Ensuring Rights and Empowerment: Implementing Barrier-Free Strategies in Territorial Communities to Rebuild Ukraine's Social Infrastructure
“The Association of Amalgamated Territorial Communities, together with the Partnership for Decentralisation, and with the support of the Decentralisation for a Better Society (DOBRE) Programme, organised an innovative online webinar dedicated to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of decentralisation to improve the quality of life of Ukrainian society.
This exciting event brought together more than 410 participants to provide expert and methodological support to local communities. The main goal of the webinar was to improve the skills of local government officials, as well as to provide answers to topical issues related to building an inclusive society and restoring social infrastructure throughout Ukraine.
During this unusual webinar, community representatives received extremely valuable theoretical and practical information on how to apply the acquired knowledge to develop comprehensive recovery programmes and plans aimed at ensuring inclusiveness, barrier-free accessibility and respect for the rights of people with disabilities at the community level.
The beginning of this unforgettable webinar was marked by warm words of welcome to the representatives of local communities who became active participants in this important event:
‘Thank you all very much for your participation! This event is possible thanks to the fruitful cooperation between the EBA and the DOBRE! In November, our Association will be 7 years old. We are gaining momentum every year! We are working more and more powerfully for communities. To get more information and receive our products, subscribe to the official pages of the Association and connect to professional networks. I wish you all victory and fruitful work!’
Taras Dobrivskyi, Executive Director of the All-Ukrainian Association of AHs
‘I support the holding of a webinar for community representatives on inclusion, barrier-free access and social protection. Due to the Russian aggression, there are more and more people who need additional outside help and attention. We, the local authorities, must focus our efforts on ensuring their rights and do everything possible to make the communities accessible and barrier-free, as social problems are extremely acute today, especially for certain categories of citizens.’
Serhii Sokalskyi, Head of the Youth, Sports, Culture Platform, Head of Hlybochytska TG, Zhytomyr Oblast
Based on the preparatory materials, the All-Ukrainian Association of Amalgamated Territorial Communities, together with the Decentralisation Offering Better Results and Efficiency Programme (DOBRE) on the basis of the Social Protection and Cohesion and Youth, Sports and Culture Platforms, analysed the questions of interest to the participants of the event and passed them on to the speakers to be taken into account when covering the topic. Representatives of local self-government bodies collected questions about the problem and the need for information on the topic of the event.
More than 40 questions were received from community representatives, which were processed by the speakers and included in the presentation materials.
Oleksandr Isyp, who is an expert under the Social Protection and Cohesion Platform and the Youth, Sport and Culture Platform, highlighted key aspects related to social protection issues. He emphasised the importance of identifying and analysing these issues during the work of the Social Protection and Cohesion and Youth, Sports and Culture platforms. Oleksandr also presented materials related to the webinar topic and explained the choice of the topic, issues to be discussed, speakers, target audience, purpose and partners that contribute to the successful implementation of this online event. An important aspect is that the speakers took into account the questions raised by the participants regarding the organisation of social service delivery at the level of territorial communities after the webinar was completed.
Issues discussed:
- The list of services of the Centre, which will include expert consultations for stakeholders in the recovery process and implementation of barrier-free strategies;
- Analysis of regulatory and legal acts for accessibility and barrier-free access;
- Analysis of project documentation for facilities to be rebuilt;
- Recommendations on the inclusion of the standards of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Recovery Strategies and Programmes;
- Proposals of the All-Ukrainian Association of Organisations for Persons with Disabilities “League of the Strong” for cooperation.► Speakers’ presentations are available by the links:
The questions in the chat to the speakers and the favourable feedback indicate that the participants were very interested and willing to learn about the concept of cohesion in territorial communities. We are looking forward to an interesting and lively discussion among the representatives of local communities in the future. The participants completed a feedback questionnaire in which the vast majority of participants highly appreciated the event, the quality of the speakers’ work and praised the accessibility of the completeness and professionalism of the information received.
‘I am very pleased that more than 400 participants took part in our event. I also listened carefully to the speakers' interpretation of the legal requirements on the topic. There are indeed many important nuances that need to be analysed in detail. At the same time, each territorial community has its own peculiarities. Much of it is based on the lack of funds. I consider the area discussed today on the social protection platform to be extremely important and the issues covered to be the main ones and priorities. I am confident that the webinar will help to achieve the training goals, quality results and we will be able to continue to help hromadas with the help of our Platforms by responding to their requests and problematic issues, because every territorial hromada needs such measures.’
Volodymyr Mitsuk, Head of the Social Protection and Cohesion Platform, Head of Bilozirska ATC, Cherkasy Oblast
In conclusion, Oleksandr Isyp, expert moderator of the Social Protection and Cohesion Platform of the All-Ukrainian Association of AHs, said:
‘Problematic issues of local governments are constantly monitored by our Association. In the future, it is also planned to hold events to consider issues on platforms in the areas of work on various topics relevant and acute for hromadas. Follow our announcements, register in time so as not to miss the opportunity to participate. Join professional networks on the basis of specialised platforms and thus join the discussion of community issues. Thank you all for your participation!’
Alexander Isip
