Europaragedon

The EUROPARAGEDON project was implemented within the period of 1st January 2019 to 31st December 2019. There were 4 partners within the consortium:Stowarzyszenie Projekt Świętokrzyskie from Kielce, POLAND - the coordinator of the projectMargherita Sport et Vita from Margherita di Savoia, ITALYCooperativa Sociale GEA from Padowa, ITALY Networks of Cities with Lakes from Dorada, GREECEAssociation of Deaf from Split, CROATIA. EUROPARAGEDON was an initiative aiming to encourage social inclusion and equal opportunities for people with physical or intellectual disabilities through and in sport.The partners undertook the project in order to realise the following aims:- promoting sport as a tool for social inclusion;- empowering people with disabilities so that they can enjoy their full participation and benefit fully from participating in the society;- exchanging of good practises, methods to work with people with disabilities;- promoting international cooperation for the benefit of social inclusion and engagement in the lives of local societies;- pressuring the importance of enabling persons with disabilities to participate on equal basis with other people in recreational, leisure and sporting activities;- ensuring the accessibility and venues to as many people as possible;- encouraging people to lead healthy lifestyles and emphasising the benefits of being active;- encouraging strategic partnerships between some active organisations working within the topic of social inclusion through sport in Europe;-enhancing the policy concerning people with disabilities in Europe;Throughout the duration of the projects the partners planned 4 transnational project meetings in Croatia (Split), Poland (Kielce) and 2 meetings in Italy (Trani and Padova). No meeting was planned in Greece. All of them were completed as previously planned. All the mobilities were implemented in the same format. Each international mobility was divided into two parts - one day planned for sports activities including athletes with disabilities of different sports and disciplines, second for a seminar of exchange of good practice. The aim was to integrate the environment of people with disabilties coming from the participting countries, not only sportsmen but also their families, sports instructors and facilitators. There were different games and competitions organised each time depending on the composition of the groups (boccia, baskin, table tennis, archery, basketball, bowling, badminton). They were open for a general public and involving as many local citizens as possible. All the project activities were promoted in local newspaper and local media. Two transnational meetings were planned and coincided with the big sporting events organised in the city. In Poland it was The Festival of the Physical Activity of the People with Disabilities (attended by 800 participants), and in Padova together with the big Event to promote volunteering (600 participants). This helped in the promotion of the project locally. The second day was planned for the seminar of exchange of good practise between the partners. There were around 5 people participating in each mobility from each country, 3 from Greece. The number of the participants differed each time which was a consequence of the participation of the people with disabilities who had to be assisted. During each mobility the partners made sure to allocate time for the proper project meeting and to talk about the activities realised so far and plan the activities in the future. The partners were also discussing the possiblities of further cooperation. They applied for additional grant to realise youth exchange projects within the same partnership, which was successful. The cooperation between the partners was very successful, the communication between the partners regular and very efficient. The project complied with the European Disability Strategy 2010-2020 and met all the standards planned.