TRANSNATIONAL TRAINING ACTIVITY of the ERASMUS+ Sustainable Service in DS PROJECT

Throughout the week we worked continuously on the steps established in the Sustainable Service in DS training programme. We visualised, through videos, the validation actions carried out by each of the different groups in their own countries. We detected, through the Spanish group, some needs to be solved in the city of Valencia and, through the e-platform, we voted and established that we were going to carry out a Service Learning action in the “Parque de Cabecera” in the city of Valencia.

We designed an action plan: we looked for external agents who could help us as well as materials that we might need. We established a timeframe, we located a place and we made the connection between the SDGs and our actions. On our third day, we carried out a service-learning action focused on SDG 17 and 11.  We helped to keep the “Parque de Cabera” in the city of Valencia clean of polluting waste (cigarette butts, paper and plastic). To do this we worked with a community NGO “BIOAGRADABLES” who helped us and put us in context about the waste situation in the city of Valencia.

Our fourth day was to evaluate the action carried out and to see how we are going to communicate it, through social media, press releases, photos, videos, select the multimedia aspects, etc. We also took the opportunity to design a future ACTION PLAN that each country-group could replicate in their countries of origin. To do so, we worked with dynamic groups, through voting, with Brainstorming and finally, we proposed future actions on cards that each country took home.

The fifth day was a closing and farewell day. We handed out diplomas to all the participants in the week of work, not only to the users but also to the professionals and family members who had participated in the activities. We also celebrated the result of our Service Learning activity and enjoyed music, dancing and lunch at the Asindown Foundation facilities. All this happened on a formal and working level, but there was also time to get to know Valencia and enjoy all together different magical parts of the city. We were able to go to BIOPARC and OCEANOGRAFICO as well as visit the City of Sciences and Arts, the beach or the historic centre of Valencia.

On Thursday evening, the Asindown Foundation had the pleasure to invite all the attendees to a very special dinner at “Atic Alameda” where we all got to know each other a bit better and enjoyed Mediterranean food. It was a week that will remain in the memory of all attendees. A week of work where people with Down syndrome and/or intellectual disabilities from different countries were able to exchange experiences, visions of the 2030 agenda, situations experienced by the group and, in short, where they were able, without having a common language, to know each other individually, to love each other and, on the last day, to miss each other without having separated yet. A wonderful experience.

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ÉXITO DE PARTICIPACIÓN EN LAS ACCIONES DE VALIDACIÓN DEL PROYECTO ERASMUS+ SUSTAINABLE SERVICE IN DS – COORDINA