SignUnity – Inter-Continental Collaboration in Sign Language Interpreter VET Education

SignUnity – Inter-Continental Collaboration in Sign Language Interpreter VET Education

Project Overview

Project: SignUnity – Inter-Continental Collaboration in Sign Language Interpreter VET Education

Duration: 1 January 2026 – 31 December 2027 (24 months)

Reference Nr. 101241690

Grant Amount: 377,448.92 EUR

Funding Programme: Erasmus+ – Capacity Building in Vocational Education and Training (CB-VET)

What's About

SignUnity – Inter-Continental Collaboration in Sign Language Interpreter VET Education – is an Erasmus+ Capacity Building project designed to strengthen vocational education and training (VET) systems for sign language interpreters across Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa.

The project responds to a clear and urgent challenge: the shortage of qualified sign language interpreters and limited access to structured, quality-assured training programmes. These gaps directly affect access to education, employment, public services, and social participation for Deaf and hard-of-hearing communities.

What We Deliver

The project will produce concrete, practice-oriented results, including:

A specialised VET curriculum for sign language interpreters, aligned with professional and labour market needs
A manual on ethical guidelines for sign language interpretation
Interactive digital learning tools to facilitate cross-continental accessibility and implementation

These outputs are co-created by higher education institutions, VET providers, Deaf associations, and local authorities to ensure relevance, applicability, and sustainability

Through structured inter-continental collaboration, SignUnity develops a standardised and labour-market-oriented curriculum aligned with VET standards, enhancing professional quality and long-term system capacity.

Develop a standardised curriculum for sign language interpreter VET education
Strengthen linguistic competences, interpreting techniques, and professional ethics
Improve interpreter employability and professional standards
Enhance accessibility and quality of interpreter training across regions
Foster sustainable cooperation between European and African institutions

The Objectives

Expected Impact

Over its 24-month implementation period (2026–2027), SignUnity will contribute to:

Stronger institutional capacity in sign language interpreter VET
Improved quality and harmonisation of training standards
Enhanced professional recognition of interpreters
Greater inclusion and accessibility for Deaf communities
Sustainable EU–Africa cooperation in vocational education

Partnership

The SignUnity consortium brings together institutions from Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa, ensuring both academic expertise and strong community representation:

Savez gluhih i nagluhih grada Zagreba (Croatia) – Coordinator
Kua Zone Innovation College Limited (Kenya)
University of Education, Winneba (Ghana)
Ghana National Association of the Deaf (Ghana)
Youth Power Germany e.V. (Germany)
Learning Library OÜ (Estonia)
Debre Markos City Administration (Ethiopia)

This multi-actor partnership ensures alignment between education providers, civil society organisations, and public authorities.

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.

Share this post

FUTURES- Future-proofing disadvantaged youth through tech skills and Inclusion

FUTURES- Future-proofing disadvantaged youth through tech skills and Inclusion

Project Overview

Project: Future-proofing disadvantaged youth through tech skills and inclusion

Duration: 01 October 2025 – 30 September 2027 (24 months)

Reference Nr. 2025-1-ES02-KA220-YOU-000361210

Grant Amount: 250,000 EUR

Grant Institution: ERASMUS+

What's About

FUTURES is a 24-month Erasmus+ Cooperation Partnership that empowers young people aged 18–30 who are unemployed or have left education early.

Many young people across Europe face barriers to entering the labour market. At the same time, digital transformation is creating new opportunities in fields like Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity. FUTURES connects these two realities by opening access to future-oriented skills for those who need it most.

Through the project, participants will:

Gain practical skills in AI and Cybersecurity
Develop soft skills such as communication, resilience and teamwork
Explore entrepreneurship and social innovation
Receive personalised mentoring and coaching
Take part in gamified, challenge-based learning
Experience international mobility and intercultural exchange

FUTURES goes beyond traditional training. It creates a supportive learning environment where young people can rebuild confidence, discover their potential and strengthen their position in today’s digital world.

The project also develops a MOOC and a digital learning game to ensure that the impact continues beyond the project duration.

Together with partners from Spain, Sweden, Lithuania and Bulgaria, Youth Power Germany contributes its expertise in inclusion, non-formal education and youth empowerment to make FUTURES a space where young people can shape their own path.

FUTURES is about skills. Confidence. Opportunity. And a second chance.

FUTURES seeks to:

Strengthen the employability of early leavers and NEET youth.
Provide market-oriented digital skills in AI and Cybersecurity.
Develop entrepreneurial mindsets and social entrepreneurship competences.
Foster soft skills such as communication, resilience, leadership and critical thinking.
Promote active citizenship and social inclusion.
Create a replicable best-practice model for youth workers and educators.

The Objectives

What Will Be Developed?

The partnership will design and implement:

A 90-hour training curriculum combining Deep-Tech, entrepreneurship and soft skills.
A MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) in English to ensure sustainability and long-term access.
A gamified learning tool integrating AI, cybersecurity and entrepreneurial challenges.
A personalised profiling methodology to adapt training to each participant.
A best-practice guide for youth workers and educators.
National InfoDays and company visits.
An international mobility week in Spain.

Expected Impact

At individual level:

Increased digital competence in AI and Cybersecurity
Improved soft skills and confidence
Higher employability
Enhanced entrepreneurial capacity
International experience and intercultural learning

At organisational level:

Stronger cross-sector cooperation
Innovative training methodologies
Scalable digital learning tools
New models for personalised youth support

At European level:

Contribution to reducing early school leaving
Strengthening digital readiness and resilience
Supporting EU priorities on youth employability and digital transformation

Partnership

FUTURES brings together six organisations from five European countries:

🇪🇸 Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha (Coordinator)
🇸🇪 Mälardalen University
🇩🇪 Youth Power Germany e.V.
🇱🇹 Vilnius Gediminas Technical University
🇪🇸 KlemKa CoLAB
🇧🇬 PNEVMA LLC

The partnership combines higher education institutions, NGOs, a social enterprise and an SME, ensuring strong expertise in technology, youth work, social inclusion, entrepreneurship and gamification.

Share this post

Building Bridges of Inclusion: Why the SignUnity Partnership Ecosystem Matters

Building Bridges of Inclusion: Why the SignUnity Partnership Ecosystem Matters

Inclusion is often spoken about as a value. Less often do we speak about the systems that make it possible. For deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals, inclusion depends not only on awareness or goodwill, but on something very concrete: access to qualified sign language interpreters. When interpreters are well trained, ethically grounded, and professionally recognised, communication barriers are reduced and participation becomes possible. When they are not, exclusion quietly persists.

Across many regions in Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa, the training of sign language interpreters remains inconsistent or underdeveloped. In some contexts, programmes are informal or short-term. In others, curricula lack standardisation or alignment with labour market realities. Ethical frameworks may exist in principle but are not always embedded in training structures. The result is a shortage of qualified professionals and uneven service quality. For deaf individuals, this translates into difficulties accessing healthcare, navigating legal systems, participating fully in education, or securing employment. The impact is social, economic, and deeply personal.

The SignUnity partnership ecosystem was created in response to this structural challenge. Rather than approaching the issue through a single intervention, the initiative brings together a network of organisations from Europe and Africa that operate at different levels of the education and inclusion landscape. It connects deaf community organisations, universities, vocational education providers, secondary schools, digital learning specialists, and youth actors into one coordinated framework. The strength of this model lies not simply in the number of partners involved, but in the way their roles interconnect.

At the centre of the ecosystem stands a strong coordinating institution with deep roots in the deaf community and experience in vocational education. This ensures that the project remains grounded in lived realities rather than abstract policy ambitions. Alongside this community-based leadership, academic expertise plays a crucial role. Through research and comparative analysis, existing training models are mapped, labour market needs are examined, and professional standards are reviewed across regions. This research foundation ensures that the curriculum being developed is not only aspirational, but evidence-based and responsive to actual demands.

Equally important is the anchoring of the project within African institutions that face acute interpreter shortages. By involving local associations and educational institutions directly in piloting and refining the training model, the partnership avoids a one-directional transfer of knowledge. Instead, it fosters mutual learning. European partners contribute structured vocational education models and experience with quality assurance mechanisms, while African partners bring contextual understanding, linguistic diversity, and insights into institutional realities. This shared ownership increases both relevance and sustainability.

One of the defining features of the SignUnity ecosystem is its integration of digital innovation. The development of an e-learning platform ensures that the new curriculum and ethical handbook are not confined to physical classrooms or limited geographic areas. By digitising materials and making them accessible online, the project reduces barriers related to distance, cost, and infrastructure. In regions where access to formal training may be limited, digital tools become a powerful equaliser. They also extend the lifespan of the project’s outcomes, allowing materials to be updated and used beyond the funded period.

What makes this ecosystem particularly significant is its systemic ambition. The goal is not only to train a cohort of interpreters, but to strengthen the institutions that educate them. Universities enhance their curricula. Vocational education providers refine their methodologies. Deaf associations deepen their engagement in professional standards. Digital providers establish sustainable platforms. By reinforcing institutional capacity, the partnership contributes to long-term resilience rather than temporary solutions.

The professionalisation of sign language interpreting is more than a sectoral reform; it is closely linked to human rights. Communication access is foundational to equality. Without reliable interpreting services, participation in public life remains conditional. Strengthening training standards, embedding ethical guidelines, and aligning qualifications with labour market expectations are steps toward ensuring that interpreting is recognised as a profession with clear responsibilities and societal value.

The importance of the SignUnity partnership ecosystem therefore extends beyond the field of interpreter education. It demonstrates how inclusive societies are built through collaboration across borders and sectors. By linking research with practice, community knowledge with institutional development, and digital innovation with vocational training, the project offers a model for addressing complex social challenges.

In a world where inclusion is often discussed in policy terms, the SignUnity ecosystem reminds us that inclusion requires infrastructure. It requires trained professionals, supportive institutions, shared standards, and sustained cooperation. By building bridges between Europe and Africa and between education systems and community realities, this partnership contributes to a future in which communication is not a barrier but a right upheld through professional excellence.