YEU International continues to develop its capacity and expertise on the topic of inclusion of young people with disabilities. Within this frame, the Training Course “Creative Organizers: Project Management of Youth Activities Involving Youth with Disabilities” took place in Poznan, Poland between the 16th and the 23rd of October 2011, and was hosted by YEU Member Organization-CIM Horyzonty and supported by the European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe. The term “difabilities = different + abilities” was introduced and further developed.
The Training Course gathered young people and leaders in order to explore how to organize local and international youth projects for disabled youngsters, taking into consideration all the necessary aspects regarding working with young people with different abilities. During the training, participants had the chance to get to know more about the needs of young people with difabilities, as well as understand several project management issues related to the topic. As far as all the programme and logistics aspects were concerned, participants learned how to design and organize projects to meet these needs and how to be inclusive in each step of their projects.
Thanks to the creative group of trainers and participants, new projects ideas were drafted and funding opportunities were evaluated to implement the ideas. In addition to that, an inclusive project management handbook, which aims to increase knowledge and awareness about the different types of difabilities and how youngsters that are affected by them can be involved in projects, was prepared by participants. The handbook contains guidelines on how to deal with the each specific difability while organizing youth activities. After the training course, participants and trainers continued to develop the handbook to make it even more comprehensive.
As the training course also hosted participants and a trainer with disabilities, it was a real and good example on the topic itself and enabled the participants' learning process and self-development. We believe that all the outcomes of this amazing training course will be useful for the YEU network and for member organizations in enriching their youth work activities.
Pelin Candemir
EVS volunteer