Connect for Inclusion - Erasmus+ Youth and European Solidarity Corps – What’s in it for young people with disabilities? Partnership Building Activity

Aims & objectives

This partnership-building activity (PBA) was an opportunity to find partners for international cooperation promoting disability inclusive projects within Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps (hereinafter - ESC).
This activity was dedicated for two types of organizations. Firstly, for the organizations opening up to participants with disabilities and working to take further concrete steps. And second, for the organizations that are self-representing, working for and with young persons with disabilities or working with diverse groups of youth and are interested in creating inclusive projects with partners across borders.
This event offered space for getting to know other professionals’ work and experiences, challenges and successes. It gave the chance for organizations to find partners for future international projects within the EU programmes Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps.

Target group & international/intercultural composition of the group & team

The team:
Stefanie Fritz (Germany)
Laura Alčiauskaitė (Lithuania)
Kalle Ristikartano (Finland)
Henk Persyn (Slovenia)

Participants:
In total 29 participants from 17 different countries participated in this partnership building activity. Self-representing and self-advocating organisations, as well as welfare organisations offering activities to youth with disabilities, were able to connect and create projects together.

Training methods used & main activities

The training was based on non-formal education methods, including:
- Name games
- Team-building
- Informal presentations
- Working in small groups
- "World cafe"
- Group discussions
- Personal reflection

Outcomes of the activity

The main targets of the event were: 1) to give hands-on information about the ESC and Erasmus+ programmes and 2) to create possibilities for organizations to find new networks and cooperating partners for future projects. The variety of organizations working in different social fields with different target groups created an open, trustful space to share information and experiences.
From the perspective of the facilitating team, these targets have been reached.

The main targets of the event were: 1) to give hands-on information about the ESC and Erasmus+ programmes and 2) to create possibilities for organizations to find new networks and cooperating partners for future projects. The variety of organizations working in different social fields with different target groups created an open, trustful space to share information and experiences.
These targets have been reached.

In total 8 projects were concretized in the field of youth exchange and youth workers mobility as well as small scale strategic partnerships (Erasmus + KA1 and KA2). Two of the projects aim at organizing inclusive ESC volunteering projects as a middle-term perspective. Participants committed themselves and agreed on concrete further steps for cooperating after the event. Furthermore some contacts were established for possible future cooperation in the ESC - program.

Your tasks and responsibilities within the team

I was one of the four trainers, involved in all steps of the trainings, including:
- Preparation for the activity
- Working in the international team of trainers
- Collaborating with NAs
- Picking the non-formal education methods and writing the session outlines
- Running the sessions during the activity
- Ensuring accessibility and inclusion measures during the activity
- Implementing the evaluation
- Writing the final report

I worked on this training for 3 days as a full time trainer.