Activities – Be.Safe

Final Transnational Project Meeting in Brussels, Belgium

The 5th and last transnational project partners meeting was held in Brussels, Belgium, on 2nd and 3rd October 2019.

During the first day, partners met to give feedback on the impact of the multiplier events, which gathered positive results in all countries and sparked interest from participants. Partners also evaluated the project and discussed the impact of the activities and how to improve the project’s sustainability. Partners talked about the importance of implementing this project in other countries and making its tools more widely available.

During the morning of the second day, partners finalised the guide to support police in better communicating with people with intellectual disabilities. They also discussed the AAC (Alternative and Augmentative Communication) tool that was developed to enable communication between the police and victims who are non-verbal or may have difficulty to speak.

In the afternoon, partners participated in the multiplier event of the project, held at the European Economic and Social Committee. The topic was cybercrime and the importance of making the internet safer and accessible for everyone. At the event, speakers from the European Economic and Social Committee, UNIA and Victim Support Europe presented their work on the matter. Participants had the opportunity to hear from Elissavet Vozemberg-Vrionidi, Member of the European Parliament (MEP), who was rapporteur on the 2017 report related to the fight against cybercrime.

Polish MEP Magda Adamowicz, who launched a movement against hate speech, also contributed to the event. She explained that the topic of hate speech brought her to the European Parliament: “We must not forget that it is the perpetrators who are responsible, and to use the sanctions we have.” Magda Adamowicz offered her cooperation on the issue.

A representative of MEP Janina Ochojska attended the event and also said that Janina Ochosjka would be happy to cooperate on the issue.

At the end of the event, project partners expressed the importance of European policy makers committing to making the internet safe and accessible for all.

Blended mobility of adult learners – course for persons with intellectual disability

Adults with intellectual disability must have the skills to use the internet safely and knowledge of what to do if something bad happens. These issues were the topic of the courses, which took place in Warsaw on 11-15 June 2019. The participants of the five-day training ‘How to recognize, avoid and deal with dangerous situations on the Internet’ were adults with intellectual disabilities and persons supporting them from five countries: from Belgium/France, the Czech Republic, Macedonia, Portugal and Poland.

Despite the extreme heat, five days of the course passed quickly. The participants learned what private data is, which data can be freely shared on the Internet and which not, what Internet crimes the user is exposed to and how to defend against them. At the same time, they learned how not to become a person committing a crime or using hate speech. Participants learned to use the database with rules on safe behavior and educational videos created by the partners. They also got acquainted with the publication written in a text easy to read and understand titled “How can the police help me – a guide for self-lawyers.” The brochure contains basic information about the police – uniforms, tasks and activities, about the rights of a person with intellectual disability who has been the victim of an internet crime, about their obligations, about discriminatory behavior and about the procedures that the person will have to deal with when report the crime to the police. During the course meeting with the police was organized. Participants had the opportunity to learn about reporting procedures, see police jobs, ask questions.

The presentation of the application prepared as part of the project in cooperation with DKK Development aroused great interest. When a person with problems speaking clearly wants to notify the police about a crime, until now he has been forced to ask for help to a support person who understands him, at least in part. The application allows such a person to speak almost “in his own voice”. The application user uses prepared graphics by building a sentence from selected images, and the application reads a grammatically correct sentence. Project partners have expanded the application’s resources so that it can be used to tell police about the problems the user may have encountered while working on the internet.

During the course participants not only learned. They had fun during the international discotheque. And on the 4th day participants visited Polish Countryside Museum in Sierpc.

Package of course materials can be uploaded from Library.

4th Transnational Project Meeting in Kumanovo,North Macedonia

4^th transnational project partners meeting was held in Kumanovo, North Macedonia, on 15^th and 16^th March, 2019.

During the meeting, partners and volunteers were joined by representatives of software development company DKK. DKK Development created the AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) tool ‘’TIM’’.

During the first day, partners had a discussion for agenda of the course for people with intellectual disabilities which will be held in Poland, in June.

The second part of the meeting was about AAC tool which shall support the police, and the people with intellectual disabilities and communication difficulties, facilitating the communication. Project partners had the opportunity to get to know and try out the ‘’TIM’’ application.

The day was finished with diner in ‘’Baba Cana’’ restaurant, where the meeting participants had the chance to taste the Macedonian kitchen.

The second day the partners worked in groups on digital guide for police which shall explain how to communicate with people with intellectual disabilities, and an easy-to-read brochure for how to deal with internet crime and violence. As a result of this work, partners prepared structured publication, distributing the work among each other and created a timeline for creating the remaining outputs.

Short-term joint staff training in Portugal

In the beginning of February, project partners, as well as teachers and trainers from different organisations and institutions supporting adults with intellectual disabilities met for the course “How people with intellectual disabilities can deal with dangers on the internet; Protection and support”. The course took place in Portugal, at the Instituto Politechnico de Santarém.

Project partners shared the knowledge gained during the course of the project. Skills and competences of adult educators to be developed include:

knowledge of risks when using the internet, types of crime, violence;
how to recognize that a person with an intellectual disability has experienced or is experiencing a dangerous situation online, taking into account indirect symptoms;
knowledge of procedures regarding the prosecution of crime;
how to support a victim with an intellectual disability and how to help avoid dangers.

The course dealt with topics such as:

good practices in supporting people with intellectual disabilities in using the internet,
well-known cases of cyber crime,
how to recognize that a person has been abused and how to give support,
the project’s database with safety rules

Course participants were very impressed when meeting a mother whose daughter has an intellectual disability and has experienced violence from a stranger she met on social media. The participants also had the opportunity to meet with Portuguese policewomen and policemen who described their national prosecution system, as well as how they support victims, and their crime prevention methods in the field of internet crime. This was a chance for reflection and for comparisons with different countries.

After the training, project partners and course participants had the chance to mingle during an intercultural event. Every country presented its cuisine, folklore, dances and landscapes. The Polish team had prepared a film specifically for the course showing the cities and countries of course participants.

The course was conducted in Santarém – a city and municipality located in the district of Santarém in Portugal, 50 km from Lisbon. The city of Santarém was the home of the Portuguese kings throughout the middle ages. It is the city with Portugal’s finest ensemble of Gothic architecture, present in its walls, churches, convents and monuments like a Gothic fountain with a king’s seal. Course organizers and participants were invited to a guided walk through the city following a meeting with the mayor of Santarém.

The intensive course conveyed important knowledge to participants. They left Portugal with new skills, new professional contacts and with new friends from abroad.

Project partners will probably meet the majority of the participating teachers again in June in Warsaw where a course for people with intellectual disabilities will be held.

3rd Transnational Project Meeting in Lisbone

This time (30th of November – 1st of December 2018) partners met in Lisbon.

The main problems discussed during the meeting covered:

films made for O2 Intellectual Outputs – partners watched films and shared their comments;
program of course for teachers;
program of course for persons with disability.

2nd Transnational Project Meeting in Prague

On the 15th and 16th of June 2018 the partners participating in this project met in Prague. We were hosted by Společnost pro podporu lidí s mentálním postižením v České republice (Inclusion Czech Republic).

The meeting was very helpful.

The first important issue was the collection of case studies. The partners agreed on the title as well as the format and established some deadlines regarding translating the information into different languages and other matters.

The partners also discussed changing the form of the navigation buttons, including the button indicating easy-to-read content.

The partners considered the changes proposed previously to the database and developed a list of amendments and new options.

The new and improved version of the database will be online soon.

A very interesting part of the meeting was the discussion and brainstorming regarding the course programmes. The project partners will develop educational materials and provide trainings for people working in adult education and support persons on the one hand, and people with intellectual disabilities, on the other. The courses will take place in Portugal and in Poland and will focus on the main topics of the project, including how to recognize that someone has been a victim of crime on the internet and how to support such a person.

Here you can find some photos of the meeting.

1st Transnational Project Meeting in Warsaw

On the 8th and 9th of December 2017 the project partners partners met in Warsaw. The 1st Transnational Project Meeting was held at the office of the Polish Association for Persons with Intellectual Disability (PSONI).

At the beginning of the meeting Wiesława Włodarska, PSONI’s accountant, explained the main rules in finance management of Erasmus+ KA2 projects.

The partners agreed upon dates for upcoming project meetings and activities, based upon the project application.

During the second day of the meeting, the partners reflected upon the design of the project portal and started to work on the case studies which will form the basis for the other project activities.

Some photos from the meeting can be found in the gallery.

The Be.Safe project has just started!

Today the new „Be.Safe“ project started.

Two years of exciting work are ahead! The project partners are looking forward to a fruitful collaboration.