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Description
The employment of young people with disabilities in Slovakia is very low. The aim of the project is to use outdoor experiential education with an emphasis on the personal development of young people with disabilities and help them to be more successful in life. Barrier-free paddling brings new opportunities to discover their strengths, acquire new skills, set their own goals in an environment that almost erases differences in disability. The development of soft skills and determination aims to increase the chances of finding a job for this target group. The main activity of the project is 20 paddling workshops without barriers and mentoring for the target group, while specially adapted kayaks will be provided. The project offers an interesting form of involvement of young people with visual or hearing disabilities in sports activities. After the successful implementation of the project in Bratislava, the applicant plans to conduct such "mobile / traveling" workshops in other places in Slovakia.
Summary of project results
Our project aimed to help disadvantaged young people to develop their strengths, determination, motivation, self-confidence, goal setting, the ability to get out of their comfort zone and actively spend their free time.
Overall 17 adaptive paddling workshops were held for young people with special needs. These courses together with mentoring program were the main activities of the project.
Project involved 147 participants with physical impairments (mainly visual or hearing impairments), or with mild mental handicap. Some of them engaged repeatedly in the activities. The main 3 results of the project are: 1. Building internal human capacities (unique know-how, experience); 2. Building material capacities (kayaks, special adaptive equipment) and 3. Creation of an innovative educational tool with impact for a specific target group. We developed a project/activities for a target group that is one of a kind in Slovakia. During a project we created various partnerships, mainly with schools for youth with special needs and with the municipality of Bratislava. We also established contact with 2 partners from the Czech Republic and 1 from Sweden, we plan long-term cooperation and sharing of good practice in 2023-24.