The Implementation guidelines for the Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps Inclusion and Diversity Strategy has been published by the European Commission on 29 April 2021. This so highly-anticipated document is the result of the Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps co-creation process, in particular to reinforce their inclusion and diversity dimension.
What does the Inclusion and Diversity Strategy contain?
- Shared definition across both programmes
- The mechanisms and measures to support inclusion
- Defines the role of the organisations applying and the National Agencies managing the application process
- Provides good practices in inclusion and resources to help organisations running projects with people with fewer opportunities
At a first glance at EDF we identified the following positive points:
- A good overview of the mechanisms and measures available to supporting projects involving people with fewer opportunities including persons with disabilities (Chapter 5)
- The national agencies are should ensure providing accessibility features during their events and the information they provide should be available in several formats such as easy read (Chapter 7)
- The possibility to receive prefinancing to cover costs linked to disability
- Appoint in each national Agency and Resource Center Inclusion officer that are focal points for the EU institution and all the staff should be trained in issues linked to inclusion training on Inclusion
- The addition of Inclusion as an indicator for evaluation and the inclusion of people with fewer opportunities in the pool of evaluators of projects and staff.
We still see the need for improvement in the following points:
- Invisible disabilities are not included in the definition of disability (Chapter 4) .
- Accessibility of the platforms used by both programmes such as Youth Portal, Mobility Tool etc, is not addressed
- Training on accessibility for National Agencies and European Commission staff developing the platform’s website is not mentioned.
- More visibility of the measures put in place for people with fewer opportunities, those with disabilities too, should be better addressed to ensure that these are visible on both platforms websites and social media channels.
- Publishing the National inclusion strategies is encouraged but not an obligation for the National Agencies.
What can be done further?
On National Level each of you can be active and emphasise the importance of publishing the National Inclusion strategies,raise awareness on the accessibility of information and websites.
On EU level we will further urge the European Commission to ensure the accessibility of the platform used and the information produced by the Commission.
With the Inclusive Mobility Alliance of which we are part, we will prepare action points and documents that will help in your advocacy work.
Documents
Download The Guidelines of Implementation of the Inclusion and Diversity Strategy
Contact
Loredana Dicsi
Membership, Internal Communication and Youth Officer
Contact: loredana.dicsi@edf-feph.org
Twitter: @loredanadicsi