Overview of the
VISAL project
Bratislava - 02/10/2014 - Romain FERRETTI
WHAT
o European project aiming at increasing the active
involvement of elderly VI persons in society
o 2 year- project (Nov. 2012 – Oct. 2014)
o Funded by the EU Lifelong Learning
Programme
o Initiated by the EBU Elderly Network
o Designed and coordinated by the EBU office
WHAT FOR
o To provide VI seniors with adapted learning contents
o To improve elderly VI persons’ social skills
o To increase VI seniors’ self-esteem and motivation to
learn further
o To promote elderly VI persons’ active involvement in
society
WHO FOR
o VI senior citizens in
Europe, whose
proportion in the
population is increasing
o VI organisations by
providing them an
adapted learning
opportunity for their
elderly members
o Elderly organisations,
retirement homes
BY WHO
o EBU, the European Blind Union
o Age UK, UK's largest elderly organisation
o BSVÖ, the Austrian Federation of the Blind and Partially
Sighted
o UNSS, the Slovak Blind and Partially Sighted Union
o HSS, the Croatian Association of the Blind
o RNIB, the Royal National Institute of Blind people (UK)
o Royal Dutch Visio a service provider specialised in visual
impairment (Netherlands)
HOW
o By training VISAL facilitators
o By creating a tailor-made training manual
o By holding pilot VISAL courses
(1 course = 7 sessions)
o By exploiting participants’ new skills during the
project
o By making it available for free to VI organisations,
elderly organisations, retirement homes, etc.
SESSIONS
126 sessions held over 2 years through 2 rounds:
o Croatia and Slovakia: 4 courses of 7 separate
sessions
o Austria:
• R1 - 2 courses of 7 separate sessions
• R2 - 2 courses of joint sessions (3-2-2 and 2-3-3)
• Additional: 1 course of 7 separate sessions
o UK: 5 courses of 7 separate sessions
Session in Austria
Session in Croatia
Session in Slovakia
Session in the UK
Sponsored by
NATIONAL CONFERENCES
o 4 events from June to September 2014
o Organised by former VISAL participants and
non-VI elderly persons
o Free to organise their event on VI, lifelong
learning, ageing, engagement, etc.
o 40 participants on average: elderly VI persons,
elderly organisations, delegates from
retirement homes, policy makers
Conference in Austria
Conference in Croatia
Conference in Croatia
RESULTS
o 1 toolkit in 5
languages
o 1 training manual
o 126 sessions held
o 169 elderly VI participants
o 4 national
conferences
o 2 videos (English & German)
o 1 resource website
o 1 national award (Austria)
WEBSITE
o Resources
• Toolkit (EN, DE, DU, HR and SK)
• Additional exercises
• Additional evaluation resources (impact)
o Media
• Photos
• Videos
• Testimonials & stories
www.visal-project.eu
THE FUTURE
o Toolkit: Translation in French, Spanish and
Italian (EBU)
o Courses should continue in Austria, Croatia,
Slovakia & the UK
o New course:
• in the Netherlands
• in your country?
o Facilitator trainings in your country?
You are the future of VISAL
CONTACT
www.visal-project.eu
Romain FERRETTI
EBU Project Officer
+33 1 71 93 55 31
ebuprojects@euroblind.org
THANK YOU