3rd kick-off meeting – December 2021

Young people with disabilities will have the opportunity to be included in environmental and sustainable development issues. This is the goal of Erasmus Plus funded project INSIDEE (INclusion through SustaInable Development and European Eco-citizenship).

The 3^rd kick-off meeting took place on 9^th and 10^th of Decembre in Almeria, Spain. It was organized by the Partner Coordinator Au Fil de la Vie (FR) and Verdiblanca (ES) and counted with the participation of representatives from all partners organizations – on-place and online.

During the 9-months online team work on the project activities, the project partners developed verry good and effective collaboration, using the professional expertise of all organization – the ones specialized in environmental education and project management: Alimos Soc Coop (IT), Ecological Future Education (LV) and Euridea (IT) and the ones dedicated to the support of disabled people like Nyama nevazmozhni neshta (BG) and Verdiblanca (ES).

Young people with disabilities are often excluded from environmental concerns and sustainable development issue because of a lack of adapted support. However, they have the same needs as the common public regarding information and understanding of their environment, discovery of nature, origin of their food etc. in order to better control their consumption and to measure their environmental footprint.

The INSIDEE project goal is to support the commitment, self-determination and empowerment of young people with intellectual and mental disabilities through popular education activities and promoting access to rights and information.

The project team has identified which knowledge is currently lacking and highlighted differences and similarities within the countries represented by the partners. Based on this research, we’ve designed educational materials for training trainers which will help mentally disabled young people to learn in terms of sustainable development and provide them with the necessary skills to become active and responsible European eco-citizen.

In the next few months we’ll develop training materials designed for mentally disabled young people and they will be trained to become eco-ambassadors and share their new knowledge with the people around them.