About the Project

youth workers

“Working to Approach Youth Workers as Agents of a Response to Disability” (WAYWARD) is a Capacity Building Youth project involving 7 partner organizations from Greece, Ireland, Italy, Bulgaria, Philippines, Vietnam and Mexico with the overarching am of empowering personal development, overcoming of stereotypes and social inclusion of young people (age 18-25) with mental disability in partner countries through the empowerment of youth workers and NGOs in terms of understanding and methodological toolset based on the ETS (Education Through Sport) methodology. 

ETS, combining in a positive synergy the inclusive potential of ETS and Sport provides grassroots organizations with a powerful tool to enhance young disabled people’s motivation to participate in society, at the same time countering phenomena of social stigma through positive awareness and providing young people facing mental disability with the transversal backpack of skills for successful integration in all spheres of education, society and, prospectively, labour market.

The project promotes the social inclusion of young people suffering from intellectual disability, in the short to long term, by means of capitalizing on the potential of education and social aggregation inherent in Sport. By virtue of this focus, the project is in line with the European Disability Strategy.

WAYWARD results:

1) Training Format enabling operators active in the field of youth to foster motivation, skills and social inclusion potential at the level of mentally disabled young people through ETS.

2) Manual, which will serve as a supporting material for youth organizations and operators in their work with the niche target of mentally disabled youngsters.

3) Multilingual Web Platform whereby to provide visibility to project activities/materials, opportunities of e-learning to external operators by means of online educational modules as well as disclose future activities to be implemented by project partners at the international and local events.