SOCCER Project: Promoting the Employment of Young People with Health Limitations and Disabilities
In the framework of the CBC Karelia project "Social cross-border entrepreneurship: Startup for everyone, opportunities for everyone" (“SOCCER” / KA 8002) PetrSU initiated and organized a teleconference with partners and colleagues from Finland. The teleconference was devoted to the relevant topic of promoting employment of young people with health limitations and disabilities, particularly through the development of entrepreneurship.
The list of participants included the project partners and invited guests - parents of children with disabilities, representatives of non-profit organizations interested in the development of social initiatives, social support organizations, and representatives of the target group of the project - children with health limitations.
The Finnish colleagues presented the idea of making a store on the platform of an online marketplace of handmade supplies Etsy which would be invented and created by teenagers and young people with health limitations. They also invited Karelian like-minded people to cooperate in the development and implementation of this idea.
In order to support the proposed initiative with the request of the meeting participants, the Finnish partners delivered a lecture on the existing support resources and areas of cooperation between Karelia and Finland.
Among the Russian speakers was Natalia Nikulina, a mother of an autistic child, who presented the activities of the autonomous noncommercial organization "Support Center for Children and Adults with Mental Disabilities and Their Families - We Create Together (Tvorim Vmeste)". Moreover, Kristina Uliashova, the Center manager for Social Innovation of the Development Corporation of the Republic of Karelia, told the audience about the forms of support for social entrepreneurs.
Daria Sharynina, a specialist of the Resource Training Center for Inclusive Education of the Petrozavodsk Pedagogical College and an operator of the regional championship "Abilympix", presented educational programs at the design department, as well as leisure and creative activities offered to children with health limitations. Daria's story aroused interest of the Finnish participants, who emphasized the importance and necessity of not only educational, but also leisure activities at the college.
At the same time, the participants of the online meeting expressed concern on the fact that the employment of young people with health limitations, especially those with mental disabilities, is still an urgent problem. In this connection, the idea of creating an online store seems promising and necessary for the development and support of social activity, communication, professional decision and employment of young people with health limitations in the Karelian region.
Thus, the presented idea meets the modern trend for the production and sale of hand-made supplies: souvenirs, postcards and other products created by craftspeople with health limitations and disabilities. Such supplies are purchased really well; more than that, attracting these young people to creativity serves the socially important goal of their self-realization and rehabilitation.
The SOCCER is going to complete its activities by the end of this year. At the same time, the relevance of the topics and issues raised by the project allows the observers to speculate on its continuation within PetrSU in order to develop the ideas and initiatives that have emerged during the project implementation, including those in the field of dissemination and application of the best new practices of career counseling and employment of young people with health limitations.
