“The League of the Strong” has announced an open call for organisations of people with disabilities to take part in monitoring compliance with the rights of people with disabilities in Ukraine. “The League of the Strong” will select 10 organisations, train them in monitoring methodologies, fund the monitoring activities and support them throughout the process. The joint findings of the research will form the basis of an independent report for the European Commission and will help assess Ukraine’s progress in fulfilling its human rights obligations on the path to European Union membership. This was announced by Daria Kukurika, Executive Director of “The League of the Strong”.
“It is important to us that the voices of people with disabilities and their organisations are heard in Ukraine’s European integration process. In this project, we are acting as the national coordinator for joint monitoring; we will provide training for participants, expert support for the research, and prepare a final report based on data from various regions of Ukraine. We invite organisations to get involved in this work and submit their applications by 15 July,” said Daria Kukurika, Executive Director of “The League of the Strong”.
Organisations from various regions of Ukraine that have a good understanding of the situation in their local communities or work with specific groups of people with disabilities are invited to take part.
To begin with, an open information session will also be held for potential participants (provisionally on 9–10 July), during which the project team will explain the terms of participation and the monitoring methodology, and answer any questions.
Project participants will receive a practical monitoring methodology, tools for collecting and verifying information, a three-day in-person training course, expert support during the research, and the opportunity for five organisations to receive sub-grant funding (€2,200) to carry out local monitoring activities following the successful completion of the training programme.
As part of the monitoring process, the organisations will investigate the extent to which the rights of people with disabilities are being upheld in local communities, in accordance with the provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and European standards. The findings will help to identify systemic barriers, compare the situation across different regions, and draw up recommendations for the authorities.
Details of the competition and the registration form are available at: https://forms.gle/DhvsBALKcgvmckHY6.
It should be noted that “The League of the Strong” developed its monitoring methodology based on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The system enables an assessment of the compliance of Ukrainian legislation with EU standards, as well as the identification of gaps in the implementation of the rights guaranteed by the Convention.