ACTA Center completed the Work Days activity, during the period 11-13 of April 2022, in
collaboration with the Alsterdorf Oradea Association through short training sessions with
young people with disabilities to benefit from a better integration in the workplace and in
society. Work Days is one of the results of the EFE project that promotes the inclusion of
people with disabilities by conducting research and developing training materials through the
involvement of partner organizations in Romania, Italy, Cyprus, Greece and Poland.
In Romania, ACTA Center collaborated with the Alsterdorf Oradea Association whose
mission is to integrate people with disabilities into society by training them in order to lead
an independent life through integration into work and society. We conducted group and
sharing activities in which staff and young people participated to improve their
communication and emotion management skills.
It was a pleasant experience also for our young facilitators, new ACTA volunteers, and
students at Colegiul Național „Emanuil Gojdu” din Oradea who had the opportunity to break
certain stereotypes and gain experience in teamwork because of Equality Future in Europe!
On the 10th of June 2022, Action Synergy hosted the Work Day, where Sophia participated in our activities, got informed about the EFE project, and together we discussed the possibilities of future collaboration.
Sophia was very interested to learn about our project, as her line of work and her own personal interests are aligned with the goals of the EFE project.
Alex from Action Synergy discussed with Sophia the day-to-day responsibilities of a project manager and a trainer, and answered all of her questions. Then, they participated in job shadowing activities together. The shadowing went so well, they even had matching pants on 🙂
On the 18th of April 2022, Eurosuccess Consulting hosted the Work Day activity of the project on its premises with great success and productive impact!
The learner, Panos Demetriou, participated in the activities organised and presented to him within the framework of the Work Day, and he offered valuable feedback in return.
The aspects of the hosting organisation regarding Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) were the main subjects that were presented and discussed thoroughly.
Additionally, advice was offered by the learner on how to sustain the project’s aims and outcomes by organising an annual Work Day activity which could be integrated in the hosting organisation’s CSR.
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The Work Days have finally arrived!
(posted 9 March, 2022)
The Work Days are one of the results of the European project Equality Future in Europe, a project fostering the inclusion of workers with disabilities.
The Work Days are the piloting of the content developed by the consortium which culminates with a one-day welcoming and placement of a disabled worker at an organization, where he or she can shadow the staff during their activities, and learn what the day-to-day work entails. The partner organizations from Romania, Italy, Poland, Greece and Cyprus have been working hard to make it possible, by carrying out research and developing material and support needed to promote the hiring and inclusion of people with disabilities into the workplace.
In Italy, from Co-Labory, we have already started the Work Days in collaboration with “La locanda del giullare”, a project of the cooperative Promozione Sociale e Solidarietà, supported by the Region of Puglia. “La locanda del giullare” is a project of good food, fun and social inclusion which will lead to the opening of a restaurant at Trani to be managed by people with disabilities and social fragilities.
It is here that the Work Days have turned into reality. Thanks to work done within the EFE project, Co-Labory has been able to provide short training sessions for the opening of “La locanda del giullare”. On the days 18th and 21st of February, together with the host organization, the staff with disabilities have participated in training sessions provided by Co-Labory. Through the group activities, reflection and a lot of fun, the future workers of the restaurant have improved their skills, in particular in relation to teamwork and stress management.
But they have not been the only ones to gain from the experience. We would like to thank all the people involved that have made these encounters possible. These training moments have also provided us the opportunity to learn from each other, to break down many damaging stereotypes and to open up many new expectations for the future!
Now, we can only wait to conclude the Work Day experience by getting this staff to work. We can’t wait to see the doors of “La locanda del giullare” open.
Here you can watch a video from our Work Day!
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TRANSNATIONAL TRAINING IN NICOSIA, CYPRUS – NOVEMBER 2021
EUROSUCCESS hosted a 3-day pilot training that focused on three different levels: The preparation of host organizations, the preparation of staff members and the preparation of workers with disability to participate in the Work Days, the next step of the project.
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TRANSNATIONAL MEETING IN ATHENS, GREECE – SEPTEMBER 2021
We met in the second transnational meeting of EFE project in Athens, Greece with visiting partners from Cyprus, Italy, Poland and Romania! At a meeting room in the centre of Athens, we discussed the project progress, next steps, and after our hard work, we were rewarded with some lessons of the Greek cuisine by our Greek partners.
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WORK DAYS KIT
The Work Days Kit is a tool that provides a set of skills for disabled people, employers and employees to help them host a full day at work for disabled people.
The goal of Equality Future in Europe – EFE project, is to help disabled people, to approach the labor market and the job environment providing a useful set of skills in order to be equipped with the necessary tool to face their “work day” supported by the staff of the organization that will host them.
The “Work Days” are an opportunity that will allow people with disabilities to experience one full day at work in a host organization supported by the organizations’ staff members interested in covering a tutor role for disabled people, having in this way, the chance thanks to this experience to gain a better understanding of the actions to undertake to support and encourage the presence of people with disabilities in the workplace. The “Work Days” can be considered as events that enable people whit disabilities to “take over” for one day service in a local authority, associations, company or other public or private institution.
The Work Days Kit can be considered as theoretical support in preparation for the “Work Days” and the mini work days; it is divided into 3 sections one for organizations, one for supporting staff and one for disabled people, each of which contains targeted skills such as emotional management, time management, approach to disability, the ability to work in a team, stress management and resilience, to allow all the subjects involved in the work day to have the basic skills necessary to better support people with disabilities, taking into account all the necessary aspects that their integration entails in a workplace.
Before getting to the “work day” the host organizations participating in the project will organize mini work days as preparatory workshops; during the mini work days, that will last only a few hours or half a day, these workshops will represent a useful occasion to collect feedback and suggestions on how to improve the experience before the full “Work Days”.
By CO-LABORY team