Adult education Courses on Capacity-building for the Engagement and Support of Self-advocates in the field of Leisure

The consortium applied for this project to address a crucial issue for PwLD: social marginalisation and the limited leisure opportunities. Many leisure activities take place in segregated form for PwLD and at the time of the pandemic (2021) the restrictions resulted in high risk of total isolation of PwLD. These barriers didn’t comply with the aims to promote inclusion and diversity in today’s society, therefore we aimed to expand the possibilities and forms of leisure by exploring new opportunities, developing knowledge and skills of the target groups. The need for quality leisure time and inclusion was visible in the project partner’s everyday work. To be able to support PwLD in participating, there was a need for professionals and informal supporters, who are better equipped in the topic of leisure and with appropriate tools, such as supported decision-making and the use of online and offline tools. The need for more informal relations was also experienced – we addressed it by giving visibility to the role of local informal supporters. To address the needs & increase community participation, the project aimed at the development and cooperation of the target groups about leisure: PwLD, professionals&local informal supporters

Through the project our main aim was to empower and enable PwLD to organise their leisure independently, thus exercise their rights set out in the UNCRPD. Through this, to participate to the fullest extent in cultural life and recreation and develop their quality of life. To achieve this, we wanted to develop a methodology and training package for the target groups – PwLD, professionals and local informal supporters – to help strengthen the supportive network of PwLD in an inclusive manner and take advantage of online opportunities. The packages aim to develop new opportunities for PwLD and develop their skills to be able to support their peers with disabilities and the wider community regarding inclusive leisure time. Through practical, inclusive and collaborative activities for our target groups our objective was to develop their competencies and support PwLD to become leisure facilitators and professionals and supporters to become leisure co-facilitators. A wider objective was to create a shared knowledge base from a European perspective that is free to access, use and adapt to the needs of people with different abilities.

At the beginning of the project, inclusive teams were established which consisted of the three target groups and ran the whole duration. This ensured the inclusive implementation of all stages of the project, including the creation of the learning materials. The first activity was a participatory research. The summary of it is available as Production 1. The research consisted of 3 parts: collection of good practices, Semi-structured interviews and a photovoice activity. The second activity stage was the creation of the English language learning materials (manuals and toolkits), which are Production 2-7. This was carried out by all project partners in pairs: one leader and one supporter for each production. This involves the manuals and toolkits and the MOOC (E-learning platform). The third stage were the international Learning, Teaching, Training activities organised individually for the 3 target groups for 5 days each in different countries. The aim of the LTTs were to test the learning materials, get feedback for finalisation, and to develop the participants, who all took part in both earlier and later stages in the project as leisure facilitators or leisure co-facilitators. After the LTTs, local pilot events were organised in each country, where project participants could put into practice what they have learnt. The partners also created the localised versions of the learning materials. (Production 1-6) The pilot events were followed with the multiplication activities: workshops and conferences were held in each country for the three target groups, mostly with the inclusive involvement of PwLD as trainers and speakers. Throughout the project, dissemination activities were carried out by the partners online and offline, accompanied by a webinar in 2024.

Concrete outputs of the project are 6 English language productions: P01) Based on the inclusive, participatory research, a research summary is P01, containing good practices, results of the semi-structured interviews and the learning from the photovoice activity. Based on P01, further outputs are P02) easy to read manual for PwLD P03) Manual for professionals P04) Manual for local supporters and practical guides P05) Easy-to-read toolkit for PwLD P06) Toolkit for supporters P07) MOOC (E-learning) platform of the curricula. P08-13) are localised versions of the learning materials in English, German, Slovenian, Hungarian, Dutch & Finnish, containing country-specific information. Further results are the LTTs (3 LTTs, 5-days-long) addressing each target group and having trained 47 participants. Pilot activities organised in each country with the involvement of 230 participants, who all learned about the project and the development of inclusive leisure time. Made connections, friendships and developed themselves. Inclusive workshops and conferences were organised in each country for different target groups. The workshops reached 117 participants, which were organised in a more active, engaging way with activities. The conferences were aimed and introducing the project and the results for a wider audience, reaching 239 participants. Further qualitative results are the knowledge and skills development of all the target groups, with special emphasis of the involved PwLD’s quality of life. Connections to peers, new local supporters involved in the organisations. Knowledge for professionals and a smooth cooperation between leisure co-facilitators (professionals and local supporters) in the support of PwLD.