"The artistic practice in social work has undergone considerable development over the last decades. But the emergence of ""cultural"" activities still provokes mixed reactions: benevolent but often marked by indifference. Often considered as simple activities, they would only be there to embellish the institutions. This is not our point of view. Art and culture are essential in the work towards and with vulnerable persons, especially as art involves access to the Symbolic and then reflects the very foundation of the human. ""People with disabilities must be able to enjoy all fundamental rights"", as mentions the important French law of February, the 11nd 2005 on Equal Rights and Opportunities, Participation and Citizenship of People with Disabilities. Art and culture are part of this ethical and democratic demand. Yet, access to art and culture remains deeply unequal. And one knows how much the opportunities to access to culture and knowledge are often levers to an integrated social life. Access to art and culture for the disabled person represents a mean of emancipation, a path to self-determination for those who have difficulties to express themselves and a particular way of relating to others and the community. In other words, these cultural activities open to the understanding of the relationship between sensible knowledge and rational knowledge, between individual ""emotional area"" and the context in which it expresses itself. This reinforces the work on self-confidence and the power to act, that are so important for this audience - all that facilitated by the look of ""the others"", not only non-stigmatizing but also rewarding. The objectives of these mobilities are several: • Getting these persons out of the isolation or illness they are sometimes locked in by unconsciousness or the indifference of their environment. • Make them aware of their unexplored potentialities • Promote a better integration in society and the community by allowing them to go and meet art via exhibitions and other artistic representations artistiques on the one hand, and via activities and workshops allowing interactions on the other hand. • Protect from discrimination. • Share life experience. Opening to ""the other"" because, as Marcel Proust wrote it in « Le Temps Retrouvé » : « Par l’art seulement nous pouvons sortir de nous, savoir ce que voit un autre de cet univers qui n’est pas le même que le nôtre, et dont les paysages nous seraient restés aussi inconnus que ceux qu’il peut y avoir dans la lune. Grâce à l’art, au lieu de voir un seul monde, le nôtre, nous le voyons se multiplier ». ""Through art only we can get out of ourselves, know what another one sees in this universe which is not the same as ours, and whose landscapes would have remained as unknown to us as those that may be in the moon. Thanks to art, instead of seeing one world, ours, we see it multiply. "". This project named CHARME will bring together France, Romania, Belgium, Italy and Croatia, with 1 or 2 partners in each country. Its duration will be 23 months. The audience are people with mental disabilities or psychic disabilities, and the professional staff that accompany them. It will be structured on mobility stays associating people with disabilities and the professionals who accompany them. These stays have to last at least 3 days on site. These stays will be organized in turn by each partner country, which will welcome persons with disabilities and professionals from one country at at time. So each country would receive four times and send four groups. The total number of participants will be 7 persons with disabilities and 1 social workers accompanying them.. During these stays, the proposed activities could be visits to exhibitions, museums and other artistic representations on the one hand, and workshops allowing interactions on the other hand. Other activities planned specifically for professionals will be organized to allow the exchange of practices. The project may also involve management staff, administrators or even members of partner associations. They will also be able to participate in mobility stays."

In general, in all the countries participating in the ALTERNATIVE project, namely BELGIUM, SPAIN, ITALY and FRANCE, the population over 60 will increase significantly by 2060. The increase in the aging population will inevitably create problems because it will be accompanied by an increase in the population of persons with disabilities. Hosting facilities are already not sufficient, so it is important to encourage the development of alternative support means, particularly foster care and family care.The function of foster family is really developed in France, where they are employed by the elderly and / or disabled. But even in this country, it is only recently (April 2017) that they are under the obligation of receiving an initial training defined by a decree that sets its content and modalities.Concerning family carers, which is found in each of the project countries, and which is the most widespread function, the existing training courses which are given at the initiative of some associations are only very rarely followed. Indeed, carers have difficulties to be available but also do not perceive the need to follow these courses.At the same time, mistreatment among older people and / or people with disabilities is becoming more common and is generally done by relatives, including caregivers and family carers. This comes in particular from the fact that they are not or poorly trained in the care of people with disabilities and / or aging. This can lead to very difficult situations, amplified by a context of strong isolation. The lack of a real training and therefore a detailed knowledge of the origin of disabilities and postures to adopt, can only generate fear, misunderstanding, therefore abuse and sometimes, all too often, violence. In all cases, there is suffering for both the people we welcome and the carers.This is why the ALTERNATIVE project has the following general objectives:- to enable caregivers and family carers to acquire a detailed knowledge of the different types of disability and pathologies related to aging.- to develop professional practices guaranteeing the well-being and respect of the accompanied persons.- to develop the skills of carers and hospices in order to improve their employability.- to professionalize the function of foster carers.The project has 2 Belgian partners, AViQ and SUSA, 2 Italian partners, CEIS and KOINÉ, 1 Spanish partner, FSyC, and 2 French partners, CEDIS and ADES. ADES, AViQ, SUSA and FSyC deliver training. ADES and AVIQ have in particular strong expertise in the field of engineering training in many professions related to social work. AViQ, FSyC and CEIS are field organizations that are already working on supporting elderly and / or disabled people. To this must be added CEDIS and KOINE, who have contacts with caregivers and family carers in various capacities, and were able to mobilize them to form valorization committees and to experiment with trainings.At the end of the project in October 2018, ALTERNATIVE's partners achieved all the operational objectives they had set - to develop a training path consisting of:- a professional reference system;- a reference system of skills;- a training repository.This training was the subject of an experiment conducted in each country with a test group made up of family carers and caregivers, and covered more than 30% of the total volume of the targeted training, which is 240 hours. The valorization of our project was based on national valorization committees, bringing together the partners of the country concerned, carers and family-friendly, as well as partner organizations and stakeholders of the family welcome. At the end of 2018, small seminars were organized in each country to disseminate the final results of ALTERNATIVE.