Rural independent life: “From institutionalization to comprehensive support for an independent life of people with disabilities in rural areas", training program for professionals

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals highlighted the need for the inclusion of people with disabilities (PWD), particularly during and after the COVID-19 crisis. Addressing this was crucial to building inclusive and sustainable societies resilient to pandemics and global challenges. In rural areas, PWD faced greater challenges than their urban counterparts, including lower school attendance, limited employment opportunities, restricted healthcare access, and reduced internet availability. They were often excluded from rural development efforts and perceived as recipients of charity or social protection, rather than active contributors to society and the economy. The Rural Independent Life project effectively tackled these issues. It fostered collaboration among rural development stakeholders, created new employment opportunities such as personal assistants, provided training for educators to improve the quality of life for PWD, and promoted technology as a tool for information access, empowerment, and autonomy. These actions successfully addressed the identified needs, enhancing the inclusion and indepent life of PWD in rural areas.

The main purpose of Rural Independent Life project was to create an innovative training program for professionals (social workers, adult educators, and municipal service staff) to promote social inclusion and independent living for people with disabilities (PWD) in rural areas. The project established the role of personal assistants for independent living and introduced innovative mentoring methods and tools for professionals supporting PWD in this process. Specific objectives included: • Contributing to the social inclusion of PWD in rural areas. • Identifying the informational and methodological needs of rural professionals assisting PWD in their journey toward independent living. • Developing a transnational workshop for adult education staff to design innovative training for rural professionals, social workers, NGO staff, and educators on deinstitutionalization and independent living. • Implementing training courses to mentor and plan PWD’s independent living process, defining the role and competencies of personal assistants. • Mentoring PWD in their independent living process through trained professionals. This collaborative effort addressed key challenges and promoted inclusion, autonomy, and comprehensive support for PWD.

The RURAL IN LIFE methodology adopted was reflected in the structure of the workplan, which included 8 activities: ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIVITIES Activity 1: Project management and coordination Activity 2: Dissemination and sustainability actions Activity 3: Project evaluation and quality assurance IMPLEMENTATION ACTIVITIES: Activity 4: Qualitative study on needs of professionals to deal with persons with disabilities in rural areas and subsequent report available in EN, ES, SI, TR, IT, DK. Activity 5: Development of a virtual community of European professionals adult educators, social workers and trainers of persons with disabilities in rural areas. Activity 6: Training curriculum on independent living and personal assistance for professionals who deal with people with disabilities and which comprised the following: *Plan and development of curriculum contents for train the trainers in A1 transnational course; *Development of the curriculum /digitalisation of contents for platform; *Pilot implementation of e-learning courses through digital platform in each country; *Evaluation of pilot implementation of curriculum Activity 7: Guide for professionals on independent living of people with disabilities in rural areas Activity 8: APP4INDEPENDENTLIFE, a mobile app for Android that contains short version of designed curricula on independent living and personal assistant of PWD and other interesting resources and info for PWD and professionals.

Outcomes of the project, including reached project results were: 1. The identification of needs of professionals from the local services in rural municipalities covered by the project; social workers, NGO staff and adult educators fase when they attend people with disabilities and to promote independent living in their social inclusion process. Main results were: • Report on the barriers and training needs of these professionals who attend people with disabilities in rural areas regarding independent life concept and also best practices on independent living initiatives in the rural regions covered by the project. This report translated in 6 languages (EN, ES, DK, IT, SI, TR). A qualitative study was conducted with 7 focus group celebrated with a total of 69 participants and 77 interviews to identify barriers, training needs, and resources for professionals supporting PWD in rural areas compared to urban settings. 2. Development of a Virtual Community of European of more than 70 professionals for adult education, municipalities staff, health professionals and social workers that attend persons with disabilities in UE rural areas, putting them in contact each other and with other professionals, in order to share experiences, knowledge, training, etc. 3.Training curriculum on Independent living and personal assistance for professionals who attend persons with disabilities. It comprises: • Content for a transnational training (A1) where 28 professionals participated in and pilot test the first version of the curriculum • 6 e-learning courses ( one per national language) hosted on the COCEMFE Sevilla platform, piloted with 91 professionals across 5 countries. • Evaluation and refinement of pilot courses after the participation on the MOOC courses 4. Guide for independent living of PWD in rural areas. This guide produced in 6 languages aimed to professional advising and mentoring for PWD in rural areas and it contains the necessary steps to make an holistic evaluation and posterior plan for independent living of PWD. It provides recommendations to develop the municipal plans for transition to independent life for rural municipalities. 5. App RURAL IN LIFE (APP4independentlife): Open under free downloading for Android that contains summary of the curriculum and other pedagogical resources. 6. Celebration of 1 National multiplier event by each partner (8 in total) to disseminate the projects results with a participation of more than 242 external professionals, stakeholders and decisión makers. Also, among other results the partnership developed some administrative and management guidelines and reports: Handbook for technical and financial management; Contingency Plan; including risk análisis; Handbook for project evaluation; Dissemination plan and tools and Sustainability plan. Impact and Results The RURAL-IN-LIFE programme equips professionals to tackle barriers faced by PWD in rural areas, providing them with practical knowledge and tools to foster inclusion and support independent living. The project promotes a systemic change, creating new employment opportunities while addressing depopulation challenges in rural areas. All results and resources are accessible at https://www.ruralinlife.eu/results/