Every year at the beginning of October the All-Ukrainian NGO “Coalition to Protect the Rights of Intellectually Disabled Persons”, along with its friends and partners, holds all-Ukrainian meetings on various pressing issues to improve the living conditions of such a vulnerable category as disabled persons in Ukraine.
The 10th All-Ukrainian Meeting “Preparation of Alternative Report to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2016-2019”, took place this year on 9 and 10 October. The event was held under the motto “15 years together!” This is the exact number of years the All-Ukrainian NGO “Coalition to Protect the Rights of Intellectually Disabled Persons” has been making efforts to ease and improve the life of such a vulnerable category as persons with disabilities in Ukraine. 116 organizations became a real family in 15 years!
The event was dedicated to the integration of Ukrainian initiatives into the pan-European space and welcomed among its guests a representative of the Lublin Forum of Organizations for People with Disabilities Alicja Jankiewicz (Poland), a representative of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) Peter Erben, representatives of Inclusion Europe and the Secretariat of the Ombudsman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Human Rights, as well as heads of public organizations and directors of municipal institutions of integrated rehabilitation centers from all over Ukraine.
The co-organizers and partners of the 10th All-Ukrainian Meeting:
- Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine;
- Social Protection Fund for Persons with Disabilities;
- Secretariat of the Ombudsman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Human Rights;
- Association of International and All-Ukrainian Public Organizations “Child.ua”;
- United World Cultures Foundation;
- NGO “Special Olympics Ukraine”;
- The Tourist Hotel Complex;
- The “Dzherela” (“Springs”) Charitable Association to Help the Disabled and Intellectually Impaired.
Within the framework of this event, the All-Ukrainian Craft Competition for Intellectually Disabled Persons was held for the third time, with more than 100 makings. Among the striking variety of crafts items, one could see woodwork, vyshyvankas, artificial flowers, ekibano, refrigerator magnets in the form of cartoon characters, eco pastels, various dried fruits and more.
The jury of the competition, consisting of the chairperson of the board of the All-Ukrainian NGO “Coalition” Olena Kravchenko, the program manager of the Association of International and All-Ukrainian Public Organizations “Child.ua” Iryna Vorontsova, the director of the Charity Fund UWCF Olena Kobets, the executive director of the NGO “Special Olympics Ukraine” Andrii Pidvarko, a journalist and public figure Olena Tsarenko and other guests of the event, determined and awarded the participants and winners of the All-Ukrainian Craft Competition for Intellectually Disabled Persons.
UWCF’s team awarded the Second Prize winners: “New Life” Charitable Foundation for People with Disabilities (Transcarpathian Region, Mukachevo city) and Municipal Social Institution “Kyiv City Complex for Social Adaptation of Persons with Mental Disabilities” (Kyiv). The mentioned organizations were awarded dryers for fruits and vegetables.
