PROJECT RATIONALE Over the last decades organisations who provide social services to disabled people in the EU and in other developed countries are increasingly confronted with and challenged by two important societal trends and paradigm shifts: - The transition from provider-driven to user-driven services: All services of social care and support should have the aim and the ambition to make a positive difference to the lives of their users. Experience and research show that the more an organisation is led and owned by the people of the target group, the more they deliver services that increase the quality of life of the users. - The transformation from charities and foundations into social enterprises: Public or private services providing organisations gradually became aware that they need to adopt a more business-like approach, that they are urged to use management methods and management skills to realise their mission, to increase the efficiency of their activities and to guarantee their sustainability. In view of both paradigm shifts the disabled users of social services are challenged - To take up their unique and irreplaceable role and task within these service providing organisations. Because most of the disabled users are not used and not trained to take full responsibility for the organisation, provision and control of their care and support services, they need to be trained and empowered to fill in this new role and responsibility. - To think and act as social entrepreneurs. Most disabled users are not sufficiently familiar with modern strategies and methods to run and manage services providing organisation. That is why they need to be educated and trained to transform their organisations into social enterprises, to make use of business approaches and business solutions to tackle both social issues and personal needs. PROJECT AIMS AND OBJECTIVES The final aim of all the processes, procedures and activities of the project is to enable disabled users of care and support services all over Europe to play a key role in the organisation, provision and management of their social services and to become in that way co-producers of these social services. To this end, the project consortium intends - To introduce and disseminate the concept and practice of user-driven social enterprises at local, national and European level; - To bring together and to exchange know-how and experience about ‘user-driven organisations’ and ‘social enterprises’ for people with disabilities from different members states of the EU; - To improve the entrepreneurial skills and competences of disabled users who want to become co-producers of their care and support services; - To provide them in that way with increased opportunities on the public and private labour market and a more active participation in society. PROJECT CONSORTIUM The project consortium was based on positive cooperation experience during previous partnerships projects and pursues a balance between educational institutions and services providing NGO’s and a correct representation of different European regions. ADO Icarus (Belgium) acts as the project coordinator, the University of Valencia (Spain) and the Spoleczna Akademia Nauk from Lodz (Poland) are the educational partners in the consortium, and the Disability Resouce Centre from Birmingham (UK), The Spinal Cord Paralytics Association from Istanbul (Turkey) and the Social Centre Burgas from Burgas (Bulgaria) participate in the project as non for profit organisations of and for disabled people. PROJECT RESULTS AND OUTPUTS The project will provide all relevantstakeholders in the social field with a broad range of elaborated and practical tools and methods to make the transition to user-driven social enterprises. To realise the aims and objectives of the project the project consortium will develop, try out and disseminate innovative and high quality methods and instruments for the vocational education and training of disabled people. The main intellectual outputs of the project will therefore consist of - Three specific training packages on disability, individual capacity building and organisational capacity building; - A project manual - A online learning platform The intellectual outputs of the project will be made available in an electronic and printed way for all actors in the social and educational field on a local, regional, national and international level. PROJECT ACTIVITIES The educational materials will be the outputs of three training sessions, two open seminars and a closing conference. At the occasion of four project meetings the managers of the project partners will follow up and discuss the project activities and results. To disseminate the project activities and outputs an open website will be developed, a project manual will be distributed and different other communication and dissemination channels and tool wil be used.