SYNTHESIS Center for Research and Education held the first multiplier event for the project Include3 at the Hub Nicosia, Cyprus on the 14th of May 2023. The event was open to the public and attracted more than 20 participants that are either directly or indirectly involved with people with disabilities or are interested to understand more.

During the multiplier event the project, its background, aims and the projects objectives were introduced. A more in-depth analysis of the Cyprus national report findings was presented and further compared with some of the findings of the partner countries, Germany, Belgium and Slovenia. This comparison of findings was incredibly interesting for the participants and sparked a discussion on how Cyprus has a lot to learn from other European countries on how they enable and encourage people with disabilities to integrate into the workforce. Through the discussion the participants also had the opportunity to share how integration occurs through their personal experiences, mostly focusing on the educational framework in Cyprus.

The multiplier continued with the presentation of relevant definitions on the topic of disability and then a more detailed presentation of the projects Work Packages and the deliverables to be followed. The focus was always on how these deliverables can be useful for the participants and other relevant parties and most importantly how they can add value to the lives of people with disabilities.

After the presentation a roundtable discussion followed where all participants and presenters were involved. Interestingly, the topic of discussion mostly centered on the topic of independence and self-sufficiency for the people with disabilities. Some of the main sub-topics that were discussed on the topic of self-sufficiency were; self-confidence, independence, quality of life, discrimination and sheltering.

The multiplier event ended on a feeling of hopefulness and excitement from the participant to see how the project and its aims would materialise. Following, there was finger foods and drinks were all participants and members of the SYNTHESIS team could further network, interact and share further thoughts on the topic of the Include3 project as well as their personal experiences.