1. Bratislava - 02/10/2014 - Romain FERRETTI Overview of the VISAL project

2. 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

3. 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 WHAT FOR

4. 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

5. 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) BY WHO

6. 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. HOW

7. 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 SESSIONS

8. Session in Austria

9. Session in Croatia

10. Session in Slovakia

11. Session in the UK Sponsored by

12. 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 NATIONAL CONFERENCES

13. Conference in Austria

14. Conference in Croatia

16. RESULTS o 1 toolkit in 5 languages o 126 sessions held o 4 national conferences o 1 resource website o 1 training manual o 169 elderly VI participants o 2 videos (English & German) o 1 national award (Austria)

17. o Resources Toolkit (EN, DE, DU, HR and SK) Additional exercises Additional evaluation resources (impact) o Media Photos Videos Testimonials & stories WEBSITE www.visal-project.eu

19. 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? THE FUTURE You are the future of VISAL

20. CONTACT www.visal-project.eu Romain FERRETTI EBU Project Officer +33 1 71 93 55 31 ebuprojects@euroblind.org

21. THANK YOU