Project title:
Fair Care
Learning and Training for Inclusion and Self-determination in Long Term Care

Project duration:
01.10.2024.- 31.05.2027.

Partner organisations:
Verein zur sozialen und beruflichen Integration e.V. – GERMANY
Cooperativa Sociale Cooss Marche Onlus Societa Cooperativa Per Azioni – ITALY
Ske Pelendriou – CYPRUS
People First Közhasznú Egyesület – HUNGARY
Social Enterprise International Tuatha Ltd – IRELAND
3IN Social, SCCL – SPAIN

Project summary:
FairCare will develop a holistic and comprehensive training program in close collaboration with the target groups, implemented in local FairCare Training Centres to empower people with disabilities and/or in need of care to exercise self-determination in long term care. This will support them in effectively communicating their own needs and desires to their informal (e.g., relatives and partners) and formal carers (e.g., professional nurses) and, thereby, exercising greater self-determination in their daily lives. 

Three types of trainings will be developed:  
1. peer training for disabled / elderly people to become peer counsellors,  
2. cooperation training for the collaborative work of the three target groups,  
3. community training on the provision of long term care. 

Project outputs:
A FairCare Methodology will give an overview over the theoretical background.
The FairCare Curriculum and Course will be supported by the FairCare Toolbox containing, video tutorials and the online FairCare collaboration tool.
The trainings will be facilitated in partner countries locally established FairCare Training Centres.
The FairCare Handbook will provide hands-on guidance for practitioners in social and care services on how to adapt FairCare. The FairCare Memorandum supports this with a mission statement.

Target groups:
1. The primary target group are elderly and people with disabilities in need of care who want to live a self-determined life in their chosen living environment with adequate support services provided.
The group of elderly people and people with disabilities is very heterogeneous. Yet, many people acquire their impairments due to age. Hence, elderly people might not view themselves as disabled but in fact share similar experience such as not being viewed as being able to live autonomousand self-determined whilst receiving high-levels of support.

2. The secondary target group are relatives, friends and other informal carers who provide them with the necessary care and support services, which the professional care system does not provide or cannot provide sufficiently in the desired form and quality. As those affected, they too have individual needs and challenges that inform the desired and necessary approach to support. However, informal carers are most often neither sufficiently equipped with the training and skills to carry out their tasks nor viewed as knowledgeable and experienced resources in the organisation and provision of care.

3. The tertiary target group are formal carers who want to work in a support and care system in which they contribute their professional skills in such a way that people in need of care live as self-determinedly, safely and independently as possible and can participate in social life. 

The aim is for all three target groups to interact in a closely cooperative way.
In addition to the organisations of the project partners, other target groups include self-advocacy and self-representation associations of relatives and people in need of care and support, professional associations, municipal decision-makers and social service providers.

The main task of People First Association as a Hungarian partner in the project is:
As in all international projects, our main task is to advocate the principle of “Nothing about us without us!”, i.e. to involve people with disabilities in every level, as they are the best experts in their field.
In the FairCare project, the People First Association is responsible for its full accessibility. In the training material, we will develop a chapter on “self-determination and self-empowerment of people in need of care” and develop a FairCare digital collaboration tool. Our association will be responsible for developing a Exploitation Plan and a Communication Strategy, as well as for coordinating activities on social media and the website.

Project title:
Pécs Városi Civil Keret 2024/Pécs City Civil Financial Framework 2024

Project duration:
01.06.2024.– 30.11.2024.

Supporter:
Local Government of Pécs

Project summary:
We will continue what we started last year. With the support of the City of Pécs, we will add 5 more truly accessible sites in Pécs and around Pécs to our Accessible Pécs Database.
The database has set an example for the city of Pécs. Its maintenance should be part of the city’s marketing, as its tourism marketing power is significant. There are only few areas of social problems that can connect so many target groups as accessibility.
Accessible places and programmes are a basic need for people with disabilities, and equally important for elderly people and parents with prams. But the temporarily disabled, and people with suitcases or shopping bags, also a great help. And EVERYONE is more comfortable in a barrier-free 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:
Training for the professional team of disabled people exploring the sites of the Barrier-free Pécs Database.
Exploration of 5 additional sites in Pécs and around Pécs during the project period.
Work is ongoing to strengthen existing cooperation with the town hall and to expand partnership building with other organisations.
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. We have recently taken steps to make this even more so in the future. Experts have helped us to optimise the website and database for Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), i.e. to reach as many users as possible.
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.
Our wider target group is the entire urban population and visitors. And EVERYONE who needs accessibility or is more comfortable living without barriers.

How does the project work?
In June 2024, an exploration team will be set up with professionally qualified participants with disabilities. We will conduct a preparatory training and create a detailed schedule and task list.
Between June and October 2024, 5 completely new barrier-free sites will be explored and recorded in Hungarian and English in the database.We will work in teams of 3 people, with disabled, visually impaired and assisting association members, including a hearing impaired member as needed.
Meanwhile, the IT maintenance and repair of the database is ongoing.
In November 2024, we will evaluate the results of the project and prepare for future tasks and funding opportunities.

Results and impact of the project:
People with disabilities do this work, as they are the best experts in their field/problems. They receive continuous professional training in the project. For them, this is a significant social inclusion opportunity: new skills, useful activities, earning money, learning, inclusion, empowerment, community building.
More sites are added to the Barrier-free Pécs Database. This is a great contribution to making Pécs more attractive and to the development of accessible tourism in Hungary.

Project sustainability:
In cooperation with the city, our database is part of the https://pecs.hu/en/ website.
We would be glad if the city administration, the city companies, and the city residents would be proud that such an initiative exists in Pécs, and more and more people would use and recommend it.

Project title:
CODE – aCcessibility Of financial services for persons withDisabilitiEs
Foster social and financial inclusion through strategic partnership. Promoting joint initiatives among stakeholders based on the exchange of good practices and skills.

Project duration:
01.12.2023. – 31.07.2026.

Partner organisations:
Chambre de Commerce Italienne de Nice (COO) – ITALY
FondazioneIstitutodei Sordi di Torino ONLUS – ITALY
Fondazione Luigi Clerici  – ITALY
Cooperation Bancaire Pour L’europe – BELGIUM
Atlantis Engineering S.A. – GREECE
Association De Patronage De L’institut Regional Des Jeunes Sourds Et Des Jeunes Aveugles De Marseille – FRANCE
Fundacio Privada Trinijove – SPAIN
People First Közhasznú Egyesület Pécs – HUNGARY

Financial inclusion is a challenge facing most EU countries. It was therefore essential to establish a broad transnational cooperation involving 8 relevant organisations from 5 different countries. In this way we are trying to enable this socio-economic challenge to be overcome.

Project summary:
The project aims to provide persons with disabilities with guidance to better access financial services and documents, and to adjust the financial services and products currently available to their needs.
Target groups of the project:
– persons with disabilities: the project aims to facilitate their understanding of the financial and banking sector through financial literacy training on the types of products and services available to them. The target group will be able to access the training materials through a web platform and related application.
– reaching the target group is also helped by the involvement of disability support networks and vocational training centers. These networks can benefit from the professional materials created and offer new services and support tools. At the same time, they can acquire new skills and knowledge in this field.
– vocational training trainers/instructors and service providers: they will have access to innovative training on access to financial services for people with disabilities. This will allow them to expand their course offerings in this direction.
Indirect target groups:
– financial institutions and banks, for whom the guidelines on the accessibility of financial services are useful information. This will enable them to design and implement more accessible services for all, while broadening their audience and reaching target groups that they have not yet reached. At the same time, managers and staff can acquire new skills through the project.
– SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises) and chambers of commerce, be able to develop good practices for integration in the workplace, learn about and apply good practices.
– political decision-makers who can further reflect on its social use by learning from the good practice training programme on financial inclusion for people with disabilities.

Involving target groups is a key element of the project, so stakeholders are involved in the national teams from the start as focus groups, brainstormers and testers.

Project outputs:
The innovation of the CODE project is that it promotes the application of the universal design model and social inclusion to the financial, banking, insurance and business environment. CODE is a pilot project that aims to enhance financial literacy among people with disabilities.
It will foster inclusion of the target group in the financial system and access to financial products/instruments by the collection and sharing of best practises of inclusion at EU level (IO1) and the creation of an interactive map for users i.e. a platform and an app that everyone can use (IO2). The project will finally create a new training course composed of modules and guidelines to be used by trainers and people with disabilities to deal with banking institutions (IO3).

The main task of People First Association as a Hungarian partner in the project is:
As in all international projects, our main task is to promote the principle of “Nothing about us without us”. In addition, our main tasks are the design and development of the CODE inclusive platform in the framework of the training course and digital tools, in cooperation with the Greek partner. And in the framework of the piloting of the course, the final fine-tuning of the materials developed with the help of our association members.

👉Follow us on Facebook too: CODE project

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. 

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.

The project’s communication platform is now ready! From now on, follow the project’s news and the best practices in accessible tourism from around the world there. Since it is an interactive platform, feel free to comment, discuss, connect, and build a community and joint projects together! Click here to access the platform: https://hiddencity.eu

Project title:
Walk in Our Shoes – Inclusive city adventure
Social Development, promoting an inclusive mindset in society and addressing protection and empowerment of minorities

Project period:
20.09.2023–10.02.2025 

Supporter:
The International Visegrad Fund: https://www.visegradfund.org/

Partner organisations:
People First Public Benefit Association, HUNGARY (https://peoplefirst.hu/en/)
European Youth Centre Břeclav z. s., CZECHIA (https://eycb.eu/en/)
SOWELO Foundation, POLAND  (https://sowelo.net.pl/) 

Project summary:
Spreading social sensitization in countries where democracy and human rights need to be strengthened. As a good practice, we share an innovative solution with our partners to spread the importance of accessibility.  

Accessibility and barrier-free tourism needs to be strongly promoted in the V4 countries (Czechia, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary). However, the receptivity is there in the V4 countries, the precedents are also there (accessibility efforts, laws, the society is receptive), so there is something to build on.
Lack of accessibility currently makes life difficult for many social groups. There is hardly a topic where the target group is so broad: not only disabled people are affected, but also the elderly, families with small children, people with temporary disabilities and everyone who wants to live more comfortably without barriers.
Accessibility is a problem at European level, but it is a definite deficiency in the former Eastern European countries (including V4). The kind of a playful, cheerful, self-experience-based form of social sensitization that our project offers as the best practice is much more effective. Society can benefit from being able to approach a social problem as an own experience. 

We want to create a network where we can share our experiences. We have a special, proven, good practice, and we would like to disseminate it within the framework of this project.. People First Public Benefit Association therefore offers our Hidden City TorTour as its best practice in this project.
https://peoplefirst.hu/en/blog-post/rejtett-varos-tor-tour-a/
In addition to the implementation in partner countries, we can also see what further development opportunities exist in our Hidden City project.  

Within accessibility, barrier-free tourism is also a major area to be developed in the V4 countries. Tourism operators have not realised that barrier-free tourism itself is an excellent business opportunity that they should take advantage of.  Therefore, another goal of the project is to promote and develop barrier-free tourism, also in an innovative and cheerful way. Our aim is not to put pressure on tourism actors (neither tourists nor tourism service providers), but to show the need and good side of accessibility. 

People can only understand the problem if they can feel it.
This means that we need to make people feel and understand that social inclusion is everyone’s business. Society is enriched with each active member. Accessibility is the core element of independent living.  

We noticed that people are happy to help. However, there is an inconceivable lack of information in society about accessibility and the needs of disadvantaged groups. Legislation and regulations on the need for accessibility mean a lot. But because they are mandatory, and because there is insufficient control over their enforcement, they are not fully implemented. 

There is no similar initiative in Hungary, this is a special, unique project. It is also completely unique in Poland and Czechia.  Participants of these Hiddes City Tor-Tour walks will most certainly be accessibility activists with a powerful multiplier effect!  

Important added elements of the project:
The walks are guided by people with disabilities, for them this is a job and learn opportunity!
Walks have to be paid for, so this is an income possibility for the NGO.
It is an excellent possibility to build professional relationships with tourist providers, with other local actors and participants. 

Target groups:
Residents of partner cities
Tourists from partner cities
Multipliers 

Goal:
The main goal is to provide our Hidden City Tor-Tour project within the framework of this project as the best practice that we would like to spread. 

How does the project work?
The People First Association develops training materials on the methodology of the Hidden City Tor-Tour. Than People First provides online training for partners on how to create their own Hidden City Tor-Tour in their country. It is up to the partnerswhether they adopt our method based on what they have learned in this project or add their own ideas too.
After the partners develop their own projects in Czechia and Poland, we proceed to piloting, i.e. we test them together. 

Sustainability of the project:
We will create a network with partners, which can be expanded to other countries later.  We organize an online closing conference on topics such as: barrier-free tourism, results and sustainability, building a wider network, involving new partners, new innovation opportunities, involvement of tourism professionals, publicity.

Follow the progress of the project here, or on the partners’ Web and Facebook pages.

Take a look at our Hidden City Tor-Tour with PécsTV:
Youtube People First

Project title:
Soul Mate
Mental care at work for people with disabilities 

Project period:
01.11.2022 – 31.10.2025   

Supporter:
Erasmus+
KA220-ADU – Cooperation partnerships in adult education 

Partner organisations:
KOPF, HAND und FUSS gemeinnützige Gesellschaft für Bildung mbH, GERMANY
People First Public Benefit Association, HUNGARY
SATIS, ITALY
Уърк Уит Ийз EOOD, BULGARIA
VSBI Verein zur sozialen und beruflichen Integration e.V., GERMANY 

Project summary in a nutshell:
People with disabilities remain one of the most disadvantaged groups in terms of employment and mental health.
Soul Mate addresses both issues combined by improving people with disabilities ́ opportunities to promote mental health and consolidate their ability to work or be an entrepreneur, thereby creating a prerequisite for a self-determined life.
Since there a no service specifically tailored to their needs we want to close this gap in the mental health care available to this target group. 

Soul Mate will provide new knowledge and concrete assistance on the topic of mental health at work for people with disabilities. This cost-free and easily accessible support service will contribute to improving their living and working situation.  

Aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Soul Mate promotes inclusion and diversity in education and work  

By combining each other’s expertise and skills partners will develop: 
-a guidebook for the e-learning and network software and contents
-barrier-free e-learning mental health training programmes for employees, self-employed or employers with disabilities
-a transnational virtual network for experience & knowledge 

 A little more details about the project:
Soul Mate enables inclusion and diversity in education by providing a barrier-free learning environment on the one hand and addressing the issue of mental health in the workplace with a special focus on people with different starting points on the other.  

It is clear that people with disabilities are still predominantly excluded from the digital world, which has a huge impact on the social and economic inclusion of people with disabilities in our society. 

Mental ill health – which includes psychological problems and stress – is an important issue in all EU member states, as it represents a major burden for individuals, society and the economy.Diagnoses of depression and burnout have risen sharply in recent years. Every year, more than one third of the entire EU population suffers from mental disorders. 

Our project combines both issues and addresses them by improving their opportunities to promote mental health and help consolidate their ability to work or be an entrepreneur. 

Of course, people with disabilities are just as, if not more, affected by mental ill health. Because they embody two socially still stigmatized characteristics – disability and mental illness – they are at higher risk of stigma and discrimination, which may discourage them from seeking support. 

Since people spend at least one-third of their lives at work,  it can be an ideal environment for mental health promotion and preventive measures. However, there are no services specifically tailored to the needs of workers with disabilities.The project aims to fill this gap by providing a workplace mental health training program for employees, self-employed individuals, or employers with disabilities. 

In the long term the projects objectives are:  
– to consolidate the target groups participation in the working life and reduce the risk of deterioration or illness, thus contributing to social inclusion and safeguarding the right to a self-determined life.
– to eliminate factors at work that threaten mental health by maintaining awareness and ongoing exchange about the topic.  

Target group:
– Working people with disabilities who are mentally ill. especially want to target people who do not have access to certain mental health care services because they are not available in easy-to-understand language, sign language, with subtitles or audio description. Our target population is not required to have a medical diagnosis attesting to their need for mental health support.  
– Self-employed individuals with disabilities who are mentally ill
– Employers who employ people with disabilities
– Medical environment
– Multipliers such as disability representatives, business associations, etc., 

The main task of the People First Association as a Hungarian partner in the project:
People First takes on the task of including the perspectives of people with disabilities from the beginning. This is important because the demand “Not about us without us” is a key principle in developing inclusive outcomes.

The integration of the peer perspective is discussed in the guidebook, but also in the tutorials. People First will be responsible for creating the digital tutorials, with the various “sub-tasks” shared among all partners.

Project title:
Establishment of an Independent Living Support Centre for people with disabilities in Pécs

Duration of project:
01.07.2021. – 30.06.2024.

Supporter:
Aktion Mensch

Project summary:
As part of the german Aktion Mensch application, the People First Association – Pécs and its German partner VSBI will jointly set up a Centre for Independent Living in Pécs. The centre is an accessible counselling and meeting point for people with disabilities, their relatives and cooperating partners.Based on VSBI’s concept and experiences, the centre provides training, information and advice to the target group.

Target group: people with various disabilities in Pécs, as well as public and private actors

Project activities:

• Establishing an accessible meeting point in cooperation with the House of Civil Communities in its separate building in the courtyard.
• Independent living counseling and training by peer-counselors 
• Building a network of supporters for independent living and establishing a peer-counseling system
• Providing general information and holding public events with cooperating partners
• Providing advice on independent living, accessibility and inculsion to people with disabilities and their relatives
• Developing a person-centred independent living model, networking with other actors and self-representative organisations in Hungary..
• Organisation of a regional conference on results.

The main objective is to strengthen social inclusion under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, in order to improve the independent living of disabled persons, to ensure their own choice of housing, and social participation.

This requires increasing the information provided to people with disabilities, civil society and public administrations about the UN Convention, inculsion, in particular the right to independent life, access to personal assistance, community services, strategic, implementation and financing models.

Project title:
ARTcoWORKers
Arts and People with disabilities – cooperative digital working for inclusion during the pandemic

Project period:
01.04.2021. –  31.03.2023.

Supporter:
Erasmus+ KA2
Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices, KA227
 Partnerships for Creativity

Partner organisations:
VSBI Verein zur sozialen und beruflichen Integration e.V., GERMANY
KOPF, HAND und FUSS gemeinnützige Gesellschaft für Bildung mbH, GERMANY 
People First Association, HUNGARY
Citizen’s Association for Multimedia Art Theater, Creativity and Culture SHADOWS AND CLOUDS Skopje, The Republic of North MACEDONIA
VitalPed, NETHERLANDS

Project summary in a nutshell:
The Covid epidemic has been the most shocking affair worldwide of recent times for all. In addition to its many negative results we have learned a lot from it, which are worth exploiting in the future. The most important thing is that cooperation and joint forces are needed. Another lesson is that there are certain groups of society who are affected much more severely by a crisis. They need help first of all.
The ARTcoWORKers project has already put it in its name: four countries WORKs together to help people with disabilities in similar difficult situations, using one of the most commonly understood and usable languages, the ART.
In the meantime we are sensitizing to social inclusion and showing a new way for artists who are also strongly affected in Covid.

A little more details about the project:
We want to equip people with disabilities with the necessary instruments and skills to find creative and innovative solutions against the risk of exclusion and isolation, but also against the social challenge of ensuring the inclusion of people with disabilities even in the pandemic. In particular, opportunities are sought for how the cultural and creative industries can face these social challenges and make their own contribution to overcoming the pandemic. Special consideration should also be given to creatives and artists with disabilities.
On the other hand, the cultural and creative industries were also affected by significant restrictions and lockdowns by unemployment and no incomes. Artists and cultural workers with disabilities are particularly affected, too.
Therefore we saw a need for a transnational project, which organises on one hand an exchange of experiences of people with disabilities and the arts and cultural industry from different countries. On the other hand we find the manifold resources and creativity of the stakeholder groups, which shall be manifested through cooperative training in arts and culture, how to claim for equal rights and self determination, to overcome the restrictions of the pandemic and to cooperate in a fair manner to create new business, employment and incomes. 

The project will produce four core outcomes: 

1. The ARTcoWORKers Methodology 
2. The ARTcoWORKers Curriculum and course for people with disabilities in the field of active citizenship and creative work 
3. The ARTcoWORKers Performing arts – 6 shadow theater plays 
4. The digital ARTcoWORKers Platform/Tool Box 

In the partnership are cooperating together with inclusive adult learning experts for people with disabilities, self-representation organisation of people with disabilities, pedagogical and training experts, artists and theatre union as well as a specialist in creative and inclusive coworking and virtual topics. This variety of geographic, structural and business diversity makes the consortium very competent and strong. 

The project will have the following main impacts:

• The involved people with disabilities are empowered and skilled to use arts and theatre play for self-representation and getting equal rights during a pandemic but also in other situations of discrimination. 
• People with disabilities will have better and equal access to adult learning opportunities especially to digital learning. 
• The broader local, regional and national public and the political decision maker are better informed about the UN CRPD, the rights of people with disabilities in general and during pandemic and they have started to reduce the discrimination and segregation of people with disabilities in institutions and at home. 
• The cooperation between adult training organisations and arts and culture businesses shall lead to reinforcement of creativity in non-formal and formal education. New skills and competences are created in both sectors. 
• The involved arts, culture and creative industry will find new business and job opportunities together with people with disabilities. 
• People with disabilities get a chance to work as artists and in the cultural sector.

The main task of the Hungarian partner (the People First Association)
is the dissemination, and the social media, plus create marketing plan and the project’s message to society.
In addition, final conference in Pécs and the transnational theatre play will be organized by People First, as well as the blended mobility training with trainees.
The dissemination activities means providing quality information to the target audience from the beginning, especially in social media.
Networking, a partnership that connects participants in the arts and culture sectors, people with disabilities, human rights organisations and the social/creative economy, is also led by People First.
We will work together with several local NGO’s active in the arts to implement the project.

You can follow the news of the project here:
WEB: https://artcoworkers.eu/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Artcoworkers-104689898685507

The International Cooperation Platform is available here:
https://artcoworkers-platform.eu/

Report on the international closing conference of the project, we held in Pécs in March 2023:
PécsTV News

Title of the project: “Let’s make Pécs barrier-free to all!”

Supporters: the businesses and residents of Pécs; in other words, us, Pécs people. The support was collected at the “Élő Adás” (Live Broadcast) community donation event of the Pécs Community Foundation.

Duration of the project: 01.2021 – 12.2021.

About the project:

This project is the third phase of our so-called sticker project, running since 2018. The team members, who, in the meantime, have become professional, survey the barrier-free locations of Pécs and its immediate surroundings and enter them into a free database. This work is done to benefit ALL OF US: people with disabilities, young mums pushing buggies, the elderly, or those with temporary disabilities.

In the long-term, our main goal is to create an inclusive society. We would like Pécs to become a city that is equally liveable for everyone, where people pay attention to all members of society, a place where every single person is important. 

From this point of view, creating an accessible environment is beneficial to everyone not only those living with disabilities. 

Disabled members and helpers of People First Association Pécs started exploring the city in 2018 in order to find locations that are really barrier-free. These locations have been categorised and added to a free, easy-to-use database, available both in English and Hungarian. 

This job, however, is ongoing.

For one thing, there are plenty of locations to be explored. At the same time, we need to keep an eye on those that are already in the database as there have been numerous cases where a barrier-free place was simply restored to its original condition, unusable for people with disabilities. For example, recently, a barrier-free toilet has been demoted to the status of storage room. In other – more encouraging – cases, it might take some time before, say, the promised ramp arrives at a restaurant. In addition, since we provide professional advice to create accessible premises, we need to monitor their implementation. 

 It is of crucial importance to us that local residents realise accessibility is good for everyone. It makes life easier for mothers pushing buggies, people with temporary injuries, the elderly, and even those who just want to manage their way through a busy shopping centre or railway station pulling a suitcase. If given the choice, they – more precisely we – all opt for ramps and automatic doors. While clear and visible signage in lifts, at customer service desks or in theatres is very welcome by the elderly too. 

Our partners in this work are local disability and tourist organisations, the local government, various organizations involved in barrier-free tourism, as well as the media.

However, the Barrier-Free Pécs Database is only useful as long as it is widely known and up-to-date. So, click on the link below to check it out, and let your friends know about it too:  Barrier-free Pécs (EN)