ESF EDUKOSI.TOURISM November 22nd, 2022 Information and activities in the Primorsko-goranska county

As part of the EDUKOSI.TOURISM project – education for persons with disabilities, on Tuesday, November 22^nd, 2022, a series of educational meetings and empowerment activities for purpose of facilitating employment of persons with disabilities were held in the Primorsko-goranska County.

The holder of the project is the Public Open University Poreč, with partners: associations for persons with disabilities from PGŽ and Istria – “Society for Research and Support” (DIP) and “Society for Disabled Persons Poreč”, adult education institution “Dante” from Rijeka, and an employer whose primary activity is in the field of tourism, from Poreč – “Polidor Camp Funtana”.

We invited persons with disabilities from Primorsko-goranska and Istria counties, to participate in the project and offered them the following activities:

1. providing information about work and employment opportunities for persons with disabilities – individually and in groups
2. Counseling on the rights of PWDs to work – individually and in groups
3. Career counseling workshops – individual and group
4. Workshops to strengthen work competencies – individual and group
5. Professional guidance of persons with disabilities – testing, interview and psychologist’s recommendation
6. Possibilities of training for work – individual and group.

In the invitation, we offered them the following activities:

• CV and job application – how to stand out?
• How to present yourself at a job interview?
• Self-assessment methods – Who am I? What can I do?
• Organization skills
• Basic digital skills in the business world
• Business communication
• Financial management
• Marketing for beginners
• Sales skills for beginners
• Entrepreneurship, self-employment and social entrepreneurship
• How to work with the support of a work assistant
• Job hunting is work in itself – how to successfully find a job
• Public performance or how to say exactly what I wanted in front of several people – Argumentative communication
• Non-verbal communication or what we say when we don’t
• Assertive communication or how to argue effectively
• Creativity or how to solve problems creatively
• Stress and how to manage stress at work
• Emotions and emotional intelligence – why are they important in a business context?
• Mental maps – what, how and why?

Our participants chose the workshops: “Methods of self-assessment – Who am I?” What can I do?” and “Looking for a job is also a job – how to successfully find a job”.

The project holder, the People’s Open University from Poreč, with partners, visited on November, 22^nd, 2022, three different organizations covering different groups of persons with disabilities:

1. Association of persons with intellectual difficulties, Srce, Rijeka https://srce-rijeka.hr/category/aktivnosti-udruge/where about 15 persons with disabilities gathered, and with whom we, in addition to providing information about opportunities for training and employment and/or work persons with disabilities, according to their interest, conducted the workshop “Self-assessment” – who am I?
2. Society for Research and Support, Rijeka. About 20 people with disabilities gathered at the DIP, and we held the same workshops.
3. Croatian Employment Service, Rijeka Regional Office https://www.hzz.hr/kontakti/podrucne-sluzbe-i-uredi/podrucna-sluzba-rijeka/. About 25 persons with disabilities gathered in HZZ in three sessions, in 3 groups. We prepared motivation and preparation workshops for them and informed them about the possibilities offered by the project.

The EDUKOSI.TOURISM-EDUCATION FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES IN TOURISM project is financed from the European Social Fund within the framework of the Call for Improvement of Access of Vulnerable Groups to the Labor Market in the Tourism and Hospitality Sector II published by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, and is implemented within the Operational Program Effective Human Potentials 2014-2020. The approved total value of the project is HRK 1,240,441.74, and it will be financed in the amount of 100% of the total eligible expenses of the project.

People’s Open University Poreč https://www.poup.hr/projekti-eu-a/edukositurizam/ is the sponsor, and the project partners are: Association of Persons with Disabilities Poreč https://drustvo-invalida-porec.hr, DANTE – institution for adult education Rijeka, https://dante-ri.hr,  Society for research and support Rijeka https://dip.hr/and Mini caravan servis d.o.o. – Polidor Camp Funtana. The project lasts for 20 months. The start of the project is March 11^th, 2022. and lasts until October 11^th, 2023.