Special Olympics Europe Eurasia

It was a privilege for our team to join a gathering of Lions and Leos from across Europe at the recent Lions Europa Forum 2024 Bordeaux. Among the many exciting activities on offer was an energising Unified flag rugby demonstration by Special Olympics France - the perfect way to show the power of the Special Olympics and Lions Clubs International partnership in action! Thank you Lions Clubs International Foundation for your amazing support for the athletes of our movement, across Europe and worldwide!   #SpecialOlympics #MissionInclusion David Evangelista Gonzalo Ramos Solanes Will Byrne Phil Nathan MBE Chartered FCSI FIoD Paula Gundín González

Last week, the prestigious Empress Theophano Prize was awarded to Special Olympics and Chairman Timothy Shriver at a moving ceremony in the 2000-year-old Rotunda in Thessaloniki, Greece. The award ceremony was followed by a Unified Run hosted by Special Olympics Hellas and an energising roundtable discussion on inclusive sports moderated by Special Olympics Board Member and Global Athlete Congress Chair Kiera Byland BEM. #specialolympics #empresstheophanoprize

In less than two weeks, 20 Special Olympics coaches from across our region will descend on Dublin for Individual Medley (IM) Champion Coach Training, proudly hosted by the Michael Phelps Foundation and Special Olympics Ireland! The coaches will dive deep into the art of mastering various swimming strokes and gain advanced insights on delivering Level 2 IM Coach training to coaches in their countries. 🌊💪 Stay tuned for updates from Dublin in November! #ChooseToInclude #specialolympics Special Olympics Deutschland Special Olympics Italia Matteo Secchi

Today, we welcomed guests from 23 countries in Bucharest for the launch of the "Excellence in Action: Unified Champion School" conference. National Directors, program directors, education and sports specialists, Unified Partners and Special Olympics athletes from all over Europe and Eurasia gathered for 2 days of valuable discussions and knowledge transfer on inclusion in schools and international collaboration in education. Huge thanks to the fantastic team at Special Olympics Romania for the warm welcome and incredible setup! 📸 : Special Olympics Romania and Special Olympics Europe Eurasia #ChooseToInclude #SpecialOlympics #UnifiedChampionSchools #UnifiedGeneration

Nine Youth Leaders and Adult Mentors will be representing Special Olympics Albania, Special Olympics Austria and Special Olympics Romania at the 2025 Global Youth Leadership Summit in Turin, Italy, during the World Winter Games. They will join nearly 100 leaders with and without intellectual disabilities from across the globe, working together to shape a more inclusive future and will gain the tools to challenge stereotypes, build inclusive communities, and showcase the power of unified leadership. We can’t wait to see the impact they’ll make! #SpecialOlympics Special Olympics Special Olympics Österreich Special Olympics Romania

Special Olympics was present today at the adoption of the Solfagnano Charter at the #G7 Ministerial Meeting on Inclusion and Disability. Our CEO Mary Davis witnessed the signing alongside US delegates US Special Advisor on International Disability Rights Sara Minkara, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Disability Employment Policy at the US Department of Labor Taryn Mackenzie Williams, Senior Global Inclusion Advisor of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems Virginia Atkinson, and Co-founder and Executive Director of the Harvard Law School Project on Disability Professor Michael Stein. The Solfagnano Charter represents a series of commitments to strengthen inclusion across diverse areas, calling on G7 nations to: ➡️ Embrace sport as a catalyst for inclusion. ➡️ Take concrete actions to support inclusive education and employment opportunities. ➡️ Permanently include the topic of "inclusion and disability" in future G7 agendas. In particular, we applaud the emphasis on the implementation of international legal standards supporting the rights of persons with disabilities, especially the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) and the principle of “Nothing About Us, Without Us”, which responds to demands that the disability community is actively engaged in policymaking to ensure their full participation in civil, social and political life. We must work together to ensure that disability rights remain a priority in global policymaking, and this charter is a watershed moment in the pathway towards a more inclusive future. #G7Italy #ChooseToInclude #G7DisabilityInclusion

This UN Day we celebrate the entire UN family worldwide - all of its agencies and all of its vital personnel. We are so proud to partner with you on many powerful projects across our region and across the globe! #specialolympics #UNDay #UNday2024 United Nations UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency UNICEF United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) UNESCO UNDP Special Olympics David Evangelista Gerald Mballe Mballe

Special Olympics Spain wrapped up the incredible Meeting Reus 2024, bringing together over 400 outstanding athletes from 9 countries! Athletes competed across basketball, boccia, football 7-a-side, padel, and swimming. We also enjoyed exciting exhibitions in floorball, MAPT, and Young Athletes. Participants represented Andorra, Austria, Belgium, France, Hungary, Ireland, Malta, Romania, and hosts Spain. A huge thank you to the amazing partners, including Toyota and UPS, for their great support in making this celebration of sport possible. #SpecialOlympics 📷Pablo Dondero for Special Olympics España Special Olympics Toyota Motor Europe UPS

The largest and final edition of the Special Champions League took place in Ghent, Belgium, from 4-6 October, and what an incredible event it was! A total of 22 teams from across Europe came together for three unforgettable days of football. A huge thank you to the European Union for co-funding, Toyota and UPS for their great support, Special Olympics Belgium for hosting, and the European Football Development Network (EFDN) for coordinating. #SpecialOlympics 📷Special Olympics Belgium 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. Special Olympics Special Olympics Belgium European Union European Football for Development Network Toyota Motor Europe UPS

Every month, our ‘Meet the Team’ series takes you behind the scenes at Special Olympics Europe Eurasia to get to know our regional team members. This month, we are on the ground in Berlin for the Special Olympics Europe Eurasia Leadership Conference and staff meeting. That means that we can proudly invite you to 'Meet the WHOLE Team'! Matteo Secchi David Evangelista Will Byrne Silvia Cassina Ecem Acar Hernán Goldzycher Bjoern Koehler Ulysses Nogueira Ilse Hemmelmayr Jenni Häkkinen Christo Velkov Gonzalo Ramos Solanes Aoife O'Grady Mirek Krogulec Colin Kenny Sabine Menke Gerald Mballe Mballe Pamela Herrera 📸: SOEE/I. Esnaola #SpecialOlympics #SOEELeadership24