Human rights consolidation program “East – West” for women with special needs
On 4 – 5 August 2006 a training seminar was held in Chernivtsi for women with special needs under the title “For equal rights and opportunities”. The course formed part of the project “Human rights Consolidation Program “East – West” for Women with Special Needs”
The 26 participants spent the first day concentrating on mechanisms for protecting the rights of people with special needs. They discussed stereotypes in society regarding people with such needs and their disadvantaged position both in Chernivtsi itself and in the region (the lack of ramps, pedestrian crossings with sound-based indicators for people with sight impairments, the lack of sign-language facilities on television channels, etc). Role play activities were used to help practise job interviews etc for women with special needs.
On the second day, representatives of civic organizations – the Chernivtsi City Organization “Help for the Disabled”, “People with Diabetes in Bukovyna”, the Chernivtsi Regional Assembly of People with Disabilities, the Sadhirska Association of People with Disabilities”, the Chernivtsi Branch of the All-Ukrainian Association “Astom-Ukraina”, the city civic organization for people with spine-related disabilities “Mriya” [“Dream”], UTOH, the Chernivtsi city centre for the protection of private entrepreneurs and small businesses, and the civic organizations “Prava Ludyny” [“Human rights”] addressed the seminar. They shared their skills for working in a team, creating mutual support groups, resolving situations of conflict, and other skills gained in their activities. The participants of the training seminar proposed to unite the efforts of all interested nongovernmental organizations in the Chernivtsi region in order to better deal with the problems encountered by people with special needs.
The seminar was also attended by Deputy of the Chernivtsi City Council, Volodymyr Beshtlei, secretary of the permanent deputies’ commission on municipal housing and communal services and environmental protection. He accepted the proposal of the seminar participants to include the following people in a public committee for monitoring the quality of roads in order to achieve barrier-free architecture: Kateryna Ananyeva (from “Mrya”), Mariya Kyrylyuk (from the Chernivtsi Regional Assembly of People with Disabilities) and Gyulnar Nazarova (from “Prava Ludyny”), and promised to help in resolving the problems city residents with diabetes have in receiving insulin.
The program is being carried out by the civic organization “The Foundation for Human Rights” and the Chernivtsi civic organizations “Prava Ludyny” , with the support of the EU European Commission.