Past Projects

Cyberbullying 2023 - 2024

The project “Deaf Youth against Cyberbullying: Action Kit and Manifesto,” addressing the digital age’s rising concern of cyberbullying, supported by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, was facilitated by Katia Pahud from Switzerland, Sofiya Kalinova from Ireland, and Lubna Mehdi from Norway. This project is led by the EUDY and in collaboration with the Deaf People’s Association of Malta (DPAM), with participants from Spain, Romania, Norway, Netherlands, Malta, Latvia, Iceland, Czech Republic, and Belgium. This initiative aims to combat the surge in cyberbullying exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis.

The project seeks to collect data on cyberbullying, develop tools for Deaf youth workers, create materials for supporting affected individuals, and share a manifesto for online awareness. Deaf youth workers from partner organisations and national representative groups, along with individuals aged 0-35, are the primary focus. The project will especially address those aged 15-35, at a higher risk of cyberbullying.

The project focuses on a survey tailored for Deaf individuals aged 15-35, recognising their vulnerability to cyberbullying. Through collaborative survey creation and active participation, the project aims to address gaps in information and develop effective tools. This holistic approach involves both youth workers and participants, contributing to the overarching goal of creating safe spaces, empowering youth workers, and building a toolkit for positive impact within the Deaf community.

SignTeach Online 2021 - 2023

SignTeach Online is a European project of which the Communication Center is a partner. This project is funded by the Erasmus + program, which involves 7 partners from 7 EU countries. This project, SignTeach Online, is both developed and intended for sign language teachers.

Because of Covid-19, sign language teachers, like others, had to switch to distance learning in 2020. How was that done? What were the challenges? What worked, what did not work? These are the questions we will answer together by posting good examples, interviews, podcasts and more on the project’s website

Sign Links 2019 - 2022

Sign Links Project partners with 3 other countries and aims train Deaf adults to be Role Models for both the Deaf and the Hearing Worlds. This training will empower Deaf and Hearing people to live happy and productive lives and set standards for others to follow in our countries, the EU and the World.

The Hellenic Federation of the Deaf in the context of the European Programme Erasmus+, 1 KA2 – Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices KA204 – Strategic Partnerships for adult education, will implement the project “Deaf Adults as Role Models for the Hearing World: Links of the Same Chain” bearing the Acronym title “Sign Links” and code number 2019-1-EL01-KA204-062935. The State Scholarship Foundations (IKY) is the National Agency of the Erasmus+ Programme. The Participating organisations consist of 6 distinct partners based in 3 countries of the European Union: Greece, Bulgaria and Malta. As a result of our project we expect to adequately train Deaf adults to be Role Models for both the Deaf and the Hearing Worlds. This training will empower Deaf and Hearing people to live happy and productive lives and set standards for others to follow in our countries, the EU and the World.

Banoffee 2019 - 2022

The BANOFFEE project partners with 5 different countries and aims to create sign language names for 50 types of birds.

The project has as the objective to create tools for inclusive fruition of environment, facilitating the access to nature and bird knowledge for the Deaf community, it involves five European Countries. The project will contribute in an innovative way to the lexicon of five sign languages, identifying or facilitating the creation of signs for around 50 species of common birds in Europe. In fact, the name of many bird species is often missing in sign languages. It will involve Spanish, French, Italian, Greek and Maltese Sign Language.

Videos of these signs are available on the dictionary section for each of the five languages. The manuals section will be enriched with manuals aimed at improving and assessing inclusivity in nature reserves and to train guides in dealing with Deaf people.

Pancake 2021 - 2023

Friends of the Earth (Malta) coordinated a 3 year ERASMUS+ Project with 5 partners from Malta, Spain, Italy and UK bringing together associations of the deaf and nature organisations with the support of an interactive content sharing online platform.

In Europe there are an estimated 70 million citizens with some form of hearing impairment, but specific materials for the identification of plants is lacking in sign language. Il-Lingwa Tas-Sinjali Maltija or Maltese Sign Language (LSM) is the language of the Maltese Deaf Community and has been an official language of Malta since 2016.

The aim of the Project is to improve the inclusion of the Deaf community in accessing nature, augment knowledge about flora and design inclusive public spaces through 5 innovative actions. These included the enhancement of five national sign languages by creating a “sign” for plants which are found in the four countries, creating videos to learn the new “signs” and short sign language documentaries, a manual of best architectural practices for inclusion and accessibility in public spaces and the adaptation of the material into online interactive content for dissemination.