Impact of COVID-19
Impact of COVID-19 on Deaf Youth Work
After the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020, EUDY noticed a huge impact that the pandemic had on Deaf young people in Europe from 2020 to 2021. Therefore, EUDY applied for an Erasmus+ KA1 project titled “Impact of COVID-19 on Deaf Youth Work in Europe”. The project objectives were:
- To exchange experiences and good practices in the area of finances, online activities, online outreach, and other areas affected by COVID-19.
- To develop a list of recommendations for Deaf youth organizations, National Associations of the Deaf, National Youth Councils, and other public bodies directly responsible for the position of Deaf young people.
- To develop a toolkit to help the participating organizations and other Deaf youth organizations beyond this project, with the aim of softening the impact of COVID-19 by providing tips for online activities, outreach activities, and advocacy skills.
The seminar was organized in Tallinn, Estonia from 25th to 30th of April, 2022. During the seminar, there were workshops and discussions about the situation in each partner country, as well as reports from two surveys EUDY launched for individuals and Deaf youth organizations. Topics were the impact of COVID-19 on Mental Health, Education, Employment and Free time.
At the end, the booklet (toolkit) was developed to help youth workers have the right tools to advocate for better inclusion of Deaf young people in recovery strategies by national governments. The booklet includes statistics from the surveys, as well as tips and ideas for online activities, mental health, and finances. After the seminar, a webinar was held to present the toolkit.
Countries involved in the project: Estonia (host), Slovakia, Bulgaria, Sweden, Belgium, Italy and Spain. The facilitators of the project were Aleluya Peña (Spain), Alexander Ivanov (Bulgaria), and Jari Pärgma, who was an EUDY Board member.
