Actors of inclusion - Socio-professional inclusion of young people with disabilities through theater and training internships, is a project launched by COPE, lasting one year, aimed at strengthening the enjoyment of the rights of people with disabilities and their organizations in Tunisia.
Since 2011, Tunisia has shown an increasing awareness and interest in the rights of young people with disabilities and in the best strategies to ensure their socio-economic inclusion in schools and society. Recent Tunisian data show that only about 2% of the population is affected by disabilities, but the 2011 WHO World Report on Disability, instead, indicates a figure of 16.3%.
Born from the three-year experience of COPE in the North African country gained with the previous intervention "Ricomincio da te", the new project intends to promote the social inclusion of young people with disabilities through inclusive theater programs.
Starting from some census and data collection activities of the disabled population assisted at the specialized centers partner of the project, and the planning of the individual inclusive path and inclusion in the project activities, training activities will also be carried out for local operators for the management of theater companies for the social inclusion and inclusive development on a Community Base of the disabled through the art of performing arts.
The creation of courses and theater performances, involving young people with and without disabilities, for public awareness and the social inclusion of the final beneficiaries will also be activities of the project aimed at a wider audience.
Furthermore, it will be important to strengthen public-private governance to facilitate the professional inclusion of young people with disabilities through the planning of inclusive training internship programs for young people with disabilities, involving local authorities for productive activities (agriculture, industry and crafts) and local business representatives.
In this way and through the design and signing of paid internship agreements through work grants for young people with disabilities at local production facilities and the creation of a multidisciplinary team for the monitoring and evaluation of training internships, young people with disabilities will be assisted along a path that will lead them to acquire greater autonomy and ability to enter the world of work to implement greater inclusion in Tunisian society.
The analysis needs and the project framework was developed in partnership with Tunisian organizations for the education and development of people with mental and motor disabilities and with the Tunisian Ministry of Social Affairs, with which COPE has signed a Partnership Agreement, which is responsible for ensuring the services and rights of disabled people.
The target regions of intervention are the Governorates of Ben Arous, Kairouan, El Kef, Kasserine and Medenine in which the direct beneficiaries have been identified such as young people with mental and physical disabilities and the operators of the UTAIM, ASDA and AGIM centers.
