The Inclusive Mobility Alliance aims at making Erasmus+ more inclusive. It is coordinated by the Erasmus Student Network (ESN), in partnership with Eurodesk and over 20 organisations working in the Youth, Higher education and Disability fields.
Students and young people taking part in Erasmus+ mobilities represent respectively approx. 0.17% and 2.8% of all beneficiaries. These low figures have been stagnating for the past 10 years and are the main reasons behind the creation of the Inclusive Mobility Alliance.
Based on the United Nation Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (UNCRPD), the Alliance has come up with 17 policy recommendations on how to make the EU flagship programme Erasmus more inclusive to students and young people with disabilities.
The recommendations call for a needs-based approach and include, among others:
- The necessity for all staff working with Erasmus+ to be trained on working and communicating with potential beneficiaries in an inclusive way;
- Inviting the European Commission to revise the Erasmus Charter for Higher Education including a clause on disability and inclusion;
- Inviting Member States to allow the portability of grants and support services between different countries.
The recommendations were produced between September 2018 and January 2019, through various activities, and with the support of the Erasmus+ programme.
Eurodesk, is a partner of the Inclusive Mobility Alliance, and as the main provider of youth information and support organisation to Erasmus+ strongly believes that the information should be inclusive, accessible, customised to the target group and widely distributed and made available in all centres supporting persons with different needs.
The Inclusive Mobility Alliance Declaration was signed by the MEPs Luigi Morgano and Damiano Zoffoli (S&D) and the 21 partner organisations, who altogether expressed their commitment to support the work of the Alliance and fight for more equal and fair access to the Erasmus+ programme for those underrepresented groups.
The Recommendations were launched at a public hearing on 22nd of January 2019, in the European Parliament in Brussels.
For more information please visit http://inclusivemobility.eu or contact dominique.montagnese@esn.org.
