Awareness training materials to address attitudinal barriers and negative attitudes - How it went

Within the Awareness4change project, the partnership had designed a Training Course for HR professionals and job counselors of disabled people. The goal of the training was to change the attitudes that the labor market has towards people with disabilities. More than 40 participants finished the Course, which included the participation and sharing of best practices of leading organizations and enterprises in Europe regarding the employment of People with Disabilities.
Below we invite you to find out more about how the experience unfolded for different partners and participants. 

Diakonie, Germany
The pilot was very successful, the participants gave very positive feedback on the content, the methods, and the format. As it was our first online workshop with external participants, we had to overcome some technical difficulties. Also, the mix of participants was very heterogeneous, which was partly good (very fruitful discussions) but partly not (the content often did not fit well with part of the group).
However, all 24 participants reported back, whether by email, in the reflection round or in personal conversation, that the seminar helped them in their personal development and that they can integrate elements from the seminar into their daily work.
 
ACE-ES Romania
ACE-ES Romania implemented the pilot activity in the period 20-24 June 2022, 5 online sessions on Zoom with a sample of 8 participants.
The main goal was to test, evaluate and collect relevant feed-back for improving the Training pack as a whole and each module.
The participants agreed that these modules are useful for developing knowledge&know-how related to Disability so that HR professionals might become more open related to employment of PwD in their organizations.
One of the most important aspects pointed out by the participants was that the modules can be adapted for different categories of professionals working with PwD.
Another appreciated aspect of the modules was that they incorporate very different practical situations.
 
Aproximar, Portugal
The feedback from the participants was extremely positive and the results hope to inspire further editions and programs.
 
EaSI, Romania
A total of 13 people showed their interest in attending the pilot and completed the enrollment form, but in the end, there were 8 participants who attended the sessions.  
All participants found the training to be a great opportunity to deepen their knowledge regarding the topic. They mostly enjoyed the practical activities as they had a chance to come up with ideas and solutions to problems. Another positive aspect was the opportunity of meeting other people interested in the same topic with whom they could create a connection.
Overall, the trainers thought that the pilot reached its objectives and that the values gathered along the Awareness4Change project were successfully disseminated.