The project targeted VIPs (Visually Impaired Persons) and aimed at promoting their integration in the labour market, especially in the bakery sector, through a triple approach: _INCREASE EMPLOYABILITY AND CREATE NEW PROFESSIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR VIPS, by providing VIPs with new skills to be employed in the labour market as bakery assistants, fighting discrimination and fostering inclusivity in bakeries. For VIPs, making bread is therapeutic (sensory and motor benefits, but also emotional and psychological ones), but it is also a job opportunity _CREATE THE FIGURE OF THE BAKERY MENTOR, capable of making the bakery sector more inclusive for VIP employees and able to absorb this new workforce in bakeries. The Bakery Mentor is indeed able to better understand the needs of VIPs employees and to adapt the bakery workplace accordingly _PROMOTE STRUCTURAL INCLUSIVITY IN BAKERIES. Although there are examples of inclusive bakeries, these are rather local and isolated realities. At the EU level there are no common and standardised guidelines for bakeries on how to effectively include VIPs in their working environment. The VIPs Vibes project wanted to create an ad-hoc pathway in the EU to make the bakery an inclusive workplace for VIPs
The partnership’s mission is based on the assumption that persons with disabilities deserve equal opportunities as other European citizens, yet they still face discrimination in their private and professional life that limits their independence and dignity (Strategy for the rights of persons with disabilities 2021-2030). Offering them new opportunities to work in inclusive environments enhances both their independence and quality of life. About 87 million people in the EU have some form of disability, of which the European Blind Union estimates that 30 million are blind and visually impaired. European Commission research states that only half of persons with disabilities have a job compared to 3 out of 4 of people without disabilities. 28.4% of people with disabilities are at risk of poverty or social exclusion, compared to 17.8% of people without disabilities. Only 29.4% of people with disabilities have a tertiary education qualification, compared to 43.8% of people without disabilities. On this basis, ASSOC and the project partners addressed the need to offer inclusive and innovative opportunities to promote lifelong learning and employment of persons with disabilities.