Vanessa, from Italy, will work at the executive office of Views International from September 2013 until July 2014 in the framework of a Grundtvig assistantship financed by the LLP programme of the European commission.
She will work as project manager, EVS mentor and benefiting by this long period in Belgium, she will study the vip Belgian situation regarding the support they get in high education (mainly at universitary level) and in the vocational training. She will also study how blind people are supported to get into the labour market. She will compare Belgian situation with the Italian one in order to observe good and bad practices for the inclusion of visually impaired people into the labour market.
With the support of the Grundtvig Programme of the European Union
Grant decision no: 2013-1-It2-GRU11-52536
The Grundtvig Assistantships adventure
The Grundtvig Assistantships adventure – a testimony of Vanessa Cascio about her experiences in VIEWS International
From the 2nd of September 2013 until the 13th of July 2014 I’ve been hosted in Views International executive office, thanks to a grundtvig Assistantship project founded by the Lifelong Learning Programme.
As the previous experience I had, this one enriched me a lot too.
In addition to take part into youth project management, I could experience myself in two new adventures:
The first one concerned the EVS mentoring and the second one concerned my desire to find out how visually impaired young adults are supported in Belgium for their universitary studies and for vocational trainings. In addition to that, I wanted to find out more about the measures undertaken by Belgian institutions in order to favourite the employment of disabled people.
About this second adventure, it was very interesting for me to visit some Belgian institutions like the Braille Ligue, the Awiph and the Aide-Handy service for universitary students.
Regarding the support which is given to students, this is pretty similar to that one we have in Italy. But, regarding the measures undertaken to favourite the employment, I found them absolutely interesting and innovative for myself. I discover the profession of job coach, a figure we have not in my country and that I guess we should implement!
From this webpage, you will be able to download the report of my research on these issues (for the moment available only in Italian).
If you are curious on what I found out, enjoy the reading!
About the first adventure, the mentoring, it was a great challenge! I can say it was not always easy, but it helped me a lot to reflect on how I can better support and empower another person. For sure, I learnt new things about myself that I didn’t notice before that experience!
And now… after having gained so much, I wish to keep “treasure” of this…. Ready for a new adventure!
With the support of the Lifelong Learning Programme – Grundtvig Assistantships
Project n.:
2013_1_IT2_GRU11_52536