On Thursday 28 and Friday 29 January, the working group of delegates of the Centres of the Hospitaller Order and the Sisters Hospitallers taking part in the European project subsidised by the ERASMUS+ programme was convened for the first time in Madrid.

The project will last for 2 years, and is entitled: “DESkTOP = the Disabled Enhance Their Skills Through Online Platforms. It is a strategic partnership to educate people with disabilities, with a 175,000 euro subsidy. The project coordinator is the Madrid-based Juan Ciudad Foundation jointly with the Vodafone Spain Foundation. Participating in the project are the Order’s facilities at Kainbach (Austria), Straubing (Germany), Konary (Poland) and Dublin, the Sisters Hospitallers’ hospitals (in Paris and Lisbon), and Hospitality Europe (Brussels – Belgium). It is the EU project with the largest participation ever of the Order’s centres, and the very first in which the Sisters Hospitallers have been involved.

Last week’s meeting was dedicated to explaining the work plan and the requirements placed on recipients of EU subsidies by the ERASMUS+ programme.

Vodaphone then explained the operation of the “Mefacilyta” platform built by the Vodafone Spain Foundation to produce tailored learning programmes for people with disabilities, and easily accessible on mobile phones and tablets.     

The meeting learnt how to make practical use of the “Mefacilyta” platform, by creating learning programmes in real time, supported by images, texts and videos.

The purposes of the project include creating a multimedia mobile application to help people with disabilities to learn on their own, and writing a teaching manual for use by the educators in the teaching centres, using the new technologies.

The next two meetings of the delegates of the centres will be held in France (29-30 June) and Germany (November).

The DESkTOP project is being funded with the support of the European Commission. 

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