The annual Zero Project Conference is the highlight of our year here at the Zero Project. It is an opportunity to celebrate all the innovations we discover during our annual research cycle, and to bring together global experts committed to a world without barriers for people with disabilities. Since our first conference, the accessibility of the conference has been a key focus of the Zero Project.
We want to make the Zero Project Conference an example of ‘good practice’ in terms of conference accessibility, and every year we work to improve the features and measures we offer. In 2018, our accessibility partner Escola de Gente evaluated the accessibility of the Conference, and their recommendations were key to some of the improvements we trialled for the first time in 2019, such as live audio description for video material and making information available in easy-to-read formats. In 2019, we asked all participants for their feedback on the accessibility of the conference, and are using this feedback to introduce additional measures in 2020. We know we still have work to do, and we can only do this in collaboration with partners across our vast global network.
ZERO PROJECT CONFERENCE ACCESSIBILITY GUIDELINES
To support this, we have decided to document our work on conference accessibility, in the hope that by being transparent and sharing our ideas, we will improve our own work in this area and support other organisations looking to do the same.
We are therefore publishing the Zero Project Conference Accessibility Guidelines. We have developed these guidelines in response to requests we have had from partners who want to make their own meetings and conferences more accessible. They are based on what we have learned through implementing new measures and receiving feedback.
“We hope these guidelines, based on our experiences and the insights of the Zero Project community, will be a helpful contribution to the discussion on conference accessibility. We look forward to continuing to share our work and learning from others to constantly improve the accessibility of the Zero Project Conference.”
Martin Essl, Founder of the Essl Foundation
In order to make this guide as practical as possible, we have concentrated on measures we have first-hand experience of implementing. We are aware that these guidelines therefore do not cover everything. We hope that people using these guidelines, or those who have expertise in the areas we have not included, will share their experiences and knowledge with us.
We are grateful to all the organisations who work with us to implement accessibility measures at the conference in Vienna and the wider Zero Project network for their support in doing this. We would also like to thank our accessibility partner Escola de Gente for their ongoing collaboration and support, and for providing a foreword to the guidelines.
“We support these guidelines as we want plural and non-discriminatory societies, in which persons with disabilities are not an exception, but an intrinsic part. We want inclusive and sustainable societies – also for humanity with disabilities.”
Claudia Werneck, Founder of Escola de Gente
NEXT STEPS
Alongside these guidelines, we have also been developing a discussion paper on conference accessibility, which we will publish in early 2020. We will present the guidelines at the Zero Project Conference 2020 and are committed to collecting feedback and using this to improve both the accessibility at the Zero Project Conference and future editions of these guidelines. If you have any feedback or suggestions, please let us know at office@zeroproject.org.
The Zero Project Innovative Practices and Policies 2020 factsheets are online!
We are thrilled to announce that the factsheets of our Zero Project Innovative Practices and Policies 2020 are online now!
We present you with factsheets from 75 Innovative Practices and 11 Innovative Policies from 56 countries that support persons with disabilities on our 2020 topic of education.
These projects cover a range of topics including, assistive technology in schools and universities, inclusive education systems in low and middle-income countries, early childhood and pre-school programmes, legal and rights-based approaches to inclusive education, inclusive education programmes in museums and cultural institutions and many, many more.
Again, huge congratulations to every single one of these incredible organisations. We’re immensely honoured to be able to promote your amazing work!
Last chance to nominate your promising practice for EASPD and LADAPT’s 2020 Employment for All Award!
The 2020 Employment for All Award aims to promote strategies that facilitate the employment of persons with disabilities on the open labour market; provide them with equal opportunities to access gainful employment and enable them to gain greater control over their independence in terms of employment and financial stability.
For this, 10 promising practices will be selected and published in the 2020 Employment for All Booklet before inviting 6 nominees to EASPD and LADAPT’s “Road to Employment for Persons with Disabilities” Conference in Paris on 4th-5th May 2020, where they will be given the opportunity to present their system, model, scheme to over 250 conference participants. Two winners of the Employment for All Award will be announced during the conference. Don’t miss the opportunity to apply until the 17th of January 2020
Find out more about the award and the application process on the 2020 Employment for All Awards Application Form
A HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON FROM THE ZERO PROJECT!
It’s that time of year again. The Zero Project will take a little break and enjoy the holidays. And so should you too! We’ll be back feeling refreshed and ready to tackle final preparations for #ZeroCon20! Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season and see you in 2020!
Congratulations to our Zero Project Awardees 2020!
Yes, it’s this time of the year again!
We are delighted to announce the Zero Project Innovative Practices and Policies 2020!
We present you 75 Innovative Practices and 11 Innovative Policies from 56 countries that support persons with disabilities on our 2020 topic of education. We are overwhelmed with the range and quality of the projects and are pleased to bring you solutions from all around the world.
More detailed information including a link to each awardee’s factsheet will be published on the Zero Project website and released in January 2020.
These projects cover a range of topics including, assistive technology in schools and universities, inclusive education systems in low and middle-income countries, early childhood and pre-school programmes, legal and rights-based approaches to inclusive education, inclusive education programmes in museums and cultural institutions and many, many more.
Please have a look and explore the projects yourself. The full list is below:
INNOVATIVE PRACTISES
Argentina
Armenia
Australia
Austria
Bangladesh
Brazil
Bulgaria
Cameroon
Canada
Chile
China
Ecuador
Ethiopia
Finland
Germany
Greece
Greece and other European Countries
Guatemala
India
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Malawi
Mexico
Montenegro
Mozambique
Nepal
Pakistan
Panama
Philippines
Russian Federation
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Serbia
South Africa
South Sudan
Spain
Tanzania
Turkey
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
United States
United States and Globally
Zimbabwe
INNOVATIVE POLICIES
Australia, State of Queensland
Austria
Canada – Province of New Brunswick
Dominican Republic
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Namibia
Nepal
Samoa
United States
Updated Zero Project Conference 2020 Agenda online!
We are pleased to announce the updated agenda for the 2020 Zero Project Conference on Education is now online! We have over 170 speakers already on the agenda, with more being added all the time. You can find the latest version at https://conference.zeroproject.org/agenda/.
Introducing the Zero Project Conference Accessibility Guidelines
The annual Zero Project Conference is the highlight of our year here at the Zero Project. It is an opportunity to celebrate all the innovations we discover during our annual research cycle, and to bring together global experts committed to a world without barriers for people with disabilities. Since our first conference, the accessibility of the conference has been a key focus of the Zero Project.
We want to make the Zero Project Conference an example of ‘good practice’ in terms of conference accessibility, and every year we work to improve the features and measures we offer. In 2018, our accessibility partner Escola de Gente evaluated the accessibility of the Conference, and their recommendations were key to some of the improvements we trialled for the first time in 2019, such as live audio description for video material and making information available in easy-to-read formats. In 2019, we asked all participants for their feedback on the accessibility of the conference, and are using this feedback to introduce additional measures in 2020. We know we still have work to do, and we can only do this in collaboration with partners across our vast global network.
ZERO PROJECT CONFERENCE ACCESSIBILITY GUIDELINES
We are therefore publishing the Zero Project Conference Accessibility Guidelines. We have developed these guidelines in response to requests we have had from partners who want to make their own meetings and conferences more accessible. They are based on what we have learned through implementing new measures and receiving feedback.
“We hope these guidelines, based on our experiences and the insights of the Zero Project community, will be a helpful contribution to the discussion on conference accessibility. We look forward to continuing to share our work and learning from others to constantly improve the accessibility of the Zero Project Conference.”
Martin Essl, Founder of the Essl Foundation
In order to make this guide as practical as possible, we have concentrated on measures we have first-hand experience of implementing. We are aware that these guidelines therefore do not cover everything. We hope that people using these guidelines, or those who have expertise in the areas we have not included, will share their experiences and knowledge with us.
We are grateful to all the organisations who work with us to implement accessibility measures at the conference in Vienna and the wider Zero Project network for their support in doing this. We would also like to thank our accessibility partner Escola de Gente for their ongoing collaboration and support, and for providing a foreword to the guidelines.
“We support these guidelines as we want plural and non-discriminatory societies, in which persons with disabilities are not an exception, but an intrinsic part. We want inclusive and sustainable societies – also for humanity with disabilities.”
Claudia Werneck, Founder of Escola de Gente
NEXT STEPS
Alongside these guidelines, we have also been developing a discussion paper on conference accessibility, which we will publish in early 2020. We will present the guidelines at the Zero Project Conference 2020 and are committed to collecting feedback and using this to improve both the accessibility at the Zero Project Conference and future editions of these guidelines. If you have any feedback or suggestions, please let us know at office@zeroproject.org.
Introducing the 2019/2020 Zero Project Impact Transfer participants
The Zero Project Impact Transfer program is a partnership between the Essl Foundation, Fundación Descúbreme and Ashoka. It supports organisations to replicate their social impact and innovation in other countries and contexts. The goal of the program is to help proven innovations to spread so that we do not have to reinvent the wheel.
This year is the third year of the Zero Project Impact Transfer and our first year working in partnership with Fundación Descúbreme. 21 projects have already been through the program in the last two years and have presented their innovations and replication plans at the Zero Project Conferences in 2017 and 2018. You can watch a one minute round up of the Impact Transfer session at Zero Project Conference 2019 here.
Previous participants have built on contacts made at the Conference to take forward replication in a number of new countries around the world. Enable India (2018) is taking forward plans for replicating its mobile phone-based disability information service in Ethiopia, the Museum of Modern Art (2018) in the USA has run training on accessibility programs with cultural institutions in Germany, and Greta & Starks (2019) received impact investment following this year’s Conference to scale their app making cinema .
2019/20 participants
We are delighted to announce the participants for this year’s Zero Project Impact Transfer program. There are 10 participants from nine countries taking part, all hoping to find the right partners to replicate their innovative education initiatives globally. The participating projects range from early childhood projects through to vocational training programmes.
We will be sharing more detailed information about all these projects in the run up to the conference in February. You can also visit the Zero Project Impact Transfer webpage for updates on previous years’ participants and this year’s cohort.
If you are interested in learning more about these innovations and how you could support their replication, please contact Paula Reid from the Zero Project team on p.reid@zeroproject.org.
Essl Foundation and Fundación Descúbreme enter strategic partnership on Zero Project
Essl Foundation and Fundación Descúbreme are entering a long-term partnership to expand the Zero Project mission of a world without barriers to the Spanish-speaking community worldwide. Fundación Descúbreme is also joining forces in the accelerator program Zero Project-Impact Transfer and will organize an annual Zero Project Conference in Santiago de Chile.
Vienna/Santiago de Chile, 6th December 2019: Essl Foundation and Fundación Descúbreme are announcing a long-term partnership to expand the Zero Project mission of a world without barriers to the Spanish-speaking community worldwide. Essl Foundation maintains strategic leadership of the Zero Project in full consultation with Fundación Descúbreme. Essl Foundation operates and finances the annual conference in Vienna and Fundación Descúbreme operates and finances the annual conference in Santiago, both under the brand of the Zero Project.
The organisations are also joining forces with Ashoka to broaden the Zero Project Impact Transfer programme worldwide.
“To contribute to a world without barriers in the areas of education, employment, urban development and independent living /political participation we aim to reach many more people with disabilities through innovations in the future. In partnering with Fundación Descúbreme, the Essl Foundation is taking another step forward in achieving this goal in Spanish speaking countries and is very much looking forward to this cooperation!” – Martin Essl, Founder of the Essl Foundation
“The Essl Foundation has been working on the topic of social inclusion for persons with disabilities and has accumulated extensive knowledge on four strategic topics. This knowledge can be used by organizations either in the public or private sector – currently facing new challenges for people with disabilities in Spanish-speaking countries. Therefore, we are very grateful for the opportunity and hope to have a fruitful partnership with the Essl Foundation, starting with the Zero Project Conference in Santiago.” – Carola Rubia, Executive Director of Fundación Descúbreme
Essl Foundation and Fundación Descúbreme will co-publish the Zero Project Report in Spanish Language, will launch a Spanish-speaking website and open a news channel in Spanish. Most importantly, Fundación Descúbreme will organize the Zero Project-Latin America Conference annually, starting in early May with the topic of education.
A great opportunity to build a world without barriers, starting in February in Vienna and in May in Santiago with the topic of education.
For further information, please contact:
Zero Project Impact Transfer at the Sabanci Foundation’s Philanthropy Seminar
It has been a busy week for the Zero Project team! We have been travelling all over to take part in a range of exciting events, including activities for the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, with partners from across the globe. We have had the opportunity to talk about the work of the Zero Project and meet so many inspiring people, all committed to a world without barriers for persons with disabilities.
One of these events was the Sabanci Foundation’s annual Philanthropy Seminar in Istanbul at the beginning of the week. We were honoured to be invited and were there to talk about the Zero Project Impact Transfer programme, which we deliver in partnership with Ashoka and which supports social innovations to scale their impact to other geographies. We will shortly be announcing this year’s participants, so stay tuned!
The Sabanci Foundation seminar was a fantastic opportunity to meet new contacts and existing partner organisations based in Turkey, including some previous Zero Project awardees! It gave us an opportunity to introduce this year’s Impact Transfer projects to potential partners and see which of this year’s innovations might be relevant to organisations working in Turkey. It was also a chance to connect with some of our international partners, such as Access Israel, Light for the World and Greta and Starks, who were also presenting their work at the conference. The panel session on ‘Empowerment through Education’, featuring a great range of speakers, was thought-provoking and inspiring, particularly given the Zero Project’s focus on education this year, and Yetnebersh Nigussie from Light for the World gave a fantastic keynote speech.
We are grateful to all our partners who support our work, invite us to take part in their events and allow us to develop the Zero Project network even further. We hope to have the opportunity to see many more of our partners, and make new contacts, in 2020! And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Facebook to keep up to date on our work.
The Zero Project will be Presenting Today at the “This Is My Workplace” event in New York!
Join advocates and leaders from outside the UN system to have a candid conversation on employment issues affecting persons with disabilities.
The event will be held on December 3rd 2019 at 3:00 pm-6:00 pm at the United Nations Secretariat building in the ECOSOC chamber in New York City.
Read the “This is My Workplace” event information sheet.
Please RSVP using the following link to attend and receive more information about the event: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/international-day-of-persons-with-disabilities-2019-this-is-my-workplace-registration-81996286099