Travel by people with disabilities, also known as “disabled travel” or “accessible travel,” is on the rise. The travel industry is waking up to the special needs of travelers with disabilities by providing more services and greater accommodation. Meanwhile, the sheer abundance of information on accessible travel is astounding — much of it generated by travelers with disabilities themselves.The European with Disabilities Act guarantees that travelers with disabilities receive equal treatment under the law. While this would be the case in a perfect world, it doesn’t always work out that way in real life, especially in foreign countries where accessibility regulations vary widely. Despite having common sense, considerable public sentiment and strength in numbers, travelers with disabilities frequently face inadequate facilities, prejudice, misinformation, general hassles and higher prices than other travelers.World Health Organization estimates 285 million people to be visually impaired worldwide. Out of which 39 million are blind and 246 have low vision. However, they are not travelling at the same rate as people without disabilities and the public, stakeholders and the government have the right to address the difficulties and create an environment for the visually impaired travelers. People with vision impairments have the right to participate fully in the community and enjoy the same quality of life as people without disabilities. However, they are not travelling at the same rate as people without disabilities. The reasons for such low participation rates are not yet clear. But one of the reasons could be the difficulty and sometimes harrowing nightmare to travel in unfamiliar. Although they are a minority, they also deserve the same recognition as everyone else and to consider it as our social responsibility to create awareness among the public about the difficulties the visually disabled face in general and then help to increase the independence level among them. This is possible only when the experiences of such travelers are identified and addressed properly. About 90% of the world's visually impaired live in developing countries and 82% of people living with blindness are aged 50 and above. In Malaysia, the recent statistics produced by the Department of Social Welfare in 2010, shows that the total number of blind/visually impaired people who have registered has increased from 26,155 in 2009 to 27,582 in 2010 and has been steadily increasing over the last few years.Main project objective is trough development of barrier-free tourism OER and cross-traffic navigation solutions, to make traveling accessible and safety for blind and visually impaired people, the AST for VIP project aim is to improve the mobility and quality of life of these people all around Europe.Project specific objective:• using innovative approaches for access for safety and security traveling for visual impaired;• improve the level of key competences and skills, with particular regard to relevance for adult persons with visual impaired and their contribution to a cohesive society, in particular through increased opportunities for learning and through strengthened cooperation between the world of non formal education, traveling and training;• identifying ways to implement innovative non formal teaching and learning methods to respond to the needs of adults persons with visual problems during traveling;• developing actions to facilitate inter-generational transfer of knowledge;• describing the ways in which assessment methodologies and procedures can embed all forms of learning, and facilitate the validation of skills and competences acquired prior to safety traveling;• enhance the international dimension of non formal education and training, in particular through cooperation between Programme Country institutions;• planning the progressive roll-out of project deliverables leading to systemic impact.

Disasters vary in nature and magnitude, and there is a need to capture knowledge, experiences of previous disasters, lessons learned and promote culture of disaster risk prevention within a community.Education about disasters needs to be a part of every individual’s cultural heritage and the development of appropriate knowledge, values, attitudes and habits should be encouraged from early childhood and be inclusive. Education, public awareness and training are the cornerstones of approaches aimed at reducing vulnerabilities to natural hazards.It is fundamental to include vulnerable social groups such as children, youth and persons with disabilities in every stage of the disaster risk management and build stronger community resilience. Very often these groups are neglected or the necessary and needed attention is not provided. Also it is crucial to maintain a sustainable impetus among all the actors in every country from the civil societies to the governments, from the local organizations to the international organizations, with the HEI, the private sector and with the organizations and public bodies-schools work with people with disabilities included. If Disaster Risk Management (DRM) legislation, drills, trainings, awareness raising activities are not inclusive, then 10-12% of the affected population might neither be prepared for a disaster, nor receive emergency services after a disaster happens.The disaster response and rescue operations require lots of money (6-7 Euros saved in response for one Euro invested in prevention, according to DG ECHO). The use of new technologies increases the quality of disaster risk prevention. In the new era of Information Technology (IT) the development of Augmentative reality (AR) technology plays an important role when it comes to training responding to disasters and when addressing the disaster risk management, specifically in disaster risk awareness raising. In digital area, OER, gamification content is the key for gain knowledge for disaster risk management for pupils (including those with disabilities).It is also recognized that disasters in the aftermath have a huge emotional impact. Risk awareness can be more effective, if it is not seen only as a technical/ practical event but more as a potential and very strong emotional life-event. In today’s world easy accessible and popular short film making is used a tool to address this emotional part of disaster awareness raising.The project contributes to the implementation of United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (Sendai Framework) and of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development addressing international incentives at the international level.The general objective for this project will be:Empowerment of an inclusive access and non-discriminatory participation of children, youth and persons with disability in disaster risk prevention and incorporation of disaster risk knowledge in formal and non-formal education through creating novel approach in training of children, youth and persons with disability, using OER and gamification. Improvement of cross-sectors disaster risk reduction for children, youth and persons with disabilities with an all-inclusive approach by relevant institutions, making connections between HEI, schools, local authorities.

CONTEXT & NEEDEU SMEs are the most affected by the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and related lockdown: Europe is “closed for business”, and while large companies have systems in place to implement telecommuting and Smart Work, SMEs (especially microenterprises) do not have ICT systems in place nor policies for their staff to work remotely.The EU Commission provides a worrisome picture: less than 15% of EU SMEs are ready to implement Smart Working arrangements. The most recent study Eurofound/ILO “Working anytime, anywhere” of 2017, reports that only 2.8% of employees in the EU adopt Smart Working. This means that when the pandemic stroke Europe, very few SMEs were ready and had systems in place to adopt telecommuting arrangements.EU SMEs are the most exposed to the risk of not being able to ensure business continuity and be resilient in times of crisis. More importantly, they are less prone to reaping the benefits that Smart Working can bring due to the lack of guidelines on the most suitable ICT solutions and practices to implement Smart Working and of mechanisms to manage Smart Working and telecommuting.There is a pressing need to equip SMEs and empower their staff to implement Smart Working. This is confirmed by relevant EU position papers and studies:> EU Commission, “An SME Strategy for Sustainable and Digital EU”, March 2020: calls for the swift adoption of ICT solutions to enhance the competitiveness and growth of SMEs> Eurofound/ILO “Working anytime, anywhere: The effects on the world of work” 2017: identifies the need of EU SMEs to adopt Smart Working as a means to increase efficiency, improve working conditions and reduce costs.OBJECTIVES of SWIFT are to:1) Fill the skill gaps identified by the EU and national entities to equip SMEs with skills, competences and solutions to be more flexible, responsive and efficient through Smart Working arrangements2) Provide venues for SMEs and their staff to develop competences, skills and tools to adopt and adapt Smart Working for their resilience, competitiveness and growth3) Enhance the responsiveness and flexibility of EU SMEs to ensure business continuity in times of need and crisis, while increasing their competitiveness and efficiency through effective Smart Working4) Increase the growth and competitiveness of EU SMEs through more relevant and timely training to empower them with the operational tools and equip them with the skills to be more resilient and flexibleTARGET GROUP is identified in SMEs and their staff, especially in the small-scale enterprises in the service sectors. Such target groups was selected thanks to the thorough analysis of the state-of-the-art carried out at preparation: SMEs are the most vulnerable to asymmetric shocks and uncertainty and are the least equipped to implement Smart Working to be more resilient and efficient.PARTICIPANTS are the 6 partners from 5 EU countries representing the world of VET, enterprise and ICT. Moreover, at implementation partners will engage at least 120 target groups in the delivery of the SWIFT training, more than 100 stakeholders and decisions makers in the Multiplier Events and more than 287,636 people at dissemination level.ACTIVITIESPartners will carry out the following activities:a) Develop the SWIFT OER Platformb) Develop a shared methodology for the mappingc) Consolidate findings in IO2 to map dynamics, trends and needs for Smart Working adoption, including technical, operational and human resource implicationsd) Develop the SWIFT training and tools for Smart Working adoption in SMEse) Deliver the training to 120 target groupsf) Develop guidelines for adoption of SWIFT and its mainstreaming in VET and SME ecosystems in EUg) Put forward policy options to promote Smart Working and competitiveness of SMEsRESULTS & IMPACT are1) The dedicated SWIFT Platform that is the Open Educational Resource for all SMEs across EU that can access for free, without restriction and in full Open Access mode all the SWIFT content, training, tools and resources available in multiple language versions. To ensure long-term impact, the SWIFT OER Platform will stay live for at least 2 years after the project2) The SWIFT SME training courses, handouts, operational tools and guidelines for European SMEs to adopt, adapt and implement Smart Working to be more flexible, resilient and competitive3) Enhanced competence of SMEs’ to implement Smart Working that will lead to increased flexibility, responsiveness and competitiveness. Moreover, the adoption of Smart Working will enhance work-life balance of employees while producing efficiency gains for SMEs4) Increased operational capacity of SMEs to be more responsive in the ever-changing global markets being more able to adapt to external conditions that require to adjust business processes.

<< Objectives >>DREAM (Digital Resilience for European Microenterprises) is innovative and timely as it tackles COVID-19 challenges and digitalization in the 2 worlds of VET and MSME with the objectives of:- support micro and small businesses by providing up-to-date training to help them cope with digital transformation and adapt to post-pandemic; - adapt VET to market needs via mapping and increase its flexibility via DREAM OER Digital Lab.- enrich the provision of formal/non-formal VET across EU.<< Implementation >>The activities envisaged are:- Develop DREAM Digital Lab, multilanguage open tool for the transmission of digital knowledge for MSMEs embracing digital entrepreneurship in postpandemic economy- Mapping economic impact of COVID on MSMEs and their digitalization process - Develop and translate learner-centred training contents in 6 languages- Develop DREAM position paper for MSMEs Digital readiness- Perform management activities- Monitor Quality and Financial Accuracy- Promotion & Sharing<< Results >>Results-At least 120 MSME trained-Report to map post-COVID digitalization challenges-Free tested trainings in 6 languages delivered online via Digital Lab-Impact on microenterprises, entrepreneurs, VET system in support of entrepreneurship-Increased resilience and competitiveness of MSMEs-Enhanced VET to adapt to markets’ needs in post-pandemicDREAM results currently do not exist, it bridges gaps with up-to-date training & tools specifically targeted at MSMEs in a pan-Eu perspective

Loneliness, isolation and social exclusion are important risk factors that can lead to poor health in older people, especially in the absence of family networks or insufficient family support. The project aims to address these problems through the promotion of active ageing, encouraging seniors to adopt a range of good practices to preserve their health through the use of new technologies.More specifically, it aims to create and test a platform that brings together various training courses to improve the memory and learning skills of older people, as well as to familiarise themselves with practical services related to online shopping, various bookings, etc. Through the use of this training, we expect to improve the cognitive capacity and health of seniors and slow the decline in memory and cognitive capacities. In addition, the great flexibility of the technological tool will allow the content of the training to be varied by adapting to individual learning needs (e.g. foreign language vs. daily services, etc.).