The official STEADY project website was launched in May 2019 (www.steady-project.eu). The website was created by the Hellenic Paralympic Committee in cooperation with the Serbian Paralympic Committee and at the moment contains basic information on the project, its objectives, and its partners.
The STEADY website will feature news, project’s findings and updates, such as reports, policy briefs as well as opportunities for collaboration, e.g. events announcements, workshops and training sessions. Also, all the tools and guidelines that will be developed in the context of the SIMILAR project will be available on the website in downloadable format.
The website is currently available in English, but its most important content will also be translated in Spanish, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Austrian, Bulgarian and Serbian. Along with the website the STEADY Project has also launched its social media channels in Facebook , Instagram , Twitter , Linked In . As the development of networking and an expanded stakeholder list is one of the main goals of the project, special focus was given to the development of all these social media channels.
The consortium of the project consists of the following partners:
Project leader Hellenic Paralympic Committee (HPC) and Equal Society from Greece, Serbian Paralympic Committee, Attivamente (Italy), fairplay Initiative at VIDC from Austria, Play and Train (Spain), Centro Social de Soutelo (Portugal), Footura (Bulgaria) and the Agitos Foundation, the development arm of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) based in Bonn, Germany. Each partner has an experience which will bring unique input to the project.
Activities and measures
The measures include a baseline study on the access, participation and exclusion of disabled and refugee young people in European sport. The development of a European quality label and training to support voluntary work of refugee youth – with and without disabilities – in sport. The creation of two handbooks, one with recommendations for the social inclusion of disabled refugees through sport and a second one to support refugee youth in parasport.
Other measures include holding round tables and workshops and training voluntary ambassadors and implementing a media project that supports the integration of refugee youth with disabilities in sports.
In summer 2021, games and sports festivals will be held in all seven partner countries at the same time. Disabled and non-disabled young people and children – with or without experience of flight – take part in these integrative Grassroots Games festivals. As part of the European Week of Sport in September 2021, there will also be specific STEADY activities in all countries. At the end of the project, an international network conference on the topic will take place in Athens in November 2021, at which the political recommendations will also be presented.
Expected results
- Increase networking and sharing of best practices among European & national sport stakeholders how to pro-actively involve refugees and migrants with disabilities in and through sport
- Greater awareness and knowledge about appropriate methods among sport administrators how to counter the social exclusion of refugees and migrants with disabilities in their associations or clubs
- Learning from paralympic sports organizations and transfer of knowledge to other sports on mainstreaming intercultural action and equal opportunities’ policies
- Empower and capacity-build sport clubs and sport federations to support initiatives including refugees and asylum seekers in order to participate in regular paralympic sports competitions.
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