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CODE Erasmus+ international project

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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

Project summary:
The project wants 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.
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. The final fine-tuning of the materials developed, with the help of our association members, in the framework of the piloting of the course.

 

 

The communication Platform is ready to launch

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The first version of the common Platform, which presents the project, the International Visegrad Fund and international best practices has been prepared. It also acts as a discussion forum for partners. The Polish and Czech teams will add their ideas to the website developed by the Hungarian partner, and then the joint work on the Platform can start. We plan to make it public and open to all interested parties after the project closes.

The Polish team is almost complete with its own sensitising city walk, but the Czech team has also been formed and is developing contacts with the city government.

We will meet in Pécs in May to present the Hidden City Tor-Tour as a best practice of the Hungarian People First Association. We also agreed on the details of this in the March online meeting.

 

Polish sensitisation tour already in testing phase

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News from Poland:
The Polish team Fundacja Sowelo started developing our own version of a sensitizing city tour. Our experts designed the route and evaluated the accessibility of the various attractions. Now the tour is in the testing phase.
We are excited about the possibilities and ideas that arise as we work together on the project.

 

An international group spreads the word about Hungarian “Hidden city”

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“I never used to care about what was going on behind my back, but while sitting in a wheelchair it has become the most important thing”
“Somehow it never occurred to me that you not only have to go up a ramp, but also down. And it’s scary in a wheelchair”
“I will look at the world in a completely different way after trying the white cane”
A large international team is taking these experiences home with them by trying the People First Association’s Hidden City Tor Tour again. (https://peoplefirst.hu/blog-post/rejtett-varos-tor-tour-a/)

Once again, they will pass on to many people those useful experiences that are not enough to say, they must be lived!

The team, coming from several countries, participated in a conference entitled “Disabilities and abilities framed by context” in the framework of the EDUC project of the University of Pécs/Hungary. At this conference Veronika Pataki, president of People First Association, presented our Accessible Pécs Database (https://peoplefirst.hu/akadalymentes-pecs/) to the international audience. The additional programme of the conference (MICE-Tourism) was the Hidden City Tor-Tour in the evening, led by our vice-president Gergő Berkes in his usual uplifting mood.

This is a fundamental objective for us, to offer our Hidden City Tor Tour as an accompanying professional programme for conferences, meetings and events in the framework of MICE Tourism. This programme on 16. January is a good example of this.

A pécsi Király utcában kihelyezett makett körül áll a nemzetközi csapat. Este van, sötét, a háttérben a kirakatok fényei csillognak. A makett a teret ábrázolja. Gergő, a túra vezetője, kerekesszékben ül a makett mellett és mesél az érdeklődő csapatnak. Néhányan már felvették a csökkent látást szimuláló szemüveget, a fehér bot is előkerült.

 

The training is complete, the project development starts

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Now the “Walk in Our Shoes” project will be really exciting! 🙂
The third training session held yesterday (05.12.2023) concluded the online training, during which the People First Association prepared the Polish partners Sowelo and the Czech partner EYCB to create a sensitizing city tour similar to the Hidden City Tor-Tour.

In addition to the project coordinators, the online trainings were attended by people working in the future Czech and Polish sensitization projects, people with disabilities, future tour guides and organizers. During the interactive trainings in a good atmosphere, we managed to get to know each other and the project better.

Now the Czech and Polish partners are developing the methodology and variations of their own sensitizing city tour, defining their target groups and marketing methods. In addition to the training, the training material developed by the People First Association will help them with this, in which they can find detailed information, suggestions and experiences.

By February 2024 we will see what great ideas our Czech and very active Polish partners come up with. We’re excited to look forward to it!
Of course, the experts of the People First Association will mentor the work of the partners throughout, we will hold monthly or on-demand online meetings.

Négyzet alakú logo. Baloldalon fönt szöveg: Walk in Our Shoes. Inclusive city adventure. Mellette jobbra fönt a magyar zászló, alatta balra és jobbra a lengyel és cseh zászló rajzolt képe. Középen egy rajzolt kerekesszékben ülő figura. Szemben vele, a magyar zászlóba belefolyik egy sematikus lépcső. Ezt nézi a kerekesszékes ember.

WHY Campaign 15: Why are old aunts with rolling bags “pushing”?

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In this WHY?, we make a small exception, since we are not writing about people with disabilities.
Or is it? Decide for yourselves by the time you get to the end.

You know that accessibility is important for a very wide target group, including the elderly. Thus, we share our lot and share a common goal in many things. This article is therefore about the elderly.

We often hear at bus stops, on buses, trains, on any means of transport: “why do the elderly push so hard when they take off?”, “why do they travel during rush hour, they don’t get there at other times?”.
Let’s think about this a little bit through with a story of my own, following the few days of my 85-year-old lively mother with hip replacement.

Let’s first look at that particular “push”, i.e. why do older people try to get on vehicles first? You wouldn’t think so, but there is a very practical, well-thought-out reason.
As soon as they board, they must sit down immediately – so you don’t sit in the front seats, but to move back in the bus! The bus drivers don’t wait, even if they could, they start immediately, at high throttle, and if the old man hasn’t managed to sit down yet, it will be a big fall. Understandably, at 85, they are no longer blessed with lightning-fast reflexes and rock-hard muscles. And the fall at this age can even be fatal.
The same when getting off the bus. You don’t have to be angry if they get out the front door – where you want to get on – because there’s no time or opportunity getting to the next door with great difficulty. Bus drivers are still ignoring them.
…………there are countries where it does, such as London, which is much busier than Pécs. Now what can I say to that? 🙁

Come the hated “witch-tank”. (Unfortunately, in Hungary this is the common name for the shopping bag on wheels, which is usually used by elderly aunts.) The very name is insulting. Honestly, if it weren’t for this hostile, contemptuous vibe about this handy rolling bag, I’d buy one too. And that’s what I’d be shopping with, not dragging my shoulders with all sorts of amorphous bags.

You wouldn’t think of this either, but the rolling bag has a very important function. It is also a support, a stable stick for the elderly person.
On the one hand, they really couldn’t stand flour and potatoes in a hand-held or shoulder-hanging bag. On the other hand, they take it with them many, many times, as safety. Because of this bus driver style(lessness), this is a reliable support when they need to get up well before the bus stop. On the street, support comes in handy even in case of a swaying or dizziness. The stable and practical rolling bag also serves as an excellent support when climbing stairs.

That’s the secret.

And now a few words about how to help an elderly person correctly?
– The basic rule here is to ask if they need help, e.g. when boarding or getting off the bus, or if they are standing out of breath in the middle of the pavement.

– Let the elderly get on the bus first, now you know why.

– Don’t sit down on one of the front seats, leave them free for those who really need to get to safety as soon as possible. Walk back in the bus and find yourself a seat.

– Do not immerse yourself in your phone sitting on the bus, saying, then everyone will solve their own problem, the main thing is that you are sitting. You can stand a few stops, at 85 years old you can’t do that anymore.

– Please don’t roll your eyes, don’t make faces, and especially don’t speak up, as mentioned at the beginning of this article. The old man feels, sees, hears this. Not only does he have to face the fact that he can no longer do many things in old age, he is deeply offended for it. Tragic social attitude.

Always think: you will also be old and you will get back what you give now!

Written by Veronika Pataki

Training continues

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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! 🙂

Our first joint training

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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.

The project logo is ready

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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!

Partner Training starts

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The People First Association will hold an online training for project partners between 7. November and 5. December. The aim of the training is to prepare partners to develop their own Hidden City barrier-free downtown walk.

The participants of the training are experts participating in the project and people with disabilities, who will organize and lead the future Hidden City tours.

We will hold three online trainings with Hungarian, Polish and Czech partners on 7. November, 21. November and 5. December. We leave an extra opportunity open if we think there is still something to discuss.

The training is based on the Curriculum and Training Material developed by the experts of the People First Association.
Topics include accessible tourism, goals and impacts, tour structure, marketing, preparation, post-production, financing, and experience so far.