Value the Difference – The Finale
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by
stefan
PRESS RELEASE
Cluj-Napoca, 21st November, 2016
Babilon Travel Association completes the international project
Value the difference
FUNDED by the Erasmus+ ProGRAMME OF THE European Union
Babilon Travel NGO completes the international project entitled “Value the difference”, project which aims at a better integration in society of the young visually impaired people, both locally and at an international level, through various indoor and outdoor sports practices adapted to their needs.
“Value the difference” is a two-sided project, including a training course addressed to all workers, educators and volunteers who are involved in different activities together with the visually impaired youngsters, and a youth exchange part, which uses the competences and abilities developed during the previous training. The present project is a natural follow-up of two other local projects, subsidized by the City Hall and City Council, namely Terra Mirabilis – Touristic Routes for Young Visually Impaired People (2014), and Terra Cognita – Cluj-Napoca’s Historic Centre Made Accessible to the Blind People (2015).
The training course took place mainly in Cluj-Napoca between 3-11 November 2015 and supported the larger program held under the title “Cluj-Napoca, European Youth Capital 2015”. It gathered 24 participants from 5 European countries (Belgium, Greece, Italy, Poland and Romania), all being over 21 years of age. The venue of the training was the Special High School for Visually Impaired Students from Cluj-Napoca and it ended with three days of outdoor activities in Baisoara.
The youth exchange activity, being the second part of the project, was held in the Tatra Mountains, in Poland. A group of 40 participants, aged between 18-30 and belonging to the same 5 European countries, met and worked together between 3-11 November 2015. 12 of them were blind or had serious visual impairments.
10 people who took part in the training course in Cluj-Napoca were also included in the youth exchange program from Poland, having thus the opportunity to practice their recently acquired skills and give value to their experience gained during the preparatory stage.
The participants had the chance to explore a series of positive aspects concerning the implication of the young impaired people in sports and other outdoor activities, through specific means of the non-formal education. Some of the most important results of this project are: a better integration of the young disabled people into the local community; their process of becoming active citizens of the European Union, and the acute need of adopting a healthy lifestyle.
There is also a continuation of this project through the program entitled “Descoperim Europa Impreuna” (DEI) ”Discovering Europe Together”, which had its starting point in October 2016. The aim of this project is to build the necessary bridges between the young people with or without visual impairments from both Romania and other countries, so that they could get to know each other better, explore the differences between their countries of origin, to learn and practise cooperation and to eliminate the barriers usually set by the others’ ignorance, lack of information or fear.
Partners: The Special High School for Visually Impaired Cluj-Napoca, Youth of Europe Poland, VIEWS International Belgium, Social Care Network Greece, Mine Vaganti Italy and Cluj-Napoca City Hall.
For more information, you can search the following sites: valuethedifference.eu and babilontravel.ro, you can contact us at the following telephone number: +40 722634027, or e-mail us at office@babilontravel.net. Contact person: Gabi Nagy.
The press conference will be held on Thursday, 24th November, 2016, starting from 4.30 p.m., in the Great Hall (1st floor) of the Cluj-Napoca City Hall
You are most welcome!
Related articles:
Value the Difference – Press release (27.10.2015)
Value the Difference – Starting the second part
Value the Difference on local, national and international media
Translated by Codruța Popovici