BACKGROUND AND CURRENT SETTINGOne billion people live with some form of disability (WHO), at EU level, about 24% of persons aged 16 and over declared a disability, furthermore the aging EU population is growing intensely. The number of people with access needs is therefore significant and growing. Equal integration into society, including travelling and experiencing cultural heritage is a real challenge. Cultural heritage (museums, galleries, monuments etc) provide significant opportunity for social inclusion, sense of community, informal education and lifelong learning; as such accessibility should not be a barrier! Better inclusion through CH interpretation is not just about social responsibility but is a business imperative representing market potential for tourism. This project tackles this need through education of students, future experts, but also current CH staff to improve access for all.PARTICIPANTSThe project involves 5 countries, 9 project partners and 20 associated partners incorporating experienced Project Managers, academics, researchers, and the AccessCULT target groups. Main target groups are STUDENTS (at least 60 directly involved) and CULTURAL WORKERS (at least 50 directly involved). And the final beneficiaries are PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES (at least 20 directly involved) from partner countries.Wider stakeholder groups, such as media, decision makers and certification bodies will be addressed with the expected number of stakeholders reached to be >5000 EU wide.PROJECT AIMS, OBJECTIVES, ACTIVITIES AND METHODOLOGY UNDERTAKENAccessCULT aims to IMPROVE ACCESSIBILITY OF CULTURAL HERITAGE across Europe through exchange of good practice and by developing, implementing, testing, improving and promoting an innovative multidisciplinary HE module for students, future experts, and an adult training for existing cultural workers.Through education and training it is aimed to develop knowledge, skills and competencies to enable cultural workers in museums and galleries to respond to the needs of visitors with wide ranging capabilities to ensure they are able to access, enjoy and benefit fully from our rich cultural heritage.AccessCULT will implement project activities through 8 Work Packages (WP). The main results will be 6 Intellectual outputs (O1-6), 4 Multiplier events (O1-4) and 2 Teaching/Training activities (C1-C2) as follows:>O1: In-depth Analysis of needs>O2: Specification of learning outcomes>O3: Higher Educational Module “Accessible Cultural Heritage for All”>O4: OER - Online adult training “Accessible Cultural Heritage for All”>O5: Implementation and testing of a 6-month study programme (n= 60; 15 students in 4 partner countries); 1-month blended (online and on-site) adult training for current CH workers (n= 50 across 5 partner countries); 10 Pilot guided tours carried out by students and trainees as “Accessible Museum Coordinators”.>O6: Business plan and Catalogue with Recommendations for System and Policy Makers for optimal exploitation and sustainability of results>E1-4: Round tables for stakeholders in 4 partner countries>C1: 5-day Train-the-trainer event (Slovenia)>C2: 5-day Train-the-trainer event (Lithuania)>E4: Final International Conferences with at least 60 participants>Management, Promotion & Dissemination Campaign and an Evaluation Plan will also be implemented.IMPACT:AccessCULT will have impact on participants, participating organisations, target groups and other relevant stakeholders. PWD will benefit through improved access and learning from cult. heritage. This will be achieved through enhanced knowledge and skills for current and future CH workers. A multi-disciplinary holistic approach will be undertaken combining subject disciplines and a new understanding of visitor and staff requirements to inform the novel educational material.AccessCULT will exchange and build upon EU good practice, accessibility guidelines, and apply applicable ethical and VET guidelines to ensure EU added value and widespread impact. ECTS certification and ECVET certification possibilities will be assessed. The educational material will be maintained and accessible beyond the project.Close cooperation with the end beneficiaries (people living with disabilities, students and CH workers), will ensure they gain learning benefits from participating, ensure the validity and acceptability of the outcomes and encourage promotion to a wide range of cultural institutions and stakeholders. Besides end users, they will act as advisors, co-creators and evaluators.An extensive EU network of stakeholders alongside a newly established network of Accessibility Museum Ambassadors (at least 20) will contribute to the promotion of accessibility itself and to the dissemination and sustainability of project results. Key to the longevity of the project impact will be a detailed Business plan and Recommendations for S&P makers that will ensure the outcomes are exploited beyond the project.

The PREG-EQUAL project addresses the horizontal priority of Social Inclusion and aims at promoting equity and combating all types of discrimination based on disability and gender. Reproductive, Pregnancy and Maternal Health is a priority for WHO, Unicef, the Sustainable Development Goals from the United Nations and all member-states. Women with disability live not only difficulties in access but also disappointment and bad experiences concerning “emotional well being and support, effective information dissemination, appropriate communication and understanding, involvement in decision making and support to build respect and trusting relationships with health care providers” (M., 2018). Erasmus+ states as a priority “promote the participation of people from disadvantaged groups, with less opportunities and/or with special needs, in order to potentiate equity and inclusion” (Priorities 2018). General aims: 1. Enhance life quality of women with disability and their families; 2. Promote inclusion, equity and their participation in civil society; 3. Enhance their participation skills, health knowledge and behaviours; 4. Enhance health professional skills concerning relation to people with disabilities; 5. Develop VET tailored answers related to real in job needs in the area of disability and health. Specific aims: 1. Foment knowledge and consciousness for women with disability on reproductive matters, Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy (VIP), sexual health, pregnancy, maternity healthy behaviours and emotional support; 2. Improve psychological, emotional support and informational support for women with disability by empowering their families and sexual/marital partners; 3. Improve better health care services and psychological and emotional support for women with disability by preparing health professionals to effectively communicate, disseminate information and create trustful relations; 4. Collect data in the partner countries national wide to assess numbers of women with disability in pre-natal and maternity care public health system and evaluate the quality of care. The tangible results will be: O1) Women with Disability and Empowerment on Reproductive Choices and Maternity - tailored training program to inform and empower women with disability on reproductive choices, VIP, sexual health, pregnancy health, maternity rights, obligations and public health services (45 participants); O2) Families and the Importance to Support Reproductive Choices and Maternity of Women with Disability - tailored training program to families and sexual/marital partners of women with disability to empower them to better support and inform these women (30 participants); O3) Health Professionals and Women with Disability – The Right to Information, Knowledge and Quality of Services – high quality training to help professionals better support and inform women with disability, communicate effectively, build a respect and trustful relation, specificities of intellectual disability like understanding information, type of information that is more appropriate, main doubts and concerns and the importance of involving family (40 participants); O4) PREG-EQUAL: Women with disability - The Right to Information, Knowledge and Quality on Prevention and Accompaniment in Pregnancy – results and analysis of a research carried out nationally in each country to assess conditions and quality of service that is given to women with disability in pre-natal and maternal public services (at least a 65% respondent rate per country). The project will also include a B-Mobility of VET Learners that involves 12 participants from the target-groups divided as following: 1 health professional, 2 women with disability and 1 familiar or sexual/marital partner to attend a training activity, led by the CDF in october 2019, on “Pre-Natal Care and Maternity Care, Reproductive Choices and Fundamental Rights”. It will include the approach to the theme by experts from CDF and the Faculty of Psychology from the UC, visits to the Risk Unit of Daniel de Matos Maternity, other Maternal Care centres and VET institutions for people with disability. The added value of the activity is directly involving the target-groups, particularly women with disability and their families, in learning opportunities abroad allowing them to reflect themselves in the European space and promoting a sense of world citizenship. 5 Transnational Meetings are strategically scheduled approximately each 6 months to monitor the development and good quality of the IO and plan the implementation of further activities and products. A Dissemination Plan will be carried out to make the project Visible, Create and Raise Awareness, Promote the results and Engage participants, key stakeholders, policy makers and Ministries. Four multiplier events will be developed bringing to discussion all parties at international scale to divulge the results and the publications of the Training Manuals and the PREG-EQUAL