We met as acquaintances on November 21st at the online training of the international project “Walk in Our Shoes” supported by the International Visegrad Fund.
This time it was about the structure of sensitization tours to be held together.
After each training session, Sowelo Polish and EYCB Czech partners receive the related part of the training material developed by the People First Association. Thus, after the 3 online training sessions, the complete curriculum is compiled.
We will next meet online on December 5. It will be good! 🙂

The first training meeting of the project took place in a very good atmosphere.
Nine of us gathered in front of computer monitors for the first session of the online training. The training was held by the experts of People First, the Hungarian coordinator. A good number of members of Polish Sowelo took part actively, and the Czech EYCB was also represented.

The topics included barrier-free tourism, its relationship with the “Walk in Our Shoes” project, the goals and impacts of the project, and the role of good practices in the civil community. After the lectures, a useful and pleasant conversation developed about the topics.

After the training, participants received the training material developed by People First, which allows them to delve deeper into the topics and think about them further.

We’ll meet next on November 21., where the topic will already be the Hidden City Tor-Tour.

We also wanted to strengthen our cooperation with a project logo that can be used together. Thanks to the skillful experts of our Polish partner, SOWELO Foundation, an expressive logo has been created.

We believe that this contains everything we would like to say about the joint project: people with disabilities are working for accessibility, as they are the best experts in their field. Three countries are joining forces to learn and develop an innovative and exciting way to sensitize society.
Walk in our shoes, that is, try a new perspective together with us on a special tour!

Project title:
Pécs Városi Civil Keret 2023-2/Pécs City Civil Financial Framework 2023-2

Project duration:
16.10.2023.- 31.12.2023.

Supporter:
Local Government of Pécs

Project summary:
Expansion of our Barrier-free Pécs Database with additional locations.
Our important goal is to make Pécs exemplary. There are few social problem areas that can connect as many target groups as accessibility.
Accessible venues and programs are a basic necessity for people with disabilities. Without it, they cannot go out, study, work, play sports, travel, have fun, run errands. That is, to live as an equal citizen in society. For the elderly and parents with strollers, accessible spaces are equally important. It is a great help for those with temporary injuries, pulling suitcases and shopping bags. And everyone is much more comfortable in an accessible environment! 

There is no list or map of accessible locations in Hungary. For people with disabilities, however, predictability is essential.
Therefore, in 2018, our association was the only one in the country to create a free Pécs city database of accessible locations in and around Pécs. In recent years, we have developed this from small grants, mostly from our own resources, into a professional one.
The aim is to provide urban populations with detailed and reliable information on accessible locations. Information is available in 12 categories, free of charge, in Hungarian and English, illustrated with many own photos, map display and contact information.
It also aims to develop barrier-free tourism in Hungary, to attract and inform tourists visiting Pécs (this is why it is also available in English). Since then, there has been no similar urban barrier-free database in the country.
The Barrier-free Pécs Database is available free of charge on our website in Hungarian and English: https://peoplefirst.hu/en/barrier-free-pecs/

Goal:
The Barrier-free Pécs Database is unique in Hungary and has made the city of Pécs exemplary. Countless organizations in the country are contacting us for professional support and partnership in this matter. This existing result is constantly strengthened as the database expands. 

Maintaining the database is part of city marketing. It makes Pécs one of the citadels of barrier-free tourism in Hungary, and its tourism marketing power is significant. 

Strengthening existing cooperation with City Hall.  

Based on our measurements and domestic and international feedback, the citizens of Pécs and visitors feel a serious need for the Barrier-free Pécs Database and are happy to use it.

 The social sensitization effect of the database is extremely important for both disabled and able-bodied society!  Therefore, the Barrier-free Pécs Database and the Hidden City Tor-Tour are closely complementary activities.

Target groups:
Our basic target group is people with disabilities. We do not focus on one group, since the membership of our association is also made up of people with all types of disabilities. Thanks to this, we have sufficient professional experience for the activity.  

Our wider target group is the entire urban population and visitors. Everyone who needs accessibility or is more comfortable.

How does the project work?
From mid-October 2023, the establishment of an exploratory team consisting of professionally prepared participants with disabilities. Holding preparatory training in the community space of the association (BeFogadó-Pepita).
Create a detailed schedule and task plan.
During October-November 2023, IT development and testing
From mid-October to early December 2023, new accessible locations in Pécs will be explored and existing locations updated in parallel. Professional explorations in teams of 3 people (limited mobility, visually impaired, assisting). Then they are processed and inserted into the database in Hungarian and English (description, data, photo documentation, map display, commenting option. Additional online marketing activities). 
Evaluation team meeting in mid-December 2023. Define future tasks and further funding opportunities. 

Results and impact of the project:
Training of the professional team. It is carried out by people with disabilities who have the best knowledge of their field. They receive continuous professional trainings. For them, this is a significant social integration opportunity: new knowledge, useful activity, earning money, learning, inclusion, sensitization, community building. 

Exploring new locations and integrating them into the Barrier-freee Pécs Database. During the very short funded project period, we fully explore 4 new locations from the grant and upload them to the database in Hungarian and English.  

IT development. Convert the entire database and web page to a newer and more reliable system and update the associated code. Software development and testing. 

 Update existing information in the database. An accessible database is worthless if your information is not up-to-date! This is not covered by the support received, so we try to solve it from our own resources, free of charge, because it has to take place continuously.  

Project sustainability:
In cooperation with the city, our database is part of the https://pecs.hu/en/ website.

Maintaining the database should be part of city marketing. Therefore, the already established cooperation with the Pécs City Hall must be expanded and strengthened. This would also require constant financial participation from the city, in which we are trying to achieve cooperation. 

Project title:
!ndeed
Comparison of approaches to independent living for and by people with disabilities in Hungary, Italy, Slovakia, and Germany. 

Project period:
01.10. 2023. – 31.03.2025.

Supporter:
Erasmus+
KA210-ADU – Small-scale partnerships in adult education 

Partner organisations:
VSBI, Verein zur sozialen und beruflichen Integration e.V. – GERMANY
People First Közhasznú Egyesület, Pécs – HUNGARY
Fondaziona Luigi Clerici – ITALY
Nadácia Krajina harmónie – SLOVAKIA 

Project summary:
Exchange of knowledge and experience between four partner organisations working on disability and independent living and providing services in Hungary, Italy, Slovakia and Germany.
Through partner organisations, people with disabilities and professionals can learn about the best practices and knowledge of disability, social inclusion, self-determination and independent living in these four countries. As active participants, people with disabilities themselves participate in the project on an equal footing with their own experiences, needs, good and bad experiences, and the necessary evelopment ideas – as they are the best experts in their field. 

This international exchange of experience will enable the participating partners to initiate the creation of a European network on disability and independent living, which will allow the development of comprehensive concepts at European level in the future. 

The project addresses the three main objectives of the European Disability Strategy 2021-2030: 

• Promoting the transition from institutional to community-based care    
• Promoting labour market participation    
• Promoting education and lifelong learning 

The results are collected by the project in a publicly accessible online format, which includes identified approaches, information on methods, and stories told by people with disabilities. 

The partners will establish guidance on how to support the creation of conversations/discussions about disability and independent living and how to treat different participants as equals. 

Target groups:
people with disabilities, 
self-advocates who are interested in the topic,
employees of organizations that work with people with disabilities 

The main task of People First Association as a Hungarian partner in the project is:
People First will be responsible for dissemination. Develops a communication strategy, creates project messages, develops stakeholders analysis, plans the the project communication. 
It is also important to ensure that the target groups of the project are reached and involved. 

👉FOR PROJECT RESULTS CLICK HERE:
In this Moodle course partners summarised everything we achieved together, about the project itself, its purpose, the results of the meetings, about the partners, and good examples.
But most important are the reports on the results of the national workshops and the interviews with the affected participants themselves about independent living. All of this content is also available in Hungarian at each section.
Click here: Indeed results Moodle

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.