European Self-Advocates Project Officially Launched

Brussels, December 2023

The European Self-Advocates (ESA) project (2023–2025) officially launched in December 2023. The project is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union and coordinated by EU for Trisomy 21 (Belgium).

The ESA project brings together a partnership of organisations from across Europe with the shared goal of strengthening self-advocacy among young people with Down syndrome. Through cooperation between civil society organisations, educational institutions and support services, the project aims to develop an accessible and transferable self-advocacy training programme co-created with self-advocates.

The project partnership includes Down Syndrome Association Malta (Malta), TCAP21 (France), Rejtett Kincsek Down Egyesület (Hungary), BUNDESVERBAND DOWN-SYNDROM E.V. (Germany), ASOCIATIA FANTASTICII DOWN GALATI (Romania), Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (Spain), Down Syndrome Association of Greece (Greece) un Scoala Gimnaziala Boldur (Romania). Each organisation contributes specific expertise in self-advocacy, inclusive education, youth work, training or research, ensuring a multidisciplinary and transnational approach.

The overall objective of the ESA project is to empower young people with Down syndrome to express their views, understand their rights and participate more actively in social and civic life. The project places strong emphasis on co-creation, ensuring that people with Down syndrome are actively involved not only as participants, but also as contributors to the design and delivery of the training.

Over the course of the project, the partnership will carry out needs analysis activities, organise international meetings for exchange and capacity building, and jointly develop a self-advocacy curriculum and supporting materials. The training programme will be delivered using a teaching-pair model, combining the lived experience of a self-advocate with professional support.

The curriculum will be piloted at national level with young people with Down syndrome in the partner countries, allowing the partnership to test and refine the programme based on real-life implementation. Through this process, the ESA project aims to strengthen the capacity of organisations to support self-advocacy and to contribute to a more inclusive approach to youth participation across Europe.

The European Self-Advocates project runs from December 2023 to November 2025. Updates on project activities and milestones will be shared throughout the implementation period.