More than 100 communities in Ukraine have already received the checklist “Accessible Community” developed by “The League of the Strong”. This was reported by Daria Sydorenko, Executive Director of the League of the Strong Public Union, during the presentation of the results of the work of the Center of Expertise in the field of the rights of people with disabilities at the Ukrinform news agency.
“More than 100 territorial communities have used the checklist. We have developed a checklist that tells us what needs to be taken into account in the city’s development strategy. To ensure that they again meet accessibility issues and take into account the rights of people with disabilities. It can be used by any territorial community in Ukraine,” – said Daria Sydorenko, executive director of The League of the Strong public union.
The checklist is available on the website of the League of the Strong. It is a practical navigator for communities. The document explains how to make barrier-free accessibility a strategic vector in community development: which documents should be amended and what kind of amendments to make in order to implement barrier-free accessibility in all aspects systematically and step by step. The checklist contains practical recommendations for ensuring accessibility to transportation, administrative services, education, and other important areas.
“This checklist is a kind of guideline on how the barrier-free policy should be reflected in their strategic documents. Do not reinvent the wheel or look for information that is often not only incorrect, but sometimes harmful. Therefore, I urge communities to take the checklist developed by the League of the Strong as an example and implement it in their strategic documents. And to reflect the policy of barrier-free accessibility, starting with strategies and ending with municipal targeted programs,” – added Olha Hvozdyk, advocate of the League of the Strong public union.
An important area of work of the Center of Expertise in the field of the rights of people with disabilities is cooperation with communities for inclusive reconstruction. As a result, the first 30 communities in Ukraine have begun working on amending their development strategies to include accessible access.
“We were able to work with 30 communities from nine regions. This work consists in providing consultations and analyzing documents from the point of view of the rights of people with disabilities – whether their interests are taken into account. In addition to this analysis, we provide recommendations on what should be changed in terms of accessibility,”- said Daria Sydorenko, director of The League of the Strong NGO.
Daria Sydorenko also said that the League of the Strong will continue to cooperate with local communities. There are already agreements to start working together with city authorities in Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia and Ivano-Frankivsk (March 2024). In particular, for Kyiv, consultations will be held for the structural units of the city council on the availability of infrastructure facilities. Recommendations will also be developed on how to make government websites more accessible to people with disabilities. Ivano-Frankivsk will work on a city development strategy to ensure that it takes into account the rights of people with disabilities. Zaporizhzhia will provide expert advice on the physical accessibility of cultural institutions.
The Center of Expertise on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities of the League of the Strong public union started its work in 2023. The key goal of its work is to provide expertise to local governments in their work on strategic documents governing the reconstruction and development of communities in terms of inclusiveness, barrier-free accessibility and ensuring the rights of people with disabilities.
We would like to remind you that the Center of Expertise on the Rights of People with Disabilities of the NGO “League of the Strong” operates thanks to a grant from the Program “Support to Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Ukraine” within the framework of financial support from the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Development.
The program is implemented by Crown Agents in partnership with International Alert and in cooperation with Crown Agents in Ukraine. The content is the sole responsibility of the public union “League of the Strong” and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the views of Crown Agents, International Alert and Crown Agents in Ukraine.