"Disasters vary in types, causes, and consequences, they may result from natural causes.During the last decades, natural disasters caused by different factors pose a serious threat to life, property, and infrastructure in ways of material damage, economic losses, causalities and emotional well-being of humans for many parts of Europe.The natural disasters have disproportionate effects on people with disabilities like blind, deaf, persons with reduced mobility and their family caregivers.Specific reports from 2004 to 2014 showed that persons with disabilities suffered from natural disasters 2-4 times more than non-disabled people (Report on 2011 disaster of Japan). The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), in its articles 11 and 322, requires that persons with disabilities benefit from and participate in disaster relief, emergency response and disaster risk reduction strategies. Underlining the legal obligations enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, particularly with regard to Article 11 requesting the States Parties including international humanitarian law and international human rights law, to take all the necessary measures to ensure the protection and safety of persons with disabilities in situations of risk, including humanitarian emergencies and natural disasters.Aligned with UNCRPD, European Disability Strategy 2010-2020: a renewed commitment to a barrier-free Europe which is aimed at raising awareness of the needs of persons with disabilities, including accessibility, in the area of emergency and humanitarian aid, as well as promoting the rights of people with disabilities and their families in the external action of the EU and the Member States. Also with the the drafted resolution on EU Disability Strategy post 2020, priorities to be effective in fostering meaningful inclusion and participation of persons with disabilities and their caregivers has been set.However, ""Living with Disability and Disasters"" global survey conducted by (UNISDR) in 2014 and scattered evidence reveal that PwDs still have no significant representation in building resilience to disasters and only a small percentage of respondents are aware of disaster management programmes in Europe and majority express desire to be included in these programmes. Within the given context, EMPOWER project aims to empower people with disabilities through effective disaster management; raise awareness of persons with disabilities and their caregivers about the increasing risks of disasters; to make PwDs and their caregivers better prepared for natural disasters through training contents and accessible learning materials on the accessible learning hub; support the caregivers in the disaster management processes; increase the knowledge and awareness of authorities and policy makers responsible for disability and disasters, volunteers in civil protection and professionals working with PwDs; to build a culture of disability and disasters in community-at-large; to mainstream disability into disaster management cycle.The target groups of this project are persons with disabilities (35 in online testing) caregivers(140 in pilot trainings), volunteers/professionals working in the field of disability and disasters, NGOs, local/national authorities, first responders. (160 in project activities; focus groups, round-table meetings, validation and valorization workshops)The following project outputs will be developed to achieve the foreseen results by focusing on ""earthquakes, fires, floods, and pandemics"".IO1 European Reference Framework on Effective Disaster Management for CaregiversIO2 Training Content on Effective Disaster Management For Caregivers of Persons with DisabilitiesIO3 Accessible Learning Hub with Accessible Learning Materials for Persons with Hearing and Vision ImpairmentsIO4 Disability-Inclusive Disaster Management Reference HandbookIn order to empower PwDs through effective disaster management, a participatory and holistic approach has been planned in the development and implementation of the project activities and outputs. That's to say that all interested parties persons with disabilities, formal and informal caregivers, authorities and policy makers will be actively engaged in the project through focus group meetings, round-table meetings, questionnaires, validation and valorization activities, pilot trainings and online testing.EMPOWER will have a direct impact on raising awareness about disasters, better preparedness of caregivers and people with disabilities for disasters, empowerment of people with disabilities through effective disaster management, resilience of PwDs to disasters, mainstreaming disability into disaster management. The envisaged impact will be development of high-quality and disability-inclusive disaster management trainings, developing disability-inclusive strategies and policies, as well as more accessible learning resources in Europe"

"The aging of the European population and the need to guarantee quality care for growing number of dependent young and old citizens is one of the greatest political and social challenges for the European Union. People dedicated to caring for these groups can do it formally (health care professionals) or informally (mostly family members). An informal or family caregiver is ""any person, man or woman, who is not a professional caregiver but who, by default or by choice, cares for a dependent person in her immediate circle"" (European Charter for Family Caregivers)Family caregivers in the EU provide more than 80% of all care for dependents, and of these, about a third are women, who provide care often at the expense of their own personal, family and / or work life. The care role can be very difficult due to the complexity of the situations they have to face, and the time consumed (which can exceed 16 hours a day). For this reason, it is increasingly important to address the multidimensional burdens associated with informal care. There is a phenomenon called ""caregiver stress"" characterized by reduced hours of sleep, insomnia, neglect of self-care and consequent fatigue, concentration difficulties, anxiety, irritability, depression, emotional stress, frustration, cancellation of social life, etc.The caregiver burden has both objective and subjective components. The objective components are the demands to which the caregiver is exposed for the care of the dependent person. The subjective component is the way the caregiver perceives the care tasks: their emotional response to the experience of caring for a family member. In addition, there are studies that demonstrate the influence of poor social support on the burden or stress of the caregiver (AA.VV, Social Support, does it improve caregiver fatigue?, 2004). From there, the symptoms of the burden can be controlled and even reversed by reinforcing emotional intelligence and social support.In this context, the PeerCare project has been developed to achieve the main objective of contributing to reduce the symptoms of ""caregiver stress"" through the creation of a Peer Training in Emotional Intelligence (EI) for informal caregivers (IO1) that offers a complete learning environment, which revolves around 3 main elements:- A training itinerary, made up of 5 thematic modules focused on the three main attributes that define EI: self-awareness, self-regulation, and motivation.- A set of varied learning resources (videos, lessons, case studies, games), designed to facilitate flexible, dynamic, and motivating access.- An online peer community, which offers a space for the exchange of experiences, resources, and peer learning.Likewise, with the aim of providing the professionals / volunteers who support these informal caregivers with resources and tools to train them in the field of EI, the Manual ""Emotional Intelligence for informal caregivers: training of trainers"" (IO2) has been designed. With a theoretical-practical approach, the manual includes instructions and tips for organizing training sessions with family caregivers, a part of theoretical ideas and concepts around core elements of EI, and tools to use in class (11 studies case study and 7 practical activities)The direct target groups of the project have been:- Family caregivers: people who take care of their partners, descendants who take care of their parents; or people who care for relatives or close dependents.- Family caregiver support staff: people who, professionally or voluntarily, work with family caregivers, providing help, advice and formal or informal training.The direct participation of these groups has been transversal and constant throughout the project, gathering their feedback during:- The needs analysis (IO1 and IO2) - 161 people participated in focus groups, were interviewed, or completed the questionnaires.- The testing activities of the developed prototypes (IO1 and IO2) - 218 people participated in these activities and gave their feedback through questionnaires and interviews.- The multiplier events (6) - 198 people participated in the different sessions organized by the project partners in their countries.This direct impact on the target groups has been expanded with more than 163 dissemination actions carried out which, through different channels and formats, have reached more than 80,000 people.The availability of the two project products openly on the web, and their availability in 6 languages (English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Romanian and Turkish) facilitates their use, both by the participating organizations (which have incorporated these training resources to their day-to-day life) as well as by third-party organizations that have shown interest on them."

The full economic and social participation of people with disabilities is essential if the EU's Europe 2020 strategy is to succeed in creating smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Building a society that includes everyone also brings market opportunities and encourages innovation. However, regulatory frameworks do not always adequately reflect the needs of people with disabilities, nor the development of products and services that respond to them.In addition, this Strategy sets in motion a process to empower people with disabilities, so that they can participate fully in society under equal conditions. This European Strategy is made up of the framework of Article 19 (Living independently and being included in the community) of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).In this context and for the reasons mentioned, the EU-Assistant project set out to define the key competences relevant to the development of the role of Personal Assistant for dependents, based on the European Qualifications Framework (EQF).The EU-Assistant project addressed and led to the achievement of other objectives, among which we highlight:- To contribute to the development of a professional training path for personal assistants.- To provide a training itinerary and training materials, under the European Qualifications Framework.- To promote the profession of personal assistants.- To raise awareness of the need for the profession of personal assistants.Some of the main results, materialized in the intellectual products created, include:1. The development of a training itinerary that, taking as reference the different contexts and areas of application of the figure of the Personal Assistant in those countries members of the consortium in which it already exists, defines the professional competences of this figure, as well as a series of training modules that lead to the empowerment of these professionals.2. A collaborative learning environment, available online on a Moodle platform. This environment makes available to students and teachers six courses for the training of personal assistants (one in each of the project languages: English, Spanish, Italian, Lithuanian, Turkish and Romanian). Each course has a modular structure (based on the designed itinerary), and allows a responsive display in such a way that the student can access it from any device (PC, tablet, smartphone). The contents are offered online, but they can also be downloaded in electronic format so they can be consulted offline.One of the most interesting features has been the design of a common space for the generation of collaborative learning. Based on the Padlet software, this space has been built for the realization of individual or group activities, the exchange of ideas and experiences, in a structured format. Additionally, Moodle also offers communication mechanisms for the management of teamwork, such as forums or chats.All the direct target groups of the EU-Assistant project (people interested in learning about the role of personal assistant, both those who have not yet exercised in the care and attention of dependents as well as those who already do and want to deepen this professional profile), as the indirect ones (educational centers interested in this profile, employment centers and other institutions), have participated directly in the development of the project through various means, mainly: validation sessions and testing of products, events and presentations, meetings and dissemination actions.The impact has been significant in all these groups, and already begun to materialize in concrete actions. Just to give some examples, in several of the consortium countries the products are already being used in the training of personal assistants; public and private entities are joining efforts to offer integral training programs in this field; and work is being done for the adaptation of the training itinerary to NEETs (mainly youth with low qualification), as a potential area for professional insertion.