Employment – Views International

VIP Tech Job: Time 2 Act project has come to an end

Views Volontaire — Tue, 30 May 2023 10:47:54 +0000

After two years of intense work with an enthusiastic community of young VIPs, educators and trainers, we can finally share complete access to all project results and methods.
These tools can be used by educational institutions and workplaces to employ and include young VIPs in the workforce on equal terms to their sighted counterparts.

During the final months of the project, the partnership carried out local and international events to disseminate and promote the complete and accessible versions of all the results of the VTJ2 project and its predecessor VIP TECH JOB. Partners will continue to network with relevant stakeholders to ensure the sustainability and use of all the project results.

A review of the project’s results

The VTJ2 project was developed as a response to the official statistics that show that the great majority of young and adult VIPs are left out of the employment sectors, despite their efforts, skills and competencies to find work as most employers are unaware of their abilities and knowledge acquired.
In addition to that, there is an expressed need for young VIPs to find actual and long-term employment, to co-create universally accessible workplaces and actively participate in society.
For this reason, the VTJ2 partnership built further on the results of the first VIP TECH JOB project by introducing a series of tools and resources that helped raise awareness by bringing together the voices, experiences and opinions of young VIPs.
Through tips and guidance for workplaces, it was possible to promote reasonable adjustments to support the participation of VI employees, while also providing them with extensive information on helpful legislation and state provisions.
The project results are now fully available and can be directly accessed via the project’s website: www.viptechjob.eu

Results in a nutshell:
● How-To platform: A series of mini-courses addressed to young VIPs and counsellors to provide them with useful information on addressing potential employers, preparing themselves for a job interview, learning their rights and responsibilities for new opportunities part of the VIP TECH JOB’s results
● Web App: An online web application addressed to job seekers and employers. It provides space for announcing open positions, facilitating research, interaction and accessible tools for job seekers to create their CVs and motivation letters. This tool keeps a record of interactions for future reference part of the VIP TECH JOB’s results
● Accessibility Toolbox: A complete educational curriculum, accompanied by practical guides addressed to trainers/educators, employers/recruiters and young VI job seekers. It aims to support the efficient use of the VIP TECH JOB/VTJ2 results, work on job-seeking practices, and familiarise with national and European legislations that facilitate access to employment. It is also useful to understand basic concepts and practices to make
workplaces – and not only – universally accessible and inclusive – part of the VTJ2’s results.
● Podcast: A series of episodes related to the preparation for job seeking and the job market. Through several interviews with VIPs, listeners can find out about their personal and professional experiences. Moreover, they discuss accessibility and technological development and voice their expectations, wants and wishes for the future – part of the VTJ2’s results
● Video Pack: A set of two distinct results: a practical guide (click here for the link) and a documentary (click here for the video). The practical guide aims to motivate young VIPs to make their own video presentations and feel more comfortable sharing their image as professionals.
On the other hand, the documentary aims to raise the voices of young VIPs. They share the importance of accessible spaces and practices, inclusion and their own opinions and experiences. In addition, young VIPs assess the VTJ2 project and its activities, by offering their insights for future and similar projects as part of VTJ2’s results.
The VTJ2 results are available in English, French, Spanish, Italian and Greek whereas the outputs of the previous project are also available in Romanian.
The WebApp is available in Polish too.

In addition to the multiplier event in Brussels, the Italian, Spanish and Greek organisations also organised local events:

The Italian partner organised its multiplier event on 23 February at AFORISMA’s premises in Pisa (Italy).

The event brought together various guests from local employment services, representatives of local political parties and the regional administration.

In addition, youth and disability organisations and individual participants enthusiastically joined the dissemination activity. During the presentation, AFORISMA showed a video collecting the experiences of the Italian participants of the training activity (LTTA) in Granada.

After the video, the organisers received positive feedback on the VTJ2 initiatives that enabled DV participants to travel and experience valuable training abroad. The audience as a whole was enthusiastic about the project’s activities and the results achieved over the lifetime of VTJ2.

At the end of the event, the audience expressed their willingness to suggest the results of the project to their colleagues and peers.

The Greek partner, DAFNI KEK, organised its multiplier event on 6 March in Thessaloniki, as it is the most accessible city in Greece and the majority of young DVs live and work there.

It boasts many inclusive educational initiatives, although access to employment and internships is still rare. The event took place at the School for the Blind, which is the regional department of the Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Blind. The outreach activity was joined by young blind and partially sighted people, educators from special education vocational schools and representatives of local, regional and national blind people’s associations.

The discussion that emerged from the presentation of the project and its results was very interesting and intense. It brought to the surface many relevant experiences from all participants and suggestions for future interventions.

The Spanish partner, DOCETE OMNES, organised its multiplier event on 13 March in Granada. In preparation for the event, two experts in the field of vocational integration and accessibility for people with vision impairments, Sandra Fernández and Antonio Tejada, were selected to talk about their experiences and share data and real cases in order to offer a broader perspective on the reality of people with disabilities.

The multiplier event was disseminated via a number of organisations and institutions linked to disability and inclusion, as well as recruitment companies. The target audience was made up of teachers and students in the technical training courses for higher technicians in socio-cultural activities and higher technicians in social integration.

The activity was a success because the team overcame the main challenge of involving and reaching the most relevant players for disseminating the project. Participants showed an interest in using the project’s tools in their daily or future work to become diversity ambassadors.

During the event, several topics related to the inclusion of DVs were discussed, which generated great interest among the participants, who expressed a positive opinion of the project tools.

“VIP-Tech-Job: Time 2 Act!” is a project developed within the framework of Key Action 2 of the Erasmus+ programme. The project is coordinated by VIEWS International (Belgium) and is based on the cooperation between AFORISMA (Italy), Docete Omnes (Spain) and DAFNI KEK (Greece). The project “VIP Tech Job: Time 2 Act!” targets visually impaired people (VIPs) and aims to promote their inclusion and integration through employment, while encouraging active citizenship and lifelong learning. It develops three distinct outcomes in the form of learning materials and interactive resources based on the results of the parent project “VIP Tech Job”, taking into consideration accessibility issues that directly involve VIPs through discussion groups, learning activities, mobilities and international events.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Vip-tech-Job : Time 2 Act ! – Transnational Meeting Athens

OfficeViews — Sun, 13 Nov 2022 15:53:39 +0000

From 21st to 22nd September, the project partners met during the transnational meeting in Athens (Greece). Partners originally planned to meet in Patras, but due to the unfortunate difficulty in reaching the city directly through the airport the meeting was unanimously decided to take place in the Greek capital. Luckily, the KEAT (Center for Education & Rehabilitation) offered their warm welcome and hosted the event. For their hospitality, the project members are grateful: we thank all the KEAT staff for their support and work!

It was a very fruitful and rewarding meeting, since everyone present got to experience the concrete project’s results after one year and a half of work. Despite minor adjustments, most of the work is completed and ready to be shared with everyone during national and international multiplier events!

Youth First

OfficeViews — Tue, 11 Oct 2022 22:26:08 +0000

In the European Year of Youth, five EU Agencies, Cedefop, Eurofound, ELA, EU-OSHA and ETF came together to organize an event with the EMPL Committee of the European Parliament to share their insights and explore the challenges and opportunities for young people in times of uncertainty. The Directors of the five Agencies together with MEPs and other experts discussed working conditions for young people, youth policies, wellbeing and mental health, access to education and training, opportunities for cross-border mobility, and realities in EU neighboring countries. VIEWS International attended this event and would like to share the outcomes.

The event started with the five Agencies’ commitment to recognize the importance of the development, well-being and participation in society and the labor market of young people in Europe. They further explained that they try to reach their commitment by investing in their potential, supporting their labor market integration, promoting quality jobs, facilitating skills development and mobility, and fighting economic and social exclusion. However, they acknowledged that many young people today still have difficulties getting hold of the opportunities to find employment or become the best they can be.

Speaking of opportunities, the next session was dedicated to that. The panelists touched upon the difficulty of getting a job in this changing world of work and the importance of developing the right skills to reduce the uncertainty of change. There were also discussions on how to create opportunities for jobs, education, training, quality work experience programmes and skills for the transition despite all of the challenges. They also reminded us of the advantage of the cross-border European labor markets. Lastly, this session also reflected on European youth policies and the general state of the world in terms of youth employment.

One nice thing about this event was that we also heard the voice of youth in the session called “Meeting the expectations of young Europeans” and the following sessions all revolved around giving a voice to one of the representatives of the concerned parties to speak up about the problems of the youth. After having listened to at least one young person, the five agencies reiterated their pledge to shaping a future that works for young people.

Then the event organizers steered the agenda to a different issue, which was supporting youth facing different challenges. This session covered investing in job quality, well-being and health and safety matters of young people with various different challenges such as disability. Furthermore, the group of young people not in employment, education or training (NEETs) was not forgotten either. This part of the seminar reflected on who they are really and how to design adequate support measures to meet their needs.

The event came to a conclusion after examining young workers’ job quality, wellbeing and sharing of good practices to protect the health and safety of young people in the workplace.

The learning training Teaching activity of VipTechJob project took place in Granada, Spain

OfficeViews — Tue, 09 Aug 2022 08:47:03 +0000

“VipTechJob: Time2Act!” (VTJ2!) is the continuation of the successful Erasmus+ project “VIP and new technologies: easy access to job market” (VTJ). It is a YOUTH PROJECT, focused on the employability and empowerment of young VIPs as active job seekers. It started in February 2021 and it will conclude in January 2023.

The learning training teaching activity of this project took us to Granada this time and we had an informative and unforgettable week packed with activities that are designed to draw attention to the employability of the visually impaired.

Normally, you go to school and you study. After that you ask yourself what kind of job you want to pursue in the future. When you find the answer, you determine the right studies or training that would help you to develop skills related to the job you would like to have.

When this part is done, you want to put in practice what you’ve learned for a company, NGO, a volunteering project or whichever organization you want to work for. Yes, but how to do it? How to prepare in order to get your dream job and what to say? For instance, are you going to send the same resume to employers or a different resume to each of them?

So many questions, and the VipTech project is there to support you in your preparation to find a job. The project tools include VIP Job Accessibility Toolbox, a one-stop-shop for all belonging to different target groups, which includes tools and resources to support stakeholders who wish to understand concepts like accessibility and inclusion in the workplace. There is also the “VIP Job Podcast”, a podcast comprising 10 episodes in different languages and explores success stories of young VIP’s inclusion in different workplaces in Europe through interviews and storytelling.

So, what was the reason for our presence in Granada? The goal was to discuss with other participants about learning how to take advantage of all these tools for easier job-finding and brainstorm about our individual ways of dealing with job search. We came together also to get informed about the employment of visually impaired people in different countries along with discussion of policies on disability across Europe.

During almost one week, we had the opportunity to participate in different workshops about employment, CV preparation, job interviews, and when to talk about your disability. We also addressed the importance of body language.

Another notable tool of this project is the “VIP Job Video Pack”, a documentary aimed at represent the hurdles of young visually impaired people integrating in the job market as well as their ideal views on a 100% barrier-free work environment while at the same time gathering tools and personal experiences in the use of video-making to tell their stories. We also contributed to this initiative and We were filmed to talk about our experiences as job seekers or already employed visually impaired individuals. In this way, we learned about the experiences of each other such as the tools we use to prepare our CVs and ways of finding a job as well as the difficulties we faced in this crucial step of job searching.

At this learning training teaching activity, all of us benefited from a wealth of information on the integration of the visually impaired in the job market presented by knowledgeable facilitators and we shared the conditions in our respective countries for people with disabilities. We also explored the use of the project tools developed to facilitate the job searching process of the visually impaired. If you are in need of guidance in your job-finding journey, I invite you to visit the VIPTechJob website where you will be guided to learn the best methods for you to find a job.

Share that platform with your friends because sharing is caring. And if you think that you can do something for this project, don’t hesitate to come back to us!

Youssri Mejdoubi, Selma Zengin, Ibrahim Tamditi

JAMBA Hub of Opportunities

OfficeViews — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 23:52:33 +0000

By Ivan Karastoyanov

JAMBA – Career For All is the social enterprise of Social Future Foundation, established by Joana Koleva and Iva Tsolova. The two young and lovely entrepreneurs started their mutual endeavour by organizing two annual career forums in the conference room of a very famous 5-star hotel in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. Representatives of local and international businesses with branches in the Southeastern EU member country, interested in hiring people with different abilities – or diversabilities, as Iva and Joana like to call them – had the opportunity to meet with disabled people looking for a job. The two of them quickly realized there was a huge gap between what skills and competences the job applicants had to offer and those the business was actually looking for. Therefore, their small team began organizing training courses and internships for the diversabled in partnership with some of the companies. In 2019, JAMBA Hungary came into being as a result of the efforts of Sara, a young Hungarian woman I met about 7 years ago at The Perfect Match – an EU funded Erasmus+ training course in Italy. Soon after, Iva Tsolova moved to live in Vienna, where she established JAMBA Austria. The first three years Iva and Joana succeeded in finding job for about 500 persons with different abilities. Ever since the pandemic hit, however, they managed to help only about 40 more people.

In order to achieve sustainability, apart from receiving one monthly salary as a donation for each successful job placement, the team of JAMBA developed several added value products and services and organized different fund-raising events. For instance, they offered a professional photography session voucher as a gift for various holidays and a fluffy, branded, body towel for colorful and pleasant experiences at the seaside during the summer season. They also received personally the blessings of the founder of the 5 km charitable marathon Run2Gether. With more than 2 000 runners with disabilities and 1 500 volunteers in five cities in Thailand, it has quickly gained the reputation of the biggest social running event in the world. So far, there have been 4 editions in Bulgaria and popular sports people, musicians, singers, actors, journalists also took part in them as good will ambassadors, promoting social inclusion.

It took the Capital Municipality Council and the local mayer administration more than 2 years to vote on providing a location for the career center and go through all the bureaucratic procedures and details. On Thursday, October 7, the JAMBA Hub of opportunities finally opened doors. Representatives of the local administration, the business, the media and different socially vulnerable groups were present at the event. Many international and local businesses made donations – money, equipment, furniture, voluntary work – to make the career center the one and only of this type in eastern Europe at present. The mayer promised that a guiding line from the nearest underground train station to the Hub of opportunities will be available for white cane users during the spring road reconstruction works in the neighborhood. Meanwhile, the team of Jamba will make a text description of the route and provide it for free download as an audio map.

The first training course for Junior Software Development specialists with diversabilities began on Monday, October 25. Two partially sighted men and two blind women joined the rest in the training. A day before the grand opening of the Hub of Opportunities, Iva and I delivered an online presentation to representatives of the company, implementing the training course. They wanted to learn what to expect from the people with diversabilities who enrolled for the training and how to prepare and adapt their educational materials and methods for participants with hearing and visual challenges. Many other trainings, social and cultural events are in one or another stage of implementation. Unfortunately, due to current anti-virus spreading measures in Bulgaria, any such activities are largely restricted.

Second transnational meeting of VIP-TECH-JOB: TIME 2 ACT

OfficeViews — Fri, 29 Oct 2021 15:04:48 +0000

Second transnational meeting of VIP-TECH-JOB: TIME 2 ACTFrom 14 to 15 October project partners met in Granada, Spain for the second transnational meeting, related the “VIP-TECH-JOB: TIME 2 ACT!”. The representatives from VIEWS International – Belgium, Aforisma – Italy, Dafni KEK – Greece and FDO from Spain discussed how to structure the content of three project intellectual outputs, in order to be really useful for the project beneficiaries.

The partners will produce a platform with a series of workshops, oriented to supported employment specialists, supporting blind job seekers. The objective is to provide to trainers and trained visually impaired people resources on how to be prepared for the meeting with potential employers, how to tackle the topic of impairment, how to work for better version of themselves, assistive technologies, EU work legislation ….

First intellectual output will inform them how the platform could be used and how to find answers of many questions related to the labor market access. During the meeting the partners designed the content of the second intellectual output; It will consist a series of 10 podcasts. Each episode will be dedicated to different success stories and best job practices in the European countries among the blinds. The third project product will produce accessible video content. It will show how the VIPS are struggling for equal access to the labor market.

Project quality, dissemination and public relation strategies were also tackled, so please follow the project updates also via our social media.

The partners are working to offer useful and structured resources, provided in accessible way. They want to help as many visually impaired jobseekers as possible to achieve their goal- to be hired in the appropriate workplace. Looking forward to the next project steps!