The Olympic Committee of Bosnia and Herzegovina together with Paralympic Committee of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Faculty of sport and physical education, University of Novi Sad and Taekwondo club Dragon will in the period of 15 months, try to increase opportunities for employment of people with disabilities in the sport industry.
STEPin project corresponds to the priority of promoting employment, specifically by tackling the issue of poor employment perspectives of youth by offering education in new professional services in the parasports sector. The parasports sector represents a new and quite innovative sector of the labour market in the cross-border region, which so far has not been included in traditional teaching curricula, but has been supported by the help of individuals coming from different spheres of work, such as coaches, sport administrators, professors of sport and physical activity, health and medical graduates. Apart from providing access to new services, and facilitating employment, STEPin will contribute to the social inclusion across the border by improving the chances for people with disability to practice sport on both sides of the border.
Special attention throughout the STEPin project will be setting up a STEPin platform which will offer the opportunities of online education specifically designed for the employment opportunities in the sector of parasports, and practical educational sessions which will focus on providing knowledge and skills for those who would like to become internationally certified classifiers. Furthermore, job shadowing activities will provide the opportunity for selected candidates to experience first-hand work of international classifiers.
“Based on a previous research and a successfully implemented project Parainspired, the lack of employment opportunities in the parasports sector was evident. Furthermore, research pointed towards the need of having specialised education and chances of practical learning. So, STEPin together with us into this 15 months long journey where we will discover new skills and opportunities in the sector of sports with disabilities”, said prof. dr. Izet Rađo, Vice president of the Olympic Committee of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Source: IPA II CBC programme Serbia – Bosnia and Herzegovina website