<< Background >>Global financial crises and an increasingly aging population cause high unemployment rates with an increased number of disadvantageous people in the labour market. Within that context, disabilities acquired in adult life have become a significant issue in the working-age population. Disabled people’s employment is generally a precarious situation such that more than 30% of disabled persons who had employed previously leave their jobs because of their disabilities (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Disability_statistics_-_labour_market_access&oldid=208936). Especially, people who became disabled in adult life face difficulties as job seekers in the market and suffer from long-term unemployment. Strategy for the rights of persons with disabilities 2021-2030 adopted by European Commission in March 2021, aims to ensure that all persons with disabilities, regardless of their sex, ethnic origin, religion or belief, age, or sexual orientation, have equal opportunities, equal access to participate in society and economy (https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=738&langId=en&pubId=8376&furtherPubs=yes). Many countries adopt strategies for integrating and reintegrating people with disabilities into the labour market by improving their skills related to changing work environments. Thanks to the rapid digital transformation, new work types and opportunities for adults who became disabled afterward have proliferated. To enhance the employability of those people, their digital competencies have to be increased. In line with the 2nd priority of Digital Education Action Plan 2021-2030, the project prioritizes improving adult training materials to enhance the digital skills development of people who became disabled in adult life. (https://ec.europa.eu/education/sites/default/files/document-library-docs/deap-swd-sept2020_en.pdf). However, both in Turkey and the EU, training materials and career counseling services aiming to reintegrate people who became disabled in adult life into the job market are limited. Existing implementations are focused on medical aspects of disabilities without covering the social and economic aspects of the reintegration into the workforce process. To foster the employability of disabled adults, new skills that are compatible with the increasingly digitalized economy must be acquired. Consequently, the project will empower disabled adults with a low level of skills by producing digital skills training materials and career counseling services to build confidence, develop skills and competencies through in-formal and non-formal learning. Adult educators’ capacities have to be improved to increase the employability of people who became disabled in adult life. Reliable career counseling and training to enhance digital skills are indispensable mediums to reintegrate disabled adults into the labour market. Therefore, this project will produce high-quality adult learning and career counseling materials to enhance adult educators' capacity. (improve educators and other adult education staff competencies)Economic insecurity, social isolation, and lack of social relations are the significant results of long-term unemployment. To advance SOCIAL INCLUSION, inequality of opportunities based on disabilities must be overcome by reintegrating people who are disabled in adult life into the labour force. Therefore, the project will support disabled adults in developing coping mechanisms against a rapidly changing environment and encouraging them to improve new skills by improving the availability of high-quality learning opportunities for adults. Because adult education, neither in Turkey nor in the EU, is well equipped with training materials to support the reintegration of people who became disabled in adult life. This background of the project is also compatible with the programme objective: creating upskilling pathways, improving accessibility, and increasing the take-up of adult education.<< Objectives >>Digitalization leads to transformations in education, work, and social relations by creating various opportunities. Digital competencies are the requirement of almost all jobs, including sectors not traditionally related to digitalization. The COVID19 pandemic shows that people have to improve their digital skills to remain competitive in the labor market. Improving the digital competencies of those people through adult learning will increase their resilience and create new job opportunities. However, people who became disabled in adult life suffer from various challenges when they try to re-enter the labor market. Although implementations regarding improving the employability of disabled adults are widespread around Europe, adult education institutions experience severe challenges in the COVID19 pandemic. Training and counseling services have been interrupted during this global crisisMoreover, adult learning and career counseling aimed at reintegrating disabled adults into the labor force are not sufficient in Turkey. Although vocational courses in the adult education centers aim to support people with disabilities to acquire a new occupation, efforts remain partial for a successful reintegration process. Few major rehabilitation centers and private psychological counseling services are existing in this regard. However, there is a terrible inequality of opportunities in this regard such that especially those living outside of the metropolitan areas, have minimal access to such services. The situation is quite similar in EU Countries. Access to the rehabilitation centers is not sufficient for fewer opportunities, so the base reintegrating process should be accessible for standard adult education centers.This situation reveals the urgent need to develop the capacity of public education centers and adult educators in this field. Dozens of trainings are provided under the “personal development and training” program in public education centers, including handcraft courses, language courses, and basic digital skills courses. However, training and counseling services focusing on reintegrating disabled adults into the workforce are not available. Although some vocational courses opened within our center’s body to reintegrate disabled adults into the labor market in the previous years, the success rate was shallow; only a few trainees could get a job. In 2020, our center received excessive applications regarding training aimed at reintegration into the labor market. Still, since there is no structured program in this field, adult applicants have been directed to different programs. Thus far, our educators have received training related to reintegration into the workforce neither in their professional background nor in-service training. However, the reintegration process of individuals with acquired disabilities in adult life requires a different training methodology. The psychology of such people cannot be similar to those with congenital disabilities.The adult learning needs can be summarized as, firstly, for people acquired disability in adult life should be reformulated considering the requirements of transformations in the labor market. Adult learning materials related to digital skills should be prepared considering the needs of the learners, and adult educators should receive related training in this field. Secondly, adult learning regarding reintegration into the job market should focus on comprehensive career counseling covering all social, economic, and individual aspects of the reintegration process.Within this background, the project mainly aims to empower the adult education system to reintegrate people with acquired disabilities in adult life into the labor market. The specific objectives are to enable adult education centers to play a more active role in the integration process, thus facilitating access to training for those with fewer opportunities and enhancing adult educators' capacity.<< Implementation >>The main activities to be carried out at the scope of the project are as follows: transnational meetings, development of intellectual outputs, the pilot implementation, multiplier events, and short-term staff mobility. These activities will be essential for achieving the goals of the project. Accordingly, the main activities of the project as follows:Transnational Meetings: Through these meetings, the partner institutions will discuss the task distribution, exchange ideas and experiences, and determine the processes to be realized to develop outputs. These meetings will enable partner institutions to share know-how. The quality of the outputs will be ensured by effective knowledge sharing. In addition, the institutions will reinforce their communication and cooperation in transnational meetings.Development of Intellectual Outputs: The development of IOs is the most significant part of the project. Four intellectual outputs will be produced to achieve the project's objectives according to the project’s needs. The first output will be designed to determine the expectations of the labour market and the existing good practices in adult education regarding the reintegration of the people who became disabled in adult life into the labour market. The second and the third outputs will be developed based on the results of the comprehensive research paper. Accordingly, the second output will be the training module for adult educators to improve their skills and competencies in line with the digital transformation. In the third output, a career counseling guide will be produced specifically for people who acquired disabilities in adult life to supporting them in their transition into employment. The last output of the project will be an e-learning platform for people who became disabled in adult life to improve their skills and competencies and encourage their pre-employment process by career counseling materials. Thanks to this platform, disabled adults will easily access reliable training and career counseling materials.Pilot Implementation: At the scope of the project, ten people with fewer opportunities from the target group will be involved in pilot implementations. Adult trainers from all partner institutions will be responsible for the training process. The training program will take two months. All necessary activities for monitoring the pilot implementation will be carried out by the Osmangazi Public Education center, including logistics arrangements, preparation processes for educators and staff, and communication with the families.Multiplier Events: Through these events, the results of the project will be disseminated to the broader public. Individuals or institutions that can directly benefit from the outputs, help to develop these results further, and transfer them into the official curriculum will be invited to the multiplier events. The widespread use of the outputs will enable achieving the objectives of the project. Furthermore, the multiplier events will ensure the sustainability of the project’s outputs.The Short-Term Staff Mobility: BBRZ Group provides comprehensive adult education and vocational training aiming to reintegrate people with disabilities into the labour market. The institution. Since the BBRZ Group is the most experienced institution in the partnership, it is essential to benefit from its experiences to ensure that the expected impacts of the project are realized. A blended training program will be provided to adult trainers from other partner institutions to improve their skills and competencies in adult education and the digitalization of the training materials during the mobility.<< Results >>The project will produce results both tangible and intangible results on participants, target groups, partner institutions, and large-scale. The most important tangible project results will be four intellectual outputs. These outputs will be adapted to the adult education curricula of the partner institutions and will improve their everyday activities. Partner institutions will meet the needs of their target groups in a more conscious, effective, and qualified way. Formal, informal, and non-formal adult education activities of partner institutions will be enriched. The pilot application with 10-person to be implemented within the project will ensure the development of the participating institutions during the project. With the completion of the project and the integration of IOs into the curriculum, the quality of the services they provide to individuals who became disabled in adult life will increase in terms of the transformation of the former profession through digitalization and reliable career counseling trainings. Moreover, the e-learning platform will add value to participating organizations' capacity and foster the digital transformation of their existing training system.There will be many intangible results as well, such as improving the know-how of all partners, building capacities and professionalism to work at the EU/international level, increasing reputation across Europe through the implementation of the project, transnational meetings, LTT activities, multiplier events, and dissemination activities. The project participants who will be the managing staff or responsible for developing the project results will also gain new competencies. They will create a more modern, dynamic, committed, and professional environment inside their organization through the project results. These staff will equip with the necessary training materials for addressing their target groups who are people acquired disabilities in adult life, as well as will have innovative approaches to the transformation of the previous profession, including digital transformation and career counseling. The participants of the LTT activity will also significantly increase their adult education capacities on working with stated target groups. Alongside the tangible results, participants will improve their management skills, foreign language competencies, organization/implementation capabilities, and increase the EU colleague network as intangible results. Other expected results as follows;-The final beneficiary of the project, people who acquired disabilities in adult life, will access and reach high-quality learning opportunities to re-employment and re-integrate the society.-The reintegration process of people with acquired disabilities in adult life into the labor force will be widespread among adult education centers. Therefore, the access of those with fewer opportunities that couldn’t reach specialized rehabilitation centers to training activities will enhance. Thus, inequality of opportunity will decrease to some extent. -Training activities of the reintegration into the labor force will enable adult education.-High-quality learning materials and methodologies will enable adult educators and centers in this regard.-The digital transition of adult education activities will be supported through innovative project results.-The project will build trust across borders through the partnership and trigger new projects between them. Moreover, the project will enable a sustainable collaboration between participating organizations. -The project will contribute to promoting disabled people’s rights to work as well as override unfounded prejudices regarding the capacity and abilities of persons with disabilities to work by enhancing their digital competencies for new employment opportunities. In this way, the project will improve the social inclusion of people with disabilities by increasing their participation in social relations through employ