"The aim of this project is to improve the inclusion of vision impaired people and their quality of life. Even 14 years after the ratification of WHO's ""International Classification of Functioning, Disability and health"" (ICF), vision impaired people make the experience, that the assessment of their performance is still reduced to their impairment. Concerns about their physical autonomy and mobility dominates the valuation of qualities and skills, which they achieved in education, studies or vocational training.The strategy of the project is to improve the image of of the target group concerning autonomy and mobility, by introducing an innovative training concept for sports. This strategy was successfully realised and evaluated during a national funded project in Germany. In the national study, the implementation of this theoretical model along with the implementation into sport-live proved to be successful and applicable. In the planned transnational setting, adaptations will be done to address the special needs of the VIP and the trainers/instructors in the participating countriesThe idea behind this strategy is to motivate the visually impaired students to be physical active. Besides the health aspect, the vision impaired people enhance their social contacts and their image to be mobile and independent. A potential employer who is reading in a CV, that a visually impaired job applicant is active in swimming, climbing, archery or long distance running, is not in doubt anymore, if this person may come to work every day or is able to join the washing rooms for his own. In contrary this person becomes interesting.The training concept, which should be transferred to the partner organisations, was developed and successfully accomplished during a four year lasting project in Germany. The training concept can be realized in an every-day environment with a minimum of administrative or infrastructural effort. The concept can be transferred to the requirements of several organisations, sport clubs, interest groups and similar bodies.In this project the training concept will be adapted to the requirements and preferences to the project partners and transferred to a curriculum.An initial train-the-trainer course will be carried out in English for the trainers and teachers of the project partners. During the next step, the available curricula an teaching materials will be translated to the languages of the partner countries (BG, D, EN, IT, RO). The partner organisations from Bulgaria, Italy and Romania will then carry out a course for their trainees and students, according to the developed curriculum.The participating trainers are supposed to act also as multipliers for their colleagues and external trainer/teachers. Those courses will be executed with the translated teaching materials. The efficiency and the success of the project will be evaluated during the whole project period. The evaluation report should provide sufficient information to interested organisations and stakeholders about the efficiency and acceptance of the course.All project results, like the curriculum, teaching materials and the comprehensive evaluation, will be published in all partner languages on a CD-ROM. All files are also available for download from the project homepage. The products are licensed under Creative Commons Licence and can be used and adapted by interested organisations and individuals."

In order to improve the situation for blind and severely visually impaired persons, the number of O&M trainers needs to be raised drastically to shorten waiting times and provide the users with the required amount of training to fully be self-sufficient in their mobility. However this can only be a second step, as first there needs to be a training option for the orientation and mobility trainers (OMT) themselves. Currently the only available courses are hosted in single institutes that provide only a small amount of education slots. These trainings are also very expensive either for the trainers themselves or the organizations that plan to employ them in the future. Also the coordination between the different educational institutes in different European countries is quite weak which leads to OMT being educated in one country often not being able to transfer to another country as the techniques are used differently and the education is often not seen as comparable.Then there is the matter of the digital readiness in this specific situation. the projects want to analyse the different way to support the needs for frontal lessons during the OM path.The goal of this project is to set up a common training curriculum for all European countries that can be implemented by tertiary educational facilities (Universities and Universities of applied sciences) and that will encompass all skills and techniques, also ICT skils, required to provide OMT to blind and severely visually impaired persons. Over the duration of the project we will develop training materials, educational guidelines and courses that in their sum constitute a fully educational program. These materials will be based on existing training materials for OMT and will be adapted to gather for the needs of different countries and thus allow graduates to offer their services anywhere in Europe.Producing a curriculum is the first step towards a successful implementation of a train-the-trainer program in a defined curriculum. , we will also include the educational facilities that are supposed to host the newly developed program as well as public authorities who are later responsible for accepting the qualification of the OMT and subsequently are paying for their services. In order to involve these stakeholder groups we will conduct workshops and expert meetings in different countries represented in the consortium.Eventually the developed course materials will be provided as open educational ressources (OERs) that should allow different educational facilities to take up the provided content and develop their own graduate courses upon them and also to enable representatives of other persons with disabilities to add their needs and training requirements to these materials so that the range of services for the graduates can continuously be increased.

"This project main goal is to influence and conduct the modernization of the education and training system used in organizations working in the field of visual impairment directly focusing on their professional bodies, bridging a deficiency of available specific training in this area in many of the participating countries, while, at the same time, promoting the exchange of experience and know-how between different types of organizations involved in education, training and youth in common subjects, transversal to all types of interventions with blind and low vision people. The project aims to widen the knowledge of these professionals by using digital technologies in rehabilitation services, educational training programs and vocational education and training (VET) of blind and visually impaired people. This goal is to be achieved through the organization of every aspect implied in the development of two online training courses, about “Coaching Orientation and Mobility” and ""Developing Visually Impaired People Soft Skills"", from the use of the LMS, curricula, content, certification, methods of administration and training support, etc - creating a Virtual Academy. The participant organizations all work in rehabilitation, education and vocational training of visually impaired people of all ages, except the partner providing the Learning Management System. The aim of the partnership is to create a standard resource on the various rehabilitation services for people with vision impairment in Europe and to propose a model of education, training and rehabilitation services for visually impaired people in all EU countries. During the project life, the next activities will be performed:1. Observing existed curricula both on national and EU level; Appointing working groups for developing Raw curricula; Evaluating and improving raw curricula; Conforming to ECVET terminology criteria. 2. Developing two Curricula based on raw curricula.3. Evaluating the Curricula.4. Selection and consolidation of available course modules from partners.5. Methodology guidance for Web-Based Training will be developed and presented focusing also on the needs of visually impaired trainers.6. Setup of the E-Learning courses using Web-Based Training; Develop course modules in EN.7. Executing of pilot course; Evaluating pilot course and introduce improvements to the developed courses accordingly.8. Online publishing course materials in English.9. Translation of the course material into the languages of the partner countries.10. Web-page, leaflet, poster and DVD with all intellectual outputs will be developed.11. 7 international meetings will be held.12. Multiplier events will be held: an International Conference and 7 internal national workshops in partner countries, for professionals and organizations working in this area, and a raising awareness event (""Dinner in the Dark""), for media and other fields professionals, outside of visual impairment area.13. The project envisages a lot of dissemination activities, e.g. press-releases, broadcasts, social media presence (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter).14. Internal evaluation of meetings, events, training materials, the pilot course will be constantly held. The new curricula on the e-learning platform and training courses are expected to have a strong impact both in the short and in the long run: participants will be able to try this new learning tool, all of them being professionals working in rehabilitation and vocational training centres for Visual Impaired People. In the long run, since seven of the partners are members of ENVITER network where 27 service providers for the focus group from 17 countries of the EU are represented, the proposed project will enable organizations to maximize the impact of lifelong learning developments and the use of e-learning methods to provide for the need for special training for their staff. All results are to be shared through a project website and through EUNESIS (EUropean NEtworking for Sensory Impairment Solutions) Knowledge Base. Better Training for professionals allows us to better support people with disabilities: children, adults or elderly people, in taking into account the specificities of the visual impairment and also the impact of the visual impairment on the person depending on his/her age."

The largest cause of sensory impairments is the ageing process with over 60. Rising life expectancy and increasing numbers of older people in the population in Europe means a growing number of individuals are affected by visual and hearing impairments. Thus, raising general awareness of problems and potential solutions is essential to maximising individual quality of life and minimising social isolation. A key challenge related to the quality of life of older people with sensorial impairments is the adequate training of the professionals working in care services addressed for this specific target group. Through surveys, events, workshops and daily work ENVITER and HIPEN (European networks representing organisations of professionals and experts in sensory impairments from 21 EU countries) collected information about the concrete learning needs of the professionals working with ageing people with sensory impairments. Based on this knowledge, 7 entities from these EU networks launched the SENSNET project with the aim of creating a European Academy that designed, developed, collected, tested and valorised innovative approaches and contents tailored to the specific needs of professionals that work with ageing people with sensory impairments. The main activities within the SENSNET project were as follows:- Design of the methodological guide for the learning programme- Development of the training materials for professionals working with ageing people with hearing and/or visual impairments in the areas such as, lighting and ergonomics and accessibility in society and in the daily life (access to culture and access to information and communication media)- Creation of an online learning platform for professionals working with ageing people with hearing and visual impairments- Development of training courses for professionals- Organisation of two multiplier events in Germany and FranceThe most important results achieved within the SENSNET project are: 1) Creation of the European Academy that provides training for professionals working with ageing people with visual and/or hearing impairments (SENSNET-EASI platform), 2) Creation of a European learning community of professionals working with ageing people with visual and/or hearing impairments, 3) Increased the knowledge base of the partners to have a more accurate awareness of professionals’ learning needs and priorities, 4) Improved skills of professionals involved in two rounds of the training course, 5) Creation of a comprehensive training strategy for professionals working with ageing people with hearing and visual impairments6) Increased awareness on the importance of the training of the professionals working with ageing people with visual and/or hearing impairments at national (Spain, France, The Netherlands, Italy, Bulgaria, Greece and United Kingdom) and European levels.The main target group of the project are workers at day care centres for older people, geriatric social workers, care workers for seniors, therapists for seniors, GPs, nurses, home-visiting care workers and other professionals that provide services to support ageing people with sensory impairments. Through the SENSNET activities these target groups have improved their occupational qualification and professional skills in the area of sensory impairments, especially related to hearing and visual problems. By participating in the SENSNET courses all of them became part of a European learning community of professionals working with ageing people with visual and/or hearing impairments and will be informed on the further training to be developed by ENVITER (European Network for Vision Impairment Training Education & Research) and HIPEN (European Network for Professionals working with People with Hearing Impairments). As long-term benefit can be mentioned, among others, the creation of the European Academy that will continue providing training for professionals working with ageing people with visual and/or hearing impairments beyond the project lifetime. To this end, the organisations belonging to the ENVITER and HIPEN networks will encourage their members to participate in the SENSNET courses that are available at the online platform sustained by the Dutch partner – Visio. Also it has to be emphasised that ENVITER has expressed the importance of and their interest in making sure that the efforts in the SENSNET Project will be taken further and will be made sustainable with support of the network.Finally, it is relevant to mention that the final beneficiaries of the SENSNET project are ageing people over 60 with visual and/or hearing impairments. Due to the SENSNET project, ageing people with sensory impairments will be able to use better qualify services provided by professionals who have carried out the tailored trainings.

"The ""Visually Impaired youth with Vested Autonomy – Social inclusion via social entrepreneurship"" /V.I.V.A./ was a project targeting young people with visual impairments” and in particular to facilitate their social inclusion and empowerment through the development of their leadership, entrepreneurial, and intercultural skills. The consortium is led by Ofensiva Tinerilor which has been working for and with v.i. children and young people since 2014. Part of the consortium is 1 social enterprise organization The International Council for Cultural Centers (I3C), BG, a National rehabilitation center for the blind (BG), two unions of the blind – in Iceland and Florence, a youth organization with excellent experience in working with v.i. youths – Ofensiva (RO), as well as one universities EL with experience in entrepreneurship and inter-cultural skills. The bouquet of partner organizations processes specific knowledge and expertise in the field of social inclusion, peer learning, theatre training, youth empowerment, entrepreneurship, leadership, and inter-cultural communication skills, applying different methods to combat unemployment and social exclusion of the visually impaired (v.i.) young people. The key objective of the project was to encourage v.i. young people’s active participation in society by designing, testing, and implementing a tailor-made training program for developing their social entrepreneurship, leadership, and inter-cultural communication skills. Thus, project partners created a sophisticated product to address the two main target groups’ needs (v.i. young people to become social entrepreneurs and youth workers to be provided with an innovative tool for supporting them). The project had specific interrelated objectives to be achieved: - to create an innovative social entrepreneurship training program for v.i. youths (Intellectual output) for development of their leadership, social entrepreneurship, and inter-cultural skills; - conduct one joint staff training event (C1) in order to train youth workers (a minimum of 2 representatives of each involved institution visiting Bulgaria for a shared training activity) in using the training program – to test a pilot version of the training program with a local group of v.i. young people in Bulgaria; - conduct one blended training event for groups of v.i. young people (C2) from the partner countries (a minimum of 5 v.i. participants from each country visiting Romania for 5 effective days and continuing the training with additional virtual mobility – six synchronous online sessions). This particular objective was adapted to the restrictions imposed by the COVID 19 pandemic and the C2 training took place as blended mobility. The participants in C2 becoming the V.I.V.A. pilot group of v.i. young entrepreneurs who have been trained and have tested their skills in a multicultural environment; - organize substantial multiplier events in BG, TK, IS, EL, RO, BE, and IT used for dissemination, multiplication and validation of the training programme, they all took place at the end of the project. The central tangible output of the project is the training programme on social entrepreneurship for v.i. youth including practical activities related to three main pillars: - Leadership skills – important for any young person, willing to undertake an entrepreneurial path. Leadership skills are important if a person is about to manage and empower others in connection with shared social and professional endeavors. Among other things they cover communicating, motivating, delegating, being positive, being trustworthy, being creative, providing adequate feedback, being responsible, being committed, being flexible); - Social entrepreneurship – a general set of rules, related to the development and sustaining of a social enterprise, including the practical adoption and use of the “bread in the dark” entrepreneurial experience, together with the v.i. adapted “bakers without borders game”, which provides a highly innovative and attractive view on social entrepreneurship for v.i. youths; - Inter-cultural skills – being successful in the global village requires awareness of and acquiring intercultural skills. The developed methodology is empowering young v.i. people to be autonomous and independent members of society; develop leadership, inter-cultural and social entrepreneurial skills; to support the development of young people-centred youth work and to foster active participation in society of young people. The project long term results are to raise the awareness of society towards the challenges of young visually impaired people. A network of V.I.V.A. supporters developed at the local, national and international levels to further apply and disseminate the V.I.V.A. methodology and offer youth with VI the opportunity to develop entrepreneurial models to be implemented by themselves in their communities."