic skills.