Voice4All.eu - Promoting Exchanges and Enabling Participation of Citizens with Disabilities on Future Union Policy Priorities and Challenges

forthcoming

The project will promote discussions and exchanges among citizens with disabilities on the future of the European Union focusing on policies of particular importance to them. This target group is identified in the Call as meriting special focus. The project responds to Priority 1 of the Call for Proposals: “Promoting exchanges on future Union policy priorities and challenges”. Boosting citizens’ engagement in the democratic life of the Union requires understanding how competences are distributed between the Union and its Member States, knowledge of the Union’s legislative processes, and training in the skills necessary to engage effectively with them. The Vote4All.eu project under CERV-2023-CIVILIAN-CIV, which is currently being conducted by members of the consortium and will end in November 2025, focuses on overcoming barriers to the fundamental right to vote. This new project will take the democratic participation of persons with disability to the next level, identifying and prioritising key policy themes that impact the community: (a) inclusive education, (b) scientific research, (c) freedom of movement, (d) employment and (e) independent living within the community. Following introductory webinars on transversal skills for democratic engagement, participants will meet experts and policymakers in a combination of in-person workshops and webinars, learning about how policy in each of the five areas is developed, taking into account the principle of subsidiarity and the distribution of competences between the EU and its Member States. They will develop toolkits that can be used by persons with disability across the EU to engage in the democratic process and participate in policymaking that affects them. The project will conclude with an in-person conference in Brussels highlighting the key lessons from each of the five themes and proposing a sustainable follow-up strategy.