Project-management training to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities

What was the main purpose of this project?

“The need for the project was underlined a while ago. The project had extensive objectives: on the one hand, it aimed at developing the competences of parents of young people with disabilities in the sphere of fundraising and project management for the institutional development of their organizations and for improving the quality of life for people with disabilities. In addition to it, the project was meant to bring young people with disabilities to learning, participating in creative activities to, first, increase their skills, and, second, create a stronger capacity of employment.”

How did the project foster the life skills approach?

“During the project, we designed and implemented a fundraising and project management training course. About 80% of the course participants indicated that they now have sufficient motivation and level of preparation for applying the knowledge gained. As part of the training course, we organized a contest of mini-projects. 90% of the course participants took part in this competition. The 3 mini-projects that won the competition were successfully implemented.

Young people learning the basics of photo shooting

After completing the course, 40% of the course participants independently prepared project applications for open competitions. At least 50% of the submitted project applications meet the quality criteria and are submitted to the funds to receive financing. At the same time, a training course on photo and video shooting took place. The quality of photos and videos after the course has improved significantly. About 10% of the course participants received invitations to conduct photo and video works at events. At least 80% of the participants in the training course took part in creating videos promoting the interests of people with disabilities. The course participants created 3 videos promoting the interests of people with disabilities.”

What was the best practice learnt from this project that you want to share?

“Parents of young people with disabilities have mastered the basics and tools of fundraising and project management. They have sufficient motivation and level of preparation to apply the new knowledge, share it with others, and implement their ideas and develop the organization.

A training course on photo and video shooting was completed by 20 young people with disabilities. They increased their knowledge of photo and video shooting, learned how to create videos. Created videos have become popular on social networks and scored at least 3,000 views.

Overall, the project resulted in stronger awareness in the community about the needs of people with disabilities and untangling the common stereotypes around handicap people.”