The Provincial Federation of Associations of People with Physical and Organic Disabilities of Seville, COCEMFE Seville, through the technical team of European Projects, has met from 31 March to 2 April in Budapest (Hungary) to finalise the technical details of the meeting of young volunteers that will take place in May.
The event, which will bring together more than 50 young people of different nationalities and with different types of disabilities for a week, will be an important milestone, both for the repercussions that this experience will have on their lives, and for its relevance in the organisational trajectory of COCEMFE Seville.
This first meeting took place at the headquarters of our Hungarian coordinating partner. During the day, the final details of the selection process of the participating volunteers were discussed, as well as the methods that will be implemented to ensure a successful learning experience. COCEMFE Seville has shared with the partners of this project, the actions carried out in the last three weeks in terms of pre-training and group cohesion, ensuring that our volunteers have the necessary transversal competences. This methodology has been very well received by the partners, who have expressed their intention to replicate it in order to ensure that all participants arrive prepared to favour, among others, the relationships between them during their stay in Hungary.
Regarding the logistics of the event, the planned cultural activities were also discussed. The host partner invited us to visit the impressive art museum in the heart of the capital, where a travelling exhibition of the famous Hungarian painter Mihály Munkácsy, a figure of great national prestige for his magnificent pictorial work, is currently on display.
Subsequently, other areas of the city of great interest were visited, where an analysis was made of the accessibility conditions of the surroundings, which was key to the planning of the event. After this visit, we undertook a journey of more than 80 km by van to the town of Tihany, where the training meeting will be held.
Also, in this second meeting, it has been informed that next May’s event will be able to host more than 70 people with and without disabilities during the training days. At the same time, the technical organisers of this experience have adjusted the methodological details, the approach and the training objectives.
Given the inclusive nature of the project, in which people with multiple types of disability will participate -from mild to severe autism, hearing difficulties, physical disability and reduced mobility, among others-, the challenge will mark a before and after in terms of inclusion. However, we have been working for a year and we will continue during the next two months refining a plan that will allow technicians and assistants to clearly know their roles and responsibilities throughout the training, which will be key to the success of the project.
For more than 2 decades, our organisation has been strongly committed to the inclusion of people with disabilities through volunteering and active participation in solidarity actions. Thanks to the European projects, a new work opportunity is now opening up with a marked intercultural character, which promotes the development of social, emotional and digital skills in innovative contexts where the concept of inclusion is fully realised. At the same time, it reinforces the vision of a world without barriers that COCEMFE Seville and its member organisations have been defending.
Finally, the ultimate goal is for this experience to be as inclusive as possible and for all participants to take away with them a pleasant memory of the place, as well as new learning and competences adjusted to the individual objectives established. These will range from more concrete and simple tasks, to more abstract and transferable learning skills to different contexts of their daily lives.
Without further ado, we leave you with some outstanding images that we have captured on site. We remind you that the training process is still open for new interested young people (under 30 years old). The sessions are held every Monday at the headquarters of our organisation, from 16:30 to 19:00. For more information, please contact the European Projects Department.
