Projects
Inspiration Project
The aim of the Inspiration Project is to bring into the CR experience with practical usage of new methods and approaches in teaching people with learning difficulties (so called mental disability) and inversely enable interested people from other countries (mainly new EU members) to draw upon experience from both the CR and abroad. The principal goal of the project is to gain inspiration from foreign innovations.
The project involves five key activities: Two yearly international conferences FOR CHANGE focused on quality of life and individualization of services; International exchange of information and experience, taking part in work groups enabling participation on international activities; Study tours for a group of lectors and other professionals to Germany and the UK; Thematic network to enable testing of the In Control a Supported Brokerage tool in the CR; New dimensions of the Internet portal kvalitavpraxi.cz for people with learning difficulties and foreign experts.
Three foreign partners participate on the project: European Coalition for
Community Living which provides international publicity for the conferences and will help with their preparation; The Siegen University which arranges the programme of the study tour in Germany; and In Control Partnerships, a British organization participating on the direct transfer of British innovations into the CR through its involvement in the thematic network.
Apart from conferences and seminars the project outcomes also involve methodologies and concepts, texts describing good practice and innovations abroad (e.g. conference proceedings), new international partnerships, established information channels from the CR towards the colleagues abroad who are interested in the development of the social service field here and from abroad towards the people with learning difficulties.
It is imporratnt for sustainability and mainstreaming of project activities and outcomes to maintain a functioning Internet portal and to secure involvement into the thematic network of representatives of regional self-government and educators who will incorporate the new knowledge into future educatioal events.
Sharing of Best Practice in Individualization and Deinstitutionalization of Services for People with Learning Disabilities
1st Stage of the Project (November - December 2008)
The project, “Sharing of Best Practice in the Individualization and Deinstitutionalization of Services for People with Learning Disabilities” is implemented by three East European countries which share similar recent history: the Czech Republic (Associations for Change, Prague), Slovakia (Social Work Advisory Board, Bratislava) and Ukraine (Coalition for the Rights of People with Learning Disabilities, Kiev). The project takes two months November and December 2008 with the clear plan to continue the project during 2009.
The project’s main goal is to support changes within the social services system from institutional to community based provision, with particular emphasis on project partner countries.
This goal will be achieved by sharing examples of best practice and proven strategies in the field of defending rights of people with learning disabilities by: listening to the views of clients and their family members, improving the occupational skills of social service professionals, introducing person centred thinking and planning in social services practice, presenting and publishing examples of best practice in the deinstitutionalization and individualization of services.
The main components of the project are: the Prague meeting based on sharing proven strategies, sharing examples of best practice via the web site, sharing training experience and preparing the space for producing further examples of best practice via e-learning module.
All project partners plan to continue the cooperation in 2009 year. It is planned to:
• Launching training in quality management in social services (Kiev meeting)
• Collate further examples of best practices, adapt, translate and publish them at web portal
• Present best practices at the international For Change conference
2nd Stage of the Project (September 2009 – December 2010)
In the Spring of 2009 the Open Society Fund Praha gave support to the 2nd stage of the project.
The 2nd stage included a three-day course in Kiev named “Quality in Social Services and its Implementation in Practice“. Representatives of all three partner counties took part in the course – social workers from organizations focused on issues of people with learning difficulties. The course was supervised by experts from Slovakia.
5 new examples of good practice were collected (2 from the Ukraine, 3 from Slovakia) which focus more on cases of individual people than on whole facilities.
For more information about the project and the collected examples of good practice click here.
Project Transition
The quality of the transition from school to work and the successful intervention by professionals can be regarded as crucial for the further labour market performance of young persons with a disability.
The main objective of the project tra¡nsition! is to develop and disseminate a Curriculum for the training and further education of trainsition trainers which is based on the specific needs of the target groups and the social and political contexts in the partner countries.
The project tra¡nsition! partnership further aims:
1. to transfer the Austrian innovative model of good practice “Clearing” to new Member Countries
2. to set a joint standard of training by involving European experts & service providers external to the project during the extensive test phase
3. to learn from each other by comparing strategies and models
4. to develop and improve methods of transition for young people with disabilites
5. to strengthen and further develop the job profile of transition trainers
6. to raise awareness for the importance of the transition period which is crucial for the employability of young people with a disability
7. to create a network of service providers who are interested and active in training and further educating transition trainers
