„However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at“(S.Hawking). This quote encloses the spirit of our association and our project. Through sport activities we want to make easier the inclusion of children with disability in the local community. Giving them all possible skills we will increase their self-confidence and prepare them for their role as an active member of the society.

Umag - Umago, Istra region, Croatia.

In Istra Region many activites for children with disabilities are usually institutionalized and don't cover all their needs. Due to this in the area of Umag has been created an associtation that offers additional activities (psychosocial support) for children with developmental disabilities (autism, down syndrome, etc). This cannot cover all childrens' needs and difficulties they face to be included in everyday life. That's why it is very important to include phisical activities and sports in their therapy. During daily communication with parents and teachers we've found that there is no organisation that caters for their need for physical activities in the nearby area and that many trainers could include them in the activities but they don't know how to approach them in the right way.

Target groups:
Children with disability-3-10 y.o.
Youth with disability-11-15 y.o.
Sport trainers
Beneficiaries:
Parents and family members
Children
Local authority
Local community
Sport is a direct method of integration. It promotes comprehension and tolerance.Developing sport among people with disabilities can improve their life quality.This influences directly life of their families and consequently also the whole local community.The main target groups are children with developmental disabilities.Their needs are to improve their psychophysical abilities in order to be more prepared to interact with other children and to be included in the community.On the other side we have sport trainers that often don’t have the adequate knowledge to work with children with disability

1. Phase: analysis of children's and sport trainers' needs; creation of „Guidelines for trainers“ in order to give them basic information about how to support children during the training; improve trainers' knowledge among a thematic workshop
2. Phase: weekly physiotherapy sessions and sports activities indoor that will use innovative methods and technology (particular glasses designed to train the connections between an individual's eyes, brain and body. Using liquid crystal technology, the lenses flicker between clear and opaque, removing visual information and boosting the individual to process more efficiently. They are integrated into existing training drills and exercises.); swimming activities during summer
3. Phase: Promotion of inclusion and project results to all community

1.Improved knowledge of at least 15 trainers-how to support children with disability in order to give them the possibility to be included in sport activities.
2.Improved activities offered to children with disability at local level in order to give them the possibility to have the same opportunities as children of urban areas.
3.Improved psychophysical skills of at least 20 children with disabilities, to strengthen them and to make their inclusion in the community easier.
4.Local community has been informed about the project in order to promote an easier inclusion
Project aims to empower local community by strengthening the participation of people with disability in society and sense of community of all citizens,as well as to promote inclusion through sport as mean to foster equality

Be an active citizen is very difficult for the people with disabilities because they have first to become an included citizen. In a democratic system all people must be included in everyday life of their community according to their possibilities and capacities. With this project we aim to improve children’s with disabilities gross and fine motor skills, flexibility and balance, and also increase their overall strength. In this way we want to strengthen their motoric, physical but also their cognitive skills to make them easier the inclusion in the community. In this way they will be able to become an active part of the community. This project represents the first of many steps that these children will have to do on their path to become an engaged part of a democratic society.

Since founded as an NGO we are dealing with the inclusion of children with developmental problems. Our mission is to make a difference in our local and regional areas in the unformal work with and giving services for the inclusion of children with disabilities. Our work is acknowledged by our local and regional community as well on the national level as an example of good practice. We are complementing formal educational and medical systems. Sports and physical therapy make a crucial difference in the inclusion process. Usually, those services are costly and available only in larger cities. That's why this project will allow us to make these services for children with disabilities available and free. The project will build a new pillar in fulfilling our mission.

Personnel costs: 29.000,00 eur
Equipment costs: 5.000,00 eur
Promotional costs: 5.000,00 eur
Assicuration costs: 1.000,00 eur

We would like to know if the idea would be useful and applicable in other rural areas.
It would be great to get some information, feedback and contacts about similar experiences NGO in other european regions and countries had in the same field the project idea is dealing with.