Ulyana Pcholkina, Chair of the Board of “The League of the Strong” civil society organisation, has called on Ukrainian civil society organisations to sign the Gdańsk Declaration on Inclusive Recovery. She made this appeal during her speech at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in early July in Kyiv.
“If this process is not inclusive from the very start, we will be creating new barriers and pouring money into unproductive investments. After all, we are investing in our future. We often see money and investments being put in, but the result is that new barriers are erected,” said Ulyana Pcholkina, Chair of the Board of “The League of the Strong”.
The final event in Kyiv was organised in collaboration with the Centre for Economic Strategy, the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting, and the NGO “Technologies of Progress”. All project participants are members of the RISE Ukraine coalition.
The participation of people with disabilities and the organisations that represent them must be an integral part of Ukraine’s reconstruction processes. Their experiences and needs must be taken into account at every stage — from planning decisions to the implementation of specific projects.
Among the initiatives currently presented as successful solutions for recovery, there are still projects that do not align with a rights-based approach. They may perpetuate old barriers — in particular, by maintaining institutional forms of care rather than developing community-based services and ensuring the right of people with disabilities to independent living.
These approaches are reflected in the Gdańsk Declaration, which “The League of the Strong” presented at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in collaboration with the European Disability Forum (EDF) and other organisations. The document calls for the full consideration of the rights of people with disabilities in Ukraine’s recovery processes.
“The League of the Strong” is calling on civil society organisations to sign the Gdańsk Declaration: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc7dWjP9LRWco5iA-USfYPz0uxM3qef-d7gWhHdKZik52xFqA/viewform, it has already been endorsed by 65 organisations.
“As a nation, we are losing not just a person with a disability, but also a taxpayer. We are losing our citizens who can help: whether in the army, elsewhere, or in the reconstruction effort. That is why we have drawn up a declaration on inclusive reconstruction and are calling on others to sign it too, so that our processes are inclusive of everyone. Diversity and inclusion are not just about Ulyana, who is in a wheelchair. They are about every single person in this room,” added Ulyana Pcholkina, Chair of the Board of “The League of the Strong”, addressing the conference participants.
Support for the declaration is the first step towards forming a common position within civil society. The next stage should be the creation of an effective mechanism to ensure that all reconstruction projects are accessible and inclusive.