How are the rehabilitation systems in the Member States of the European Union organized? The answer to this question shall be given by an European project, in which BAG WfbM is involved. The name of the project is “Quality Work Settings for all”.

During the next two years, a comparison of different systems allowing disabled persons to participate in working life will be set up together with project partners from Belgium, France, Greece, Italy, Austria and Portugal. The project is coordinated by BAG WfbM and funded by the “Leonardo da Vinci” Programme of the European Commission.

In October 2009, the kickoff meeting of the project took place at the offices of BAG WfbM in Frankfurt, Germany. Each participating country is represented by an organization that will gather the necessary data for its country. Project partners are:

• from Belgium: EASPD (European Association of Service Providers for Persons with Disabilities)
• from France: UNAPEI (Union Nationale des Associations de Parents, de personnes handicapées mentales et de leurs amis)
• from Austria: Jugend am Werk
• from Italy: Associatione Scuola Viva – onlus
• from Portugal: Vários – Cooperativa de Solidaridade Social, CRL
• from Greece: Institute for Community Rehabilitation (I.C.R)

Topics of the kickoff meeting were the theoretical and organizational basics of the project. The participants were also given the chance to get an insight into the practical work of workshops for adapted work in Germany. They visited three institutions with different concepts on the participation of disabled persons in working life: the WFB Production & Service Workshop for Adapted Work in the city of Mainz, the gpe Mental-social Institutions and Services in Mainz and the hotel INNdependence, an integrational project, also in Mainz. The participants got the opportunity to spend the night at this hotel, before flying to their home-countries the next day.

The next project meeting will take place in Brussels on 4th December 2009.