| 4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
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After the presentation of the proposal by the Deputy Ricardo Motta, legal sectors, education and social assistance were mobilized, inside the Legislative Assembly and the partner institutions, to work together on the approach and methodology of the three projects. In the case of young people with Down Syndrome, their future coworkers were also involved and trained to live and work together, in order to ensure the proper performance of them. In this case, given the limitations of the current legislation, signing an agreement with the Down Syndrome Association of Rio Grande do Norte and the Association of Parents and Friends of People with Disabilities of Banco do Brazil was required. People with intellectual disabilities in Brazil, decreed partially or totally unable by Justice, are not allowed to have an employment relationship under penalty of being barred from receiving pension for death of parents. And these young people have been working since August 2011. For the other projects, the skills that both the elderly and tourism professionals needed to acquire were established in order to elaborate the grids of the courses offered, and to define the classes locations. For the elderly (people over 55 years), classes are held in the Assembly. And for tourism professionals, classes take place in decentralized neighborhoods of Natal - to make the access easier for the students.
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| 5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
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Deputy Ricardo Motta participated actively in the three projects, from concept to implementation, and mobilized a team to put projects into practice. For the inclusion project for young people with Down Syndrome, those who worked directly with the Assembly were Israel Nunes, Wilton Monte, Pádua Martins, Adriana Trinidade e Flávia Urbano; the Down Syndrome Association of Rio Grande do Norte, Glauciane Santana and Margarida Seabra; and the Association of Parents and Friends of People with Down Syndrome of Banco do Brazil, Clécia Maria de Brito and Alexsandra. In the other two projects, those who directly participated were the teacher Mizael Barreto and his team, and Wilton Monte.
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| 6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
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The financial resources for the implementation of the three projects were provided by the Legislative Assembly; and the human resources came from the Assembly and from the partner institutions previously mentioned. For the project of Down Syndrome are invested R$ 2000,00 monthly, which are destined for the expenses on food and transportation. In the other projects, R$200.000,00 are spent on the making of courseware and teachers’ payment. It worths mentioning that the “Assembléia na Copa” and “Recomeçar” projects were launched in the first semester of 2012.
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| 7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
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Among the results, we highlight society’s understanding and awareness of the potential and overall conditions of people with Down Syndrome and the elderly, as they contribute to the workspaces (1); significant improvement in the self-esteem of the public assisted in projects of social inclusion, as they rediscover themselves and find new opportunities in their professional lives, and this benefict ultimately extends to their personal life (2); contribution towards students and tourism professionals receiving better the foreign tourists who comes to Natal, professionalizing the customer service and generating a spontaneous publicity when these tourists return to their countries (3); the State Government, through a project proposal submitted by Deputy Ricardo Motta and within the perspective to put people with intellectual disabilities in the labor market, presented – and the Legislative Assembly approved – changes in social security legislation in order to allow employment relationships without prejudice to the receipt of pensions in the future (4); demand of institutions, inlcuding other legislative assemblies, for the models of social inclusion projects implemented to suit their own realities (5).
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| 8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
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In the case of inclusion project for young people with Down Syndrome, the results are measured from the evaluation and follow-up done periodically with the three young men who became symbols of successful experience, which is considered a new and pioneering idea of Deputy Ricardo Motta. The example of the project was introduced in 2012, at the Brazilian Conference on Down Syndrome, and it was taken to knowledge of the Brazilian Congress, through the deputy Romário. As for the courses offered in “Recomeçar” and “Assembléia na Copa” projects, at the end of each module, an evaluation is made with students and teachers. In addition, the pedagogical team makes regular visits to monitor the development of the activities.
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| 9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
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In the projects including young people with Down Syndrome and the elderly, the main obstacle faced today is the prejudice. That is why the central idea of both, in accordance with the conception of Deputy Ricardo Motta, is to start breaking this paradigms and this prejudice by setting na example from the Legislative Assembly itself. And the Assembly has demonstrated daily that young people with Down Syndrome are fully able to enter the labor Market, and the elderly also are able to learn new skills required by the labor market and they can still be productive. After the launch of the project by the Assembly, both in private and in public institutions, we observe in Natal and other municipalities the interest in reproducing the projects for inclusion of people with Down syndrome.
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