"""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."

"Project Title:""Professional support for the teachers of visually impaired pupils in a mainstream schools""""Veljko Ramadanovic"" School of Visually Impaired Students, Belgrade has one hundred years of experience working with blind and visually impaired pupils.We recognized the necessity to provide training to teachers in an inclusive setting for using assistive technology, various tiflodidactic tools and Braille.We are building collaboration with the following partner organizations in order to exchange experiences and strengthen knowledge in this field:1. Center IRIS- Center za izobrazevanje, rehabilitacijo, inkluzijo in svetovanje za slepe in slabovidne, Slovenia;2. ISTITUTO REGIONALE RITTMEYER PER I CIECHI DI TRIESTE, Italy;3. Drzavno uciliste za deca i mladi so osteten vid ,,Dimitar Vlahov“, The Republic of North Macedonia.Goals:Our goals:- To strengthen the professional competencies of teachers in working with blind and visually impaired pupils in inclusive education settings- To encourage social inclusion of pupils with visual impairment in mainstream schools- To improve the teaching quality by using assistive technologies in inclusive education.Activities:1. Provide a professional training course for the subject teachers (two-day training course)2. Design a handbook for teachers in inclusive education as a practical guide for working with blind and partially sighted students;3. Exchange of good practices at the meetings, via Skype, Viber and a Web Site formed during the duration of the Erasmus + project.Results: - A new, published Manual as a practical guide to teachers in inclusive education, which provides information on the use of assistive technologies, and on Braille notation in subjects of natural sciences (math, physics, chemistry); - A training program of teachers in working with blind and visually impaired pupils in inclusive education settings; - Website - created during the duration of the Erasmus + project will serve as a platform for the exchange of good practices between partners and teachers in mainstream schools.The project activities will include about 40 teachers from the mainstream schools (per participating organizations). The project will greatly contribute to increasing the competencies of teachers engaged in the education of pupils with visual impairment."

"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."

Due to the visual handicap and the requirements for assistive devices, blind and visually impaired people are usually at a disadvantage when it comes to modern digital education. However, digital competence will continue to be a key factor in the probability of placement on the labour market in the future.Another aspect is that tactile teaching and learning materials are still essential tools in the education of blind and visually impaired students. Such tactile materials are used in lessons of natural sciences, mobility training and all-day living skills. In vocational training tactile models are used in medical and technical subjects.Until now the production of tactile materials has been expensive and time-consuming. The more simple solution to work with swell paper, however, offers strong limitations in the three-dimensional representation and sufficient reproduction of details. The development of ever cheaper and more powerful 3D printers offers new opportunities for the individual production of versatile and affordable teaching materials. In addition, 3D printing technology is an emerging innovation in the context of digitalization, which in particular educational organizations need to address in order to be able to transfer the knowledge in a second step to their students. However, in order to meet this requirement, trainers must be able to recognise and operate the technology in question and its potential. However, it is necessary that this topic is not limited to the STEM subjects, as is usually the case.This project is an initiative to improve the digital education of visually impaired students and their digital competence by implementing 3D technology. These two objectives will be achieved by a two-step strategy. 1. In the first step, teachers and trainers for visually impaired persons will be introduced in the utilization of 3D printers themselves. This step should enable the trainers to create tactile teaching materials and tools for their participants and gain practical experience by using this technology regularly.2. The next step is to enable the trainers to use their acquired experience to instruct their students in 3D printing according to the methodological requirements of visually impaired students.As an additional result, the products that have been developed during the project will be published on an already existing 3D printing portal (Thingiverse) and on a new and open portal for products for the visually impaired, which will be developed and continuously hosted by the Austrian partner.The starting point for this project are the experiences of the applicant, who has already successfully realized this procedure in his own company. In the results of this project, the special experiences and requirements of the project partners will be considered and transferred.During the project a curriculum for the trainers and a curriculum for the students will be developed. The development of the corresponding teaching materials in the languages of the partner countries is also part of the tasks. The education of trainers into 3D printing will take place within two one-week lasting training events.The products developed here can be used by other educational institutions and teachers for people with sensory disabilities.

"Even though they have undergone a vocational training or obtained a degree at university, in Europe 70 % of the viually impaired adults are unemployed. The idea behind the implementation of this strategic partnership was to foster the importance of this issue, to search and motivate employers to emploi visually impaired persons. VIEWS International in cooperation with five partner organizations from Germany (two promoters: ""DBSV""-German Federation of the Blind & Partially Sighted/Central office from Berlin and ""LWL"" - a vocational training center for blind and partially sighted from Soest), Italy (two promoters: ""Soc. Coop. Aforisma"" - vocational training center and job support center for impaired persons from Pisa and ""Istittuto Rittmeyer"", a integration center for visually impaired center from Trieste ) and France (one promoter: ""GIAA"" - a blind association developping projects around social and professional integration for visually impaired in Paris area) established a 19 months strategic partnership, from 1/10/2015 till 30/04/2017. ""VIP awareness raising against unemployment"" gathered institutions with different profiles (ngoes, public bodies), all working for the integration of visually impaired persons, mainly unemployed young visually impaired persons. The estimated number of the persons involved in this project is around 500.Due to lack of operational capacity, the French partner, GIAA, retired from the implementation of this project on 31/08/2016, after 11 months of collaboration.The overall aims were to: - develop a strong partnership between the partners of the project;- attract more institutions that could hire or offer internships for young visually impaired young persons and sensitize and aware them in order to get a better understanding of the living condition vision impairment; with the purpose of improving the employment environment of vision impaired persons, by decreasing attitudinal barriers, imparting of important knowledge and raising awareness for their strengths and needs, as well as for the specific support given by each state both to employers and employees.This strategic partnership included: 3 transnational meetings (the first one in Liège, Belgium, the second in Trieste, Italy and the last one in Berlin, Germany), 3 long term mobility projects (of 3 months each: in Liège, Pisa and Trieste) , 4 multiplier events (1per country) and 20 awareness national sessions (5/country). The consortuim equally created an awareness brochure and a policy paper as intelectual outputs; these products were disseminated among diffrent European and national stakeholders.As main result, this project achieved building a strong partnership, where more institutions supported our partnership and activity development. On an individual basis, the three youth mobility projects were very useful for the 3 visually impaired workers on a personal level (aquiring new skills) and on a social development (first time working experience). The awareness raising session, had a great impact on the participants and helped future employers be more open to hiring visually impaired persons. In the future, the Italian and Belgian partners would like to continue their work on professional integration of visually impaired young persons through a new strategic partnership project. As for the long-term benefits, we observed that this strategic partnership improved the interaction between different employement institutions, employers and visually impaired beneficiaries; especially the self esteem and empowerment of the young visually impaired persons that took part in this project."