The project was carried out from 1st November 2016 to 30th June 2018. It addressed the needs of young and elderly visually impaired who have had deficiencies in basic skills and other key competences. Within the framework of the project, adult people, in a friendly atmosphere and conditions, participated in the lifelong learning process, in intergenerational and intercultural exchange. The main objective of the project was an exchange of good practices and experience leading to the development and implementation of effective strategies for the improvement of basic skills and other key competences of project participants and other persons benefiting from project’s results. It also aimed at improving and extending the offer of high quality learning opportunities. The target group of the project were visually impaired adults at the age of fifty and above and also young people aged 18-30.It was a strategic partnership project carried out by three organizations working for the visually impaired: the Polish Association of the Blind, The Austrian Federation of Blind and Partially Sighted and a Belgian organization Views International. In total, the project involved 10 participants from Austria, 10 participants from Belgium and 10 participants from Poland. On daily basis, these three organizations that participated in the project operate for the benefit of the visually impaired. Their goal is to improve situation of blind and partially sighted in different areas.Because of disability-related problems, project participants were accompanied by sighted guides during 5-day trainings. On average, there were four sighted volunteers for a group of 10 people.Project activities addressed to the visually impaired from different age groups included:-National Trainings in Poland, Belgium and Austria,-Three 5 day trainings that have been carried out in Poland, Belgium and Austria.-During these trainings blind and partially sighted project participants had a range of opportunities to master or learn new basic or key skills. The learning process was complemented with the use of friendly, accessible devices and technologies for the visually impaired (e.g. Braille, tactile cubes.)The project appeared to be a reciprocal learning process for participants from two age groups.Persons aged fifty and above with deficiencies in digital competences (use of computer, smartphone or other electronic devices) had been taught by young participants. In the same project, young participants of the project had an opportunity to learn from elderly friends daily-living skills, including, housework, cooking and folding clothes or taking care of children. In addition to that, project participants shared their experience related to the accessibility of education for persons with disabilities, employment opportunities or accessibility of sport activities and culture for the blind in their countries.Joint international partnership, mobility and organization of trainings in Warsaw, Vienna and Liege, national trainings and workshops conducted over skype; all these have boosted the motivation of project participants to gain knowledge and experience. This meant the more attractive and effective learning process.Participation in the project enabled its beneficiaries to master key and basic skills (counting, reading and writing.) Moreover, training participants gained knowledge of daily-living skills (cleaning, cooking, folding clothes, etc.) and had an opportunity to gain digital competences (how to use a computer and electronic devices.)Essentially, project participants who took part in activities addressed to the learning process, have gained learning habits and are interested in further education and personal development. The essential change of their behavior and attitude has determined quality of their life. Project participants have increased their confidence, are more active in society and are convinced that their life is in their hands.Activities and project results have gained publicity in various accessible publications issued by organizations participating in the project, information on the project gained wide coverage not only in countries participating in the project. Information about the project have been prepared for the European Blind Union. Additionally Views International organization operates in Europe and information about the project and its results have reached wide range of audience. All in all, the project can be an inspiration for different organizations. Our strategic partnership has proven that education for persons with the visual impairment can be more effective, attractive and of better quality for adult learners.

"Providing all students in general education classes with high-quality instructions, intervention, and support is a hallmark of inclusive education (Vorapanya & Dunlap, 2014). Inclusive schools should have a collaborative and respectful school culture where students with disabilities are presumed to be competent, develop positive social relationships with peers, and are full participating members of the school community (Jelas & Ali, 2014; Lamichhane, 2017). The concept and philosophy of inclusive education gained international attention when the United Nations promoted the idea of Education for All at the World Conference on Education for All in Thailand in 1990. Furthermore, a policy statement on inclusive education emanating from the 1994 Salamanca Conference in Spain challenged all nations, schools, and educators to provide effective education for all students including those with special needs (Kuyini & Desai, 2007). European countries also gain a lot of efforts for implementing successful inclusive process in education.Regarding to persons wit visual problems, many studies proving that they can take a part in inclusive education, but some changes need to be done in order to response on their specific needs. This means that teachers, parents need to be prepared to know how to approach to their visually impaired student/kid.Globally, at least 2.2 billion people have a vision impairment or blindness, of whom at least 1 billion have a vision impairment that could have been prevented or has yet to be addressed. This 1 billion people includes those with moderate or severe distance vision impairment or blindness due to unaddressed refractive error, as well as near vision impairment caused by unaddressed presbyopia.Globally, the leading causes of vision impairment are uncorrected refractive errors and cataracts. The majority of people with vision impairment are over the age of 50 years.The learning processes of students with vision impairment may be affected in the following ways:Students with vision impairment may access information in a variety of ways, for example Braille, audio-tape, or enlarged print. Braille readers cannot skim read and may take up to three times as long as other students to read a text. Students with some vision may be large-print readers. Many will be unable to read examination questions and handouts in standard print or read their own handwriting when answering examination questions. They may also be unable to take their own notes. Extra time is needed to carry out some tasks, such as locating words in a text when shifting from one reading medium to another.Students who need information put into alternative formats must wait, often up to six to eight weeks, for the material to be produced for them. This means that they will often fall behind other students in the class.Students with vision impairment may feel isolated in the learning environment, which can have an impact on learning.Headaches often result from eyestrain. This may reduce considerably the study time available to these students.Most common way of visually impaired pupils reading and writing processes in trough using of Braille alphabet, bur in inclusive schools most of the teachers do not know the methodology of teaching Braille alphabet.Braille is a system that enables blind and visually impaired people to read and write through touch. It was devised by Louis Braille in 1821 and consists of raised dots arranged in ""cells."" A cell is made up of six dots that fit under the fingertips, arranged in two columns of three dots each. Each cell represents a letter, a word, a combination of letters, a numeral or a punctuation mark.Taking in consideration the need assessment explained above, our proposal main objective is to teach teachers, parents and non formal educator from NGO sector methodology of learning Braille alphabet.Our specific objective are:-Making the process of inclusion of visual impaired students more successful and effective,• Foster quality improvements and excellence in education, through enhanced transnational cooperation between education and training providers and other stakeholders.• Fostering lifelong learning processes for teachers, parents and non formal educators,• Fostering equality in learning, social and educational inclusion,-Fostering modern and European values in formal and non formal education.Trough organizing 3 specific LTTA for parents, teachers and non formal educators we will meet our proposal objectives."

"Statistics show that more than 70% of the visually impaired population in Europe is currently unemployed; the percentage is even higher for young VIPs. It has been reported that despite achieving a higher level of education, this specific group of young people does not manage to access employment. The majority of young VIPs, however, have unlimited access to the internet and digital tools. This is the reason why we have designed the actions of our previous project (VIP-Tech-Job) around the development of innovative digital solutions to facilitate access to employment for young VIPs. During the ""Vip-Tech-Job: Time 2 Act !"" project, the consortium (partners from Belgium, Greece, Italy and Spain) plans to intensify the dissemination efforts of already realized products on multiple levels and to create additional complementary outputs that will simplify the existing products and render them as user-friendly as possible.The general, long-term objective of the project is to increase the number of young employed VIPs all over Europe and to promote their active citizenship, together with the development of key competencies in lifelong learning. The specific objectives are:- to empower young VIPs and better prepare them in their quest to find a job and be active citizens;- to improve access to information regarding the employment of young VIPs, both for young VIPs and employers/supported employment specialists, etc.;- to facilitate the connection between young VIPs looking for a job and employers/HR managers (including via job agencies and portals).With the use of nonformal and experiential learning, internal and external desk research, we are going to produce 3 innovative outputs, a learning and teaching activity and 4 local focus groups, involving over 400 people among our target groups. The products are:1) the “VIP Job Accessibility Toolbox”, a one-stop-shop for all our users belonging to different target groups: it will include tools and resources to support employers who wish to understand concepts like accessibility and inclusion in the workplace, job agencies, youth workers, youth leaders, supported employment specialists and career and school counsellors working with young VIPs, and young VIPs themselves, who will be able to connect and exchange experiences with their peers and, undoubtedly, ease their access to the job market and as a result, increase their levels of social inclusion. 2) the ""VIP Job Podcast"", a podcast comprised of 10 episodes in partner languages, which will be recorded by skilled young VIPs and explore success stories of young VIP's inclusion in different workplaces in Europe through interviews and storytelling. The podcast will also include a narrated version of user guides for our digital products - how to use them, what you can get out of them, how will they help you in your job quest, etc.3) the ""VIP Job Video Pack"": the narrative of this IO will tend to depict the hurdles of young VIP in integrating the job market as well as their idealistic views on a 100% barrier-free work environment. The LTTA in Granada (Spain) is a blended mobility for young people; it's designed on the model of traditional job fairs and will compromise an in-person meeting and online preparation and follow-up/testing phase for all participants involved; through experiential learning, they will have the possibility to practically test what they have learnt by confronting themselves with employers via simulated individual and group interviews. The targets groups of the project's results and activities are: - young visually impaired job seekers, either visually impaired students transitioning from education to work or young unemployed VIPs; - - employers (private and public sector) and HR managers + professionals supporting young VIPs, including youth workers, youth leaders, supported employment specialists, school and career counsellors, etc-;The direct beneficiaries of the project will be at least 400 and we expect to reach at least 600 other young VIPs all over Europe for each result. VTJ2 will last 24 months (1/02/2021-31/01/2023), and will also include 4 transnational meetings, one international multiplier event (organised by the project coordinator), and three local multiplier events organised by each partner organisation.At the local, national and European level, through the targeted dissemination planned by the partnership, we also strive to raise the general public’s awareness level and inspire organizations, institutions, networks that work with young VIPs to advocate for improving the conditions, support services and work environments for young VIPs all over the EU and beyond.The project’s impact will be reflected upon young VIPs who will improve their soft skills to be able to successfully find a job using the products created by the partnership. The digital component of the project makes it extremely easy to re-shape and adapt, given the current health emergency in Europe."

"""VIP and new technologies: easy access to job market"" - YOUTH & innovation strategic partnership project about supporting youth unemployed young visually impaired persons (following called VIP) to prepare and look for a job. The project consortium was formed out of four organisations: Views International (Belgium) as coordinator, Fondación Docete Omnes (Spain), Soc. Cooperativa Aforisma (Pisa) and Istituto Rittmeyer (Trieste) from Italy as project partners. During 24 months (1/02/2018 - 31/01/2020), we organised four transnational meetings, two short-term joint staff events, two national multiplier events (Florence - Italy and Granada- Spain) and one final international multiplier event (Brussels-Belgium). Over the course of the project, two intellectual outputs saw the light: a browser App and an online training platform, which connect young visually impaired persons with companies and various job providers. The direct number of young people that took part in the project were around 4 hundred and the results of the project reached around 600 other European young visually impaired persons. The methodology used was a mix of several types of non-formal means: brainstorming, working in small groups, debates, peer to peer learning, public debates, mock job interview workshops, training & info sessions etc. This strategic partnership is the result of a previous project undertaken from 2015 until 2017 (2015-2-BE04-KA205-001686); which tackled the theme of unemployment of youth, who is visually impaired. While implementing the previous project we got aware of the fact that the low rate of unemployment of visually impaired persons in Europe is not due to lack of dissemination of information about capabilities of visually impaired persons or because employers were quite often unaware of the support that they can get when hiring a person with special needs, but also because a large part of young visually impaired persons does not have a clear knowledge about using online tools in looking for a job. This seems to be caused by lack of self-confidence due to low self-esteem and reduced soft skills (how to dress for a job interview, how to present oneself, how to overcome ""barrier of visual contact"" with the others, etc.) The main objectives we set for this project were:1) to equip young visually impaired persons (18-35 years old) with soft skills via an on-line platform training courses useful to be successful for a job interview;2) to empower young visually impaired persons in using on-line tools in order to look for a job by using a new app that will be developed during this project;3) to increase the confidence of young visually impaired people in their capacities in accessing new professions (not only phone operator/massage therapist/ticket seller for the national lottery as it is mostly the case in the three countries represented in this project);4) to reach an awareness of public agencies, unemployment offices, employers that it is possible and highly desirable to make our society more inclusive and supportive with young persons with visual impairment by using new adapted technologies.The main results of this project are:- IO1 is a web app adapted to all devices. It allows users to search for job offers as well as to publish them. It is fully compatible with screen readers for both computers and mobile devices. - IO2 is a platform designed to train skills useful in the job search. It is available in 4 languages: English, French, Italian and Spanish (and currently being translated to Polish, Romanian, Bulgarian and Flemish)Both tools are fully accessible to blind and visually impaired people.This strategic partnership improved the interaction between different employment institutions, employers and visually impaired beneficiaries. It empowered young VIP skills (use of online tools). The long term benefits translate into accessible materials (web app & online training platform) for young VIP's around Europe and in this way, they became more confident and successful in looking for a job."

In a two years project four organisations from Belgium, Germany, Italy and Turkey exchange on god practices of creative ways of making historical, architectural and cultural urban heritage more inclusive, interactive and so accessible for young people with handicap mainly visually impaired persons (following called VIP). The context/background of the planned project is that young people with sight loss want to move around in cities independently and have an autonomous own access to the structure of buildings and cities in their historical, cultural and architectural meaning. Guided tours through cities are widely not accessible for visually impaired persons neither live tours nor online tours via app or internet. Furthermore, such tours are often not arranged for the target group of young people in being interactive and multisensory. The missing points are: -Support in mobility and navigation -Access to places that are highly interesting for many senses like hearing, touching, smelling and tasting -Descriptions of visible elements in cities like buildings, squares and streets - Additional tactile material like models and maps The objectives of the project are: -People with sight loss name their needs in getting access to urban cultural heritage. -City guides get experiences in guiding visually impaired people through cities. -New ways of multi-sensory and interactive inclusive city tours are experienced by creative mangers of adoption the cultura heritage of cities.-In four European countries eight city tours with blind and partially sighted persons are made up by creative methods, experienced and evaluated. -Guidelines for city guides are drafted to guide in a creative and inclusive way making the tours accessible for visual impaired persons. -Four city tours with GPS data and audio-recordings of descriptions are published The activities of the project are: -Partners exchange experiences in city tours with visual impaired persons.-Visually impaired people name their needs in access to urban heritage in a Europe wide spread questionary. The results will be evaluated and published. -The project partners meet in the project countries for learning activities to create and experience guided tour – two in each country – and evaluate them. In a creative process they conceptulice multi-senory inclusive tours with the aspects: access to cultural heritage by seeing, hearing, touching, smelling and tasting; understanding the past in acting; audio-descriptions; additionally support in mobility for blind and partially sighted people.-In each partner country one tour will be recorded in its GPS data and in audio format of the descriptions that are given. -The so created tours will be published online. So it will be tested, if such a form of access to city tours is accessible for people - specially with visua impairment.-A guideline will be drafted about the creative process how to make inclusive and accessible multisensory city tours not only for visually impaired but for all people. The activities and participants are: -6-12/2021: research on needs of young people with sight loss on their needs concerning city tours - Europe-wide 200 participants -02/2022: meeting in Berlin: evaluation of the researches done, creating and experiencing two multisensory and inclusive guided city tours - 5 participants of each partner country, 10 additional participants from Germany-5/2022: meeting in Istanbul: first overview of guidelines for accessible and inclusive guided tours (in museums, nature parks etc., creating and experiencing two multisensory and inclusive guided city tours - 5 participants of each partner country, 10 additional participants from Turkey-10/2022: meeting in Liège: first draft of guidelines for accessible and inclusive guided city tours, creating and experiencing two multisensory and inclusive guided city tours - 5 participants of each partner country, 10 additional participants from Belgium- 3/2023: meeting in Florence: finalising draft of guidelines for multisensory and inclusive guided city tours, creating and experiencing two multisensory and inclusive guided city tours, conference on accessible tourism for exchange of practices collected in the project - 8 participants of each partner country, 10 additional participants from Italy