La Inclusivadora, centre for the promotion of self-employment and entrepreneurship for people with intellectual disabilities

Publications Bank of innovations

La Inclusivadora, centre for the promotion of self-employment and entrepreneurship for people with intellectual disabilities

FCSD

Image from Pexels.

Centre for the promotion of self-employment and entrepreneurship for people with intellectual disabilities, which offers different inclusive workspaces, such as a Coworking (shared workspace for people who want to develop their personal and professional projects) and a Fablab (digital creation space with the latest technology, such as 3D printers, which is ideal for promoting the manufacture of small-scale prototypes), designed for training and digital experimentation, both for people with and without disabilities.

The Catalan Down’s Syndrome Foundation (FCSD) launched this project with the intention of creating a work and training space to promote self-employment for people with Down’s syndrome or other intellectual disabilities who want to start entrepreneurial projects. These spaces are also open to all those people who want to carry out entrepreneurial projects that share the values of the FCSD.

From these spaces, the Inclusivadora aims to provide courses and workshops to learn basic knowledge about the use of Fablab technology, as well as social activities open to everyone, but also to teach basic knowledge about how to carry out a business and/or personal project, thanks to individualized advice and mentoring in entrepreneurship.

La Inclusivadora was created with the aim of encouraging interaction between people with and without disabilities and creating a more diverse and enriching work environment. The key to these spaces is the exchange of knowledge between the different agents.

FCSD Fundació Catalana Síndrome de Down

Banc d’innovacions

AutisMIND, an application to stimulate the social cognition of children with ASD

AutisMIND, an application to stimulate the social cognition of children with ASD

AutisMIND is a mobile application that enhances the ability to empathize with others in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
Digital Streetwork, social workers who assist young people through the Internet

Digital Streetwork, social workers who assist young people through the Internet

Digital Streetwork is an initiative that moves street work with youth to the Internet
BRUS, accompaniment to young people who live in families with situations of drug addiction

BRUS, accompaniment to young people who live in families with situations of drug addiction

BRUS is an accompaniment program to young people who live in families with situations of drug addiction
App Morada, support against gender-based violence for women with disability

App Morada, support against gender-based violence for women with disability

App Morada is an application that helps and guides women with disability and victims of gender-based violence

Apptu@, an app that helps break isolation and alleviate stigma in mental health

Publications Bank of innovations

Apptu@, an app that helps break isolation and alleviate stigma in mental health

Grup ATRA

Image from the Grup ATRA website.

Innovative, interactive and close mobile app that allows for more continuous, close and close contact between users, professionals and volunteers of three mental health programs: Actua, Actua Jove and Actua Dona. This app also aims to raise public awareness about the collective suffering from mental health problems, while providing information that may be of interest to all citizens.

The three programmes included in Apptu@ are community-based, integrative and care-focused that provide support for life in a self-employed capacity for people with issues resulting from mental disorder, as well as women who have also suffered or suffer from male violence in parallel. With Apptu@, social contact between beneficiary and voluntary persons is enhanced.

The application is divided into two parts: one public and one private. Within the public, which is destined for any individual in society – such as people from the mental health collective, health professionals and the social sector, people interested in volunteering, relatives, students, young people, collaborating administrations, etc. – you can know the Actua programmes, as well as the different services and resources that form the Grup ATRA. It also attempts to promote inclusive volunteering and networking. But basically, the app aims to give visibility to the people of the mental health collective, as this helps to break stereotypes and alleviate stigma.

As far as the private part is concerned, Apptu@ allows one to work agreements and goals individually with the users of the program, following them more directly and continuously over time and making them participants of the common project that is Actua.

Apptu@

Banc d’innovacions

AutisMIND, an application to stimulate the social cognition of children with ASD

AutisMIND, an application to stimulate the social cognition of children with ASD

AutisMIND is a mobile application that enhances the ability to empathize with others in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
Digital Streetwork, social workers who assist young people through the Internet

Digital Streetwork, social workers who assist young people through the Internet

Digital Streetwork is an initiative that moves street work with youth to the Internet
BRUS, accompaniment to young people who live in families with situations of drug addiction

BRUS, accompaniment to young people who live in families with situations of drug addiction

BRUS is an accompaniment program to young people who live in families with situations of drug addiction
App Morada, support against gender-based violence for women with disability

App Morada, support against gender-based violence for women with disability

App Morada is an application that helps and guides women with disability and victims of gender-based violence

IntermediaJOB, intelligent job portal with a non-discriminatory algorithm

Publications Bank of innovations

IntermediaJOB, intelligent job portal with a non-discriminatory algorithm

Intermedia

Image from the Intermedia website.

Digital platform for the selection of professional profiles, especially aimed at people with vulnerabilities, which differs from other portals in the fact that it is able to make an intelligent matching of skills between job offers and candidates, and does not discriminate based on learned patterns.

This is a paradigm shift since, instead of working like other recruitment platforms that only take into account the candidate’s training and work experience as reflected in a CV, IntermediaJOB also values the rest of the learning that the candidate has acquired throughout his life, both in the training and professional and personal fields. This makes the match between the applicant and the company much more reliable than with other portals.

This tool is only possible thanks to innovation, which is why it is awaiting the incorporation of machine learning, a technology that would improve the reliability of the skills match, as well as big data to take advantage of successful experiences, or the use of bots to make technology more accessible to people.

What has already been implemented are the algorithms used by IntermediaJOB. The platform excludes all those better-positioned candidates who have more knowledge than necessary in a workplace, as well as those that value people of one gender more than another, for the simple fact that they follow learned patterns.

Beyond being just a platform where job offers can be posted, it also allows students to find their university internships.

IntermediaJob

Banc d’innovacions

AutisMIND, an application to stimulate the social cognition of children with ASD

AutisMIND, an application to stimulate the social cognition of children with ASD

AutisMIND is a mobile application that enhances the ability to empathize with others in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
Digital Streetwork, social workers who assist young people through the Internet

Digital Streetwork, social workers who assist young people through the Internet

Digital Streetwork is an initiative that moves street work with youth to the Internet
BRUS, accompaniment to young people who live in families with situations of drug addiction

BRUS, accompaniment to young people who live in families with situations of drug addiction

BRUS is an accompaniment program to young people who live in families with situations of drug addiction
App Morada, support against gender-based violence for women with disability

App Morada, support against gender-based violence for women with disability

App Morada is an application that helps and guides women with disability and victims of gender-based violence

Village Landais Alzheimer, village that allows autonomy of people with Alzheimer

Publications Bank of innovations

Village Landais Alzheimer, village that allows autonomy of people with Alzheimer

Village Landais Alzheimer Public Interest Group

Imatge from Ehpadia website.

Residential complex with 105 people suffering from Alzheimer’s with a high degree of independence.

It is a small village designed exclusively to allow people with this disease to live autonomously, away from socio-sanitary centres and without the constant support of their relatives. Each inhabitant pays 24,000 euros per year and lives in a family-like house, despite sharing with other residents common spaces such as shops and a theater room. Sociosanitary care, on the other hand, is guaranteed by a group of professionals working there, as well as volunteers working in activities to promote the socialization of the residents.

The village is also a resource center for medical and therapeutic research, as studies are conducted there to assess the results and impacts of this innovative residential model.

Village Landais Alzheimer

Banc d’innovacions

AutisMIND, an application to stimulate the social cognition of children with ASD

AutisMIND, an application to stimulate the social cognition of children with ASD

AutisMIND is a mobile application that enhances the ability to empathize with others in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
Digital Streetwork, social workers who assist young people through the Internet

Digital Streetwork, social workers who assist young people through the Internet

Digital Streetwork is an initiative that moves street work with youth to the Internet
BRUS, accompaniment to young people who live in families with situations of drug addiction

BRUS, accompaniment to young people who live in families with situations of drug addiction

BRUS is an accompaniment program to young people who live in families with situations of drug addiction
App Morada, support against gender-based violence for women with disability

App Morada, support against gender-based violence for women with disability

App Morada is an application that helps and guides women with disability and victims of gender-based violence

Helpper, people with support needs connect with people willing to help them

Publications Bank of innovations

Helpper, people with support needs connect with people willing to help them

Helpper

Young helpper helping an elderly woman to do groceries. Retrieved from Helpper’s website.

Service that connects people who need some support for their daily life tasks (helppies), with people close to them, in the same neighbourhood or village, who are willing to help them (helppers).

Helppper is a model that seeks the comfort of both sides, because it allows helppers to specify what their availability is (schedule, types of service they can offer, if they offer it free or with remuneration, etc.); and the helppies to select the support to be received (what person, for which support needs, schedule, modality, price, etc.). Helpper offers three subscription modalities: Basic, Standard and Premium, to make it easier for each person to personify the level of assistance they want to receive.

People with disabilities, with chronic diseases, elderly people, parents and mothers who are very busy, and even carers who need help in caring for dependents, can access the service.

The types of assistance or possible tasks to offer/receive include: small home repairs; food aid; support with administrative processes; travel and transport support; company to mitigate unwanted loneliness; babysitting; etc.

The service is available in French and Dutch.

Helpper

Banc d’innovacions

AutisMIND, an application to stimulate the social cognition of children with ASD

AutisMIND, an application to stimulate the social cognition of children with ASD

AutisMIND is a mobile application that enhances the ability to empathize with others in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
Digital Streetwork, social workers who assist young people through the Internet

Digital Streetwork, social workers who assist young people through the Internet

Digital Streetwork is an initiative that moves street work with youth to the Internet
BRUS, accompaniment to young people who live in families with situations of drug addiction

BRUS, accompaniment to young people who live in families with situations of drug addiction

BRUS is an accompaniment program to young people who live in families with situations of drug addiction
App Morada, support against gender-based violence for women with disability

App Morada, support against gender-based violence for women with disability

App Morada is an application that helps and guides women with disability and victims of gender-based violence

Virtual visits to social services to bring them closer to citizenship

Publications Bank of innovations

Virtual visits to social services to bring them closer to citizenship

Vitoria-Gasteiz City Council

Example of a virtual visit. Retrieved from Vitoria-Gasteiz City Council website.

Service that allows virtual visits to the different social services offered by the City Council of Vitoria-Gasteiz. It is a combination of Google Street View and YouTube 360 technologies to be able to offer an immersive and real experience without moving from home. This technology enables the realization of interactive visits, while at the same time providing summary videos of the sites through the local social services website.

Visits are tours that serve to make the services and their facilities known, using them agilely and easily, either through the interaction with the computer’s mouse, touch-like to mobile devices, or even with virtual reality glasses. Spaces can be visited virtually at any time, and thanks to the 360 degrees’ video format the feel is similar to being present in the visited site.

This information instrument seeks, not only to connect social services with citizenship, but also to other institutions, third sector entities, etc. to promote networking and cooperation between services.

Ayuntamiento de Vitoria-Gasteiz

Banc d’innovacions

AutisMIND, an application to stimulate the social cognition of children with ASD

AutisMIND, an application to stimulate the social cognition of children with ASD

AutisMIND is a mobile application that enhances the ability to empathize with others in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
Digital Streetwork, social workers who assist young people through the Internet

Digital Streetwork, social workers who assist young people through the Internet

Digital Streetwork is an initiative that moves street work with youth to the Internet
BRUS, accompaniment to young people who live in families with situations of drug addiction

BRUS, accompaniment to young people who live in families with situations of drug addiction

BRUS is an accompaniment program to young people who live in families with situations of drug addiction
App Morada, support against gender-based violence for women with disability

App Morada, support against gender-based violence for women with disability

App Morada is an application that helps and guides women with disability and victims of gender-based violence

Be Girl, project against menstrual poverty, and the stigma and taboos it entails

Publications Bank of innovations

Be Girl, project against menstrual poverty, and the stigma and taboos it entails

Be Girl and Plan Internacional

Colombian girls with their Smart Cycle. Retrieved from the website of Be Girl.

Project to combat menstrual poverty, as well as the stigma and the taboos it entails. It consists of an offer of reusable and affordable menstrual products, training workshops and a pendant that helps to monitor the menstrual cycle itself.

Be Girl products consist of reusable menstrual products, such as panties or cloth pads, made of waterproof and absorbing materials that prevent loss and allow for affordable and safe menstruation, both for the environment and for users. They have a useful life of two years, avoiding waste from traditional pads and tampons, as well as being safer, hygienic and more economic in the long term. Its design is comfortable, beautiful, and efficient to respond to the needs of people who menstruate.

The project also offers menstrual cycle knowledge workshops, which include the use of Smart Cycle, a tool that allows one to know the menstrual cycle and its different parts (menstruation, ovulation, maximum fertility day, etc.). It is a pendant that helps track the menstrual cycle and better understand one’s body. These workshops are intended for both girls and boys, to show menstruation as a natural and free of stigmas. They are performed in schools and leisure sites, to make them safer and freer from menstrual taboos.

Be Girl products can also be purchased online, and with the benefits of the sales, the impulsive organizations fund the free distribution of products to girls with few resources.

Be Girl

Banc d’innovacions

AutisMIND, an application to stimulate the social cognition of children with ASD

AutisMIND, an application to stimulate the social cognition of children with ASD

AutisMIND is a mobile application that enhances the ability to empathize with others in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
Digital Streetwork, social workers who assist young people through the Internet

Digital Streetwork, social workers who assist young people through the Internet

Digital Streetwork is an initiative that moves street work with youth to the Internet
BRUS, accompaniment to young people who live in families with situations of drug addiction

BRUS, accompaniment to young people who live in families with situations of drug addiction

BRUS is an accompaniment program to young people who live in families with situations of drug addiction
App Morada, support against gender-based violence for women with disability

App Morada, support against gender-based violence for women with disability

App Morada is an application that helps and guides women with disability and victims of gender-based violence

Raaji, chatbot to inform and empower girls and women

Publications Bank of innovations

Raaji, chatbot to inform and empower girls and women

Aurat Raaj

Girls using the chat-bot Raaji. Retrieved from Aurat Raaj’s website.

Chat-bot that informs girls and women about gender issues and helps them empower and defend their rights. It uses a virtual character, Raaji, which is able to answer questions and have a conversation through artificial intelligence algorithms. It provides information on issues considered taboo which are of great importance to female empowerment, such as issues of reproductive health, security or economic autonomy. In addition, a team of professionals detects if there are cases that require professional intervention and are derived from them to the most appropriate services.

The Pakistani organization that has developed it, Aurat Raaj, also collaborates with schools and social organizations to make workshops and activities to empower women and girls, and to try to break some stigma surrounding topics such as menstrual hygiene. To further expand this task, they have created an animated series where the main character, Raaji, passes through different situations considered taboo but which are part of the day-to-day life of many girls. In this way, girls see themselves in a character that they identify with, who normalizes and overcomes these situations, encouraging them to take the initiative through activities such as training courses, personal defence, etc.

Chat-bot is a versatile tool available in English and Urdu, and has also been adapted to Covid-19 to provide reliable information about the disease for girls and boys, in an easy way. Raaji is a sample of how technology can help expand and take the work of social organisations further, creating a tool that is easy to access and which allows the easy and private reporting of issues of great importance and on which there are taboos or misinformation.

Aurat Raaj

Banc d’innovacions

AutisMIND, an application to stimulate the social cognition of children with ASD

AutisMIND, an application to stimulate the social cognition of children with ASD

AutisMIND is a mobile application that enhances the ability to empathize with others in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
Digital Streetwork, social workers who assist young people through the Internet

Digital Streetwork, social workers who assist young people through the Internet

Digital Streetwork is an initiative that moves street work with youth to the Internet
BRUS, accompaniment to young people who live in families with situations of drug addiction

BRUS, accompaniment to young people who live in families with situations of drug addiction

BRUS is an accompaniment program to young people who live in families with situations of drug addiction
App Morada, support against gender-based violence for women with disability

App Morada, support against gender-based violence for women with disability

App Morada is an application that helps and guides women with disability and victims of gender-based violence

Personal budgets, a new model that facilitates the autonomy and decision-making capacity of people with disabilities

Publications Bank of innovations

Personal budgets, a new model that facilitates the autonomy and decision-making capacity of people with disabilities

Flemish Agency for Persons with Disabilities (VAPH, Flemish acronym), Support-Girona Foundation

User creating his Personal Budget with the help of an adviser

A system targeted at disabled people who need long-term care and support, which enables the individual to decide which services he or she wants to receive and how he or she wants to receive them. This is thanks to a Personal Budget that is allocated to him and that the person himself can decide how to spend it.

First, the person, who needs to be over 17 years old, makes a personal budget request, making an application to indicate what activities he wants to do, what support he has currently, whether these are sufficient or not to meet his needs, what are his strengths and weaknesses, etc. Once the request is made, a multidisciplinary team issues a report in which they objectively assess the needs of the person and the Personal Budget that would fit him best.

Once the Personal Budget is granted to the person, they will be able to decide freely, firstly, whether to receive it in the form of coupons or bank transfer. Secondly, what type of services they want to invest in: direct home care, participation in therapies, obtaining an individual supervisor for one day trips, hiring a transport company to manage their mobility, etc.

In this way, the Flemish system of Personal Budgets allows for long-term care which provides greater autonomy for disabled people in deciding how to meet their own needs on the basis of the range of services available.

VAPH

Banc d’innovacions

AutisMIND, an application to stimulate the social cognition of children with ASD

AutisMIND, an application to stimulate the social cognition of children with ASD

AutisMIND is a mobile application that enhances the ability to empathize with others in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
Digital Streetwork, social workers who assist young people through the Internet

Digital Streetwork, social workers who assist young people through the Internet

Digital Streetwork is an initiative that moves street work with youth to the Internet
BRUS, accompaniment to young people who live in families with situations of drug addiction

BRUS, accompaniment to young people who live in families with situations of drug addiction

BRUS is an accompaniment program to young people who live in families with situations of drug addiction
App Morada, support against gender-based violence for women with disability

App Morada, support against gender-based violence for women with disability

App Morada is an application that helps and guides women with disability and victims of gender-based violence

Nextdoor, global platform against neighbourhood isolation and unwanted loneliness

Publications Bank of innovations

Nextdoor, global platform against neighbourhood isolation and unwanted loneliness

Nextdoor

Neighbours accompanying each other through Nextdoor

Virtual platform connecting neighbours and fighting against unwanted loneliness. Today it is used by neighbours of 265, 000 neighbourhoods in 11 countries, and during the Covid-19 pandemic it has been of great service to millions of people. It also has versions in Catalan and Spanish.

Nextdoor starts from the observation that today most citizens of large urban areas do not know their neighbours beyond casual encounters on the staircase or the street. Nextdoor is an online platform that wants to change this by creating more united and communitarian neighbourhoods using technology to eliminate possible barriers. It consists of a virtual forum where neighbours can post consultations, recommendations for local services, requests for help or interest information about the neighbourhood. All users must verify their belonging to a particular neighbourhood, so that communications are within the framework of this neighbourhood and are secure.

Nextdoor has been of great service during the Covid-19 pandemic thanks to initiatives such as #CuentaConmigo, which fights unwanted loneliness through video calls between neighbours, so that they can meet each other and share a time of their day-to-day lives. In addition, during the pandemic, they also launched a solidarity map so that neighbours could share their needs and help each other. It is a way to connect with other people and create a more united community; a unity that can then move to life outside the screen.

Nextdoor

Banc d’innovacions

AutisMIND, an application to stimulate the social cognition of children with ASD

AutisMIND, an application to stimulate the social cognition of children with ASD

AutisMIND is a mobile application that enhances the ability to empathize with others in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
Digital Streetwork, social workers who assist young people through the Internet

Digital Streetwork, social workers who assist young people through the Internet

Digital Streetwork is an initiative that moves street work with youth to the Internet
BRUS, accompaniment to young people who live in families with situations of drug addiction

BRUS, accompaniment to young people who live in families with situations of drug addiction

BRUS is an accompaniment program to young people who live in families with situations of drug addiction
App Morada, support against gender-based violence for women with disability

App Morada, support against gender-based violence for women with disability

App Morada is an application that helps and guides women with disability and victims of gender-based violence