Social inclusion of disabled and the achievement of equal opportunities of disadvantaged categories is a central subject in strategies and policies of states. Having the social inclusion of disabled as main and holistic objective, their labour insertion is one of the step and one of the mean to join it; together with the other elements that identify a fully social inclu- sion (e.g. education, rehabilitation, housing, etc.), the job opportunities represent for disabled one of the main obstacles and, much probably, the first chal- lenge for those involved in inclusion policies. In the definition of occupation strategies and of social inclusion processes of disabled, countries have to consider the opportunities of collaboration and co- operation first of all as an occasion of learning and exchange, as well as a possibility for defining wide-ranging policies, more able to intervene in combating social exclusion and discrimination.
The Overall Objective of SLID project is to impact upon improvement of quality of life of persons with disabilities in target Adriatic territories through de- velopment of an effective, innovative and integrated cross-border path of interventions for their social and labour integration. The purpose is to increase the capacities of SLID target territories/communi- ties to respond to the needs of persons with disabili- ties and creation of sustainable cooperation network paths for social and labour integration as an innova- tive concept of intervention SLID will offer for con- sideration for transfer and replication in wider Adri- atic basin. The Specific Objectives of SLID have been designed to provide solutions to problems that have been identified as key areas for removal of obstacles in order for the accessibility of social and labour in- tegration of the disabled to be improved.
- To raise public awareness and stimulate informa- tion dissemination and mainstreaming about issues related to people with disabilities and the social model of intervention in order to create the most fa- vourable conditions to their full integration.
- To build, reinforce and sustain the innovative net- working and cooperation among public bodies and private actors; service providers, disability associa- tions and employers.
- To design, promote and sustain a Lifelong Learn- ing System Initiatives, VET (Vocational Education Training), able to facilitate the access of the disabled to VET and labour opportunities, thus increasing their employability and competitiveness in the open labour market.
- To analyse, verify and improve the employability conditions of the disabled in the target Adriatic ter- ritories 5. To stimulate and facilitate the exchange of techni- cal, scientific and managerial expertise among the stakeholders relevant to social and labour integra- tion of the disabled in Adriatic territories.
Beneficiaries are disabled people (physical, psy- cho and/or sensorial), for whom the access to the equal opportunities in terms of education, training and work are reduced. Target group is made of actors, from public and private field, who will be influ- enced or who will influence the project realization (Local Authorities, Local Health System, Local and Sectoral Development Agencies, Organisation of the Civic Society, Universities and research Cen- tres, Trade Unions and Employers’ Associations and Local Entrepreneurial System. SLID is also in- tended to influence the improvement of ca- pacities of target communities to respond to the needs of persons with disabilities through provision of equal access to rights and opportunities. It is also expected to produce Integrated SLID Recommended Paths for Social and Labour Integration of the Disabled for future reference and potential replication in wider Adri- atic basin. Hence, SLID partnerships have been care- fully balanced between local and regional govern- ments (3), public institutions (3), private non-profit (4), and profit organizations (1) in order to achieve greater impact on how inter-sector, bottom-up and cross-border cooperation is fostered and facili- tated, and sustainability of the project secured.
SLID is organized in 7 complementary and cross-cutting Work Packages (WP) that will be implemented over the period of 30 months. Project Interventions will focus on following programmatic areas: public awareness, education and employ- ability of persons with disabilities; empowerment of stakeholders; user-friendly and accessible cross-border knowledge base and networks, and recommended paths of interventions for future reference. Respecting CBC principles agreed upon during joint project preparation initiated by DES and Split-Dalmatia County, a joint project management and coordination, staffing and financing will be secured. SLID implementation will be directed, supported and supervised by the LB (Split-Dalmatia County) and two committees: the Management Committee (MC) and the Scientific Committee (SC).