Center Janeza Levca Ljubljana is an institution that has been engaged in the education and upbringing of children and young people with intellectual disabilities since 1911. It is composed of five organizational units, of which two units - Dom and Osemnajsta – will participate in the project. The vision of our Center is to provide diverse and high-quality learning experiences within the process of holistic support and assistance for children and young people. The professional staff of both units place strong emphasis on diverse working methods that go beyond the classical and traditional educational program, and deliberately integrate principles of non-formal and experiential learning in their work with children and young people. Young people with intellectual disabilities are usually limited to understanding only their own concrete experiences and face challenges when it comes to comprehending differences, including cultural diversity. Both units also work with a large number of immigrant children, which, in addition to the existing intellectual and associated disabilities, often represents an additional challenge for integration into the majority cultural environment and contributes to an increased number of conflicts among individuals. Because of such personal and/or cultural circumstances, our young people often remain confined within hermetically closed social environments where they are at risk of developing patterns of risky behavior. Within the project, two groups will travel. The first group will include mainly young people with mild intellectual disabilities and other associated difficulties (most often ADHD, emotional and behavioral disorders). They will be accompanied by two caregivers from the Dom unit. The second group will consist of young people with moderate intellectual disabilities and associated conditions (typically autism spectrum disorders, motor impairments, speech and language difficulties, and other health issues such as epilepsy). They will be accompanied by three caregivers from the unit Osemnajsta. The DiscoverEU initiative provides exactly what is at the core of the educational approach of our Center, guided by the principle “From school/Home…into life”. Within the DiscoverEU initiative, our young people will, for the first time, become decision-makers and designers of their own travel experience. They are often placed in situations where they must simply follow the decisions of others – parents, teachers, more competent siblings, or peers. At the same time, they will strengthen essential life skills such as: using trains and reading timetables, budgeting, self-care, caring for one another, responding appropriately in new situations, using digital tools, communicating with strangers, and organizing daily routines. Young people with special needs often do not have the opportunity to travel with their peers. If their families can afford it, such experiences usually remain limited to trips organized by their primary caregivers. Moreover, due to their specific needs, they often find it difficult to take part in organized travel programs, as these are not adapted to their abilities and needs. Such trips usually prove too demanding for them, both in terms of content and duration. The DiscoverEU initiative, however, offers them the chance to gain an experience which, for their normative peers, is much more easily accessible and often taken for granted. Because of the varying abilities and ways of processing information, the working methods during the preparatory meetings, throughout the trip itself, and after the trip will be tailored to the individuals in both groups. Various materials and tools will be designed according to the principles of easy-to-read language (particularly for the needs of the second group). The travel experience itself will be carefully reflected upon – both during and after the journey. In both groups, reflection methods will also be adapted to the participants’ well-being and specific needs. The goals of our project for each group are to: - Encourage active participation of participants in creating their own travel experience. - Support the development of participants’ competencies – especially digital, civic, multilingual, personal, and social. - Strengthen the sense of personal competence and foster skills of cooperation, peer learning, and conflict resolution, in line with each individual’s abilities and with respect to their emotional and social development. - Promote intercultural respect, openness to cultural diversity, and the strengthening of European identity. - Provide opportunities for learning and practicing various useful digital tools for orientation, communication, and everyday practical needs, thereby raising the level of digital literacy. - Raise environmental awareness and encourage sustainable forms of behavior. - Support reflectio on newly acquired knowledge and facilitate its transfer into participants’ everyday living environments.