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VIP: Visually Impaired Participants

2022-3-EL02-KA152-YOU-0000936682022Mobility of young peopleongoing
Countries: EL|TR · Grant: €36,632
DisabilitiesInclusion of marginalised young peoplePhysical and mental health, well-being

Objectives

" VIP: Visually Impaired Participants " was an eight-month Youth Exchange of Erasmus+ Youth. Current application was a follow up of a successful Erasmus+ Sport implemented in Thessaloniki when partners decided to apply. The beneficiary organisation was Youthorama NGO, active in Erasmus+ from Municipality of Pilea - Hortiatis. The venue of the mobility was hosted in Istanbul, Turkey during UEFA Champions League final match in Istanbul. The partner was Turkish Blind Sports Federation. Our objective was to bring more youngsters with fewer opportunities in Erasmus+ field. An eight-day program was commonly agreed designed by the consortium, and it reached a peak at the open event. The main topic was about Inclusion and uniqueness followed by inclusive sports activities, open to everyone. A "making waves" event focused on Dissemination and Exploitation of Results Strategy while all workshops/ tools/ mobility were accessible to all. A diversed background of the Consortium was an enrichment for future steps, gender balance and a mixture of both blind/ visually impaired and sighted youngsters. Inclusive tools of non-formal education had been commonly decided, as well as a monthly plan prior to and after the main mobility in Istanbul, Turkey. The language in use was English and all participants were insured prior to the main mobility. Breaking stereotypes and bringing together youngsters with visual impairment from Turkey and young people from the Municipality of Pilea-Hortiatis was a challenge. What was evident, was how many things we have in common and how many difficulties the youngsters had been facing recently; such as the financial crisis, the long-term youth unemployment and youngsters who were struggling over the last years to find a safe place to live. Our vision was to overcome barriers between our two countries and achieved specific youth goals during the approved youth exchange for a greater impact in future. The objectives of the current mobility were: To provide time and space for our youngsters to discuss, actively listened to each other, to understand their different cultural background, and respected each other's diversity. Melting the intercultural iceberg of each participant and felt tolerant to their personal expression. Identified common youth challenges, youth crisis/ financial difficulties, heading for solidarity. Putting human rights first as a common ground for building bridges was our priority. The practice of sport was itself a human right and it was football in our case, that had a unique unifying power to attract and inspire. Organising together as one team, opened to public events for disseminating our youth exchange results. The decision has been taken by our youngsters of the two partners, Youthorama and Turkish Blind Sports Federation as an outcome of our meeting in late 2021 in Thessaloniki for an E+ Sport meeting. We found so many things in common and we invested time and efforts to bring together the maximum of young people with visual impairment from Turkey and young local people of Municipality Pilea Hortiatis of Thessaloniki. Our youngsters wanted to live in an open-minded society, opposing actively to Hate Speech. Empathy was also in the spotlight to understand daily difficulties of young people with visual impairment. Exchanging good practices from both countries was a need to make our youth societies more inclusive. Parallel to all, our youngsters focused on Inclusion through sports and football. A snowball effect of creating a unique innovative mini blind football for all youngsters, affected our youngsters to design and implement inclusive projects. Furthermore, the topic of the youth exchange was also in line with the majority of the Youth Goals. The Youth Goals had been included in the EU Youth Strategy. The 11 European Youth Goals summarised the issues that affect young people in Europe and the political priorities that were important to them. The Youth Goals showed in which areas change still has to happen so that young people in Europe can use their full potential. The goals that we reached and highlighted during the current YE and we scored were: #2 Equality of All Genders, #3 Inclusive Societies, #5 Mental Health & Wellbeing, #9 Space and Participation for All as described at https://youth-goals.eu/youthgoals . Moreover, our project was unique for bringing together organisations from Greece, working together for a long-term with Turkish Sports Federation for Blind and VI. We shared our vision and supported our collaboration plan for Peace resolution through NFE. This project was an example how NFE can break walls, especially in the current fragile situation and the refugee crisis. Our consortium conveyed TEAM spirit, Together Everyone Achieves More (enhancing active participation in the partnership and in the society). Finally, the topic of the Youth Exchange was in line with the NA.

Project partners (2)