Partnership Building Activity "East&West Included"

Intro

Being aware of the situation in field of international cooperation and youth work with people with disabilities we would like to give a strong impetus towards the partnership building and future projects planning in this particular area.

We are strongly motivated to support organisations and youth workers in their efforts to create international projects with disabled youngsters, especially in context of cooperation between Programme Countries and Eastern Europe & Caucasus region.

To strengthen the impact of the event we translated the "No Barriers, No Borders" booklet of SALTO Inclusion into Polish and Russian languages. If you like to use it already in English, please visit this page!

Date and Venue

Five full working days - arrival 12th May until evening (Monday), departure 18th May from morning (Sunday) 2008.

Place: region fo Gdansk, Poland.

Objectives

• to establish new contacts among organisations working with people with disabilities,
• to build partnerships for future activities,
• to exchange experiences in the field of work with young people with disabilities,
• to explore the opportunities of the YiA Programme for the international work with young people with disabilities,
• to learn about the realities of work with young people with disabilities in all participant's countries

Activity elements

Partnership building activity with study visits to places where Polish organizations work with young people with disabilities.

Organisers

This Training Course was co-organised by Polish National Agency of the Youth in Action (YiA) Programme and SALTO Eastern Europe and Caucasus (EECA) Resource Centre with support of other National Agencies of YiA.

Participants

PBA/SV brought experienced youth workers representing active organisations. 22 participants in total (11 from Programme countries and 11 from EECA region).

Applicants' Criteria

• active youth worker;
• experienced in the international youth field, a strong asset is given to those experienced in the work with disabled youth;
• active participation and contribution during the full duration of the TC;
• ability to communicate in English;

(This event was especially accesible for youth workers with disabilities).

Working language

English

Team of the trainers

Team was composed of 3 trainers coming from different regions (1 from EECA, 1 from Poland and 1 from Programme countries), experienced in international cooperation within European Community Youth in Action Programme as well as work with youth with disabilities.

The selected trainers were:

• Timea Sofalvi, Hungary
• Anna Yeghoyan, Armenia
• Wojciech Szczepanik, Poland

One officer of Polish National Agency of the YiA Programme as well as officer of SALTO EECA Resource Centre joined the team.