On November 18th, 2016, GASW hosted a meeting of Georgian parents of children and persons with disabilities with Gulnare Penahova, chairperson of the Azerbaijan Social Work Public Union and a parent of a person with disability in Azerbaijan.
The meeting was attended by the representatives of Georgian parents’ organizations, “Support to Parents”, “Parents’ Information Center”, “Families Against Discrimination” and “Association of Day Care Centers”, as well as by individual parents and representatives of services for children with disabilities from Tbilisi and regions of Georgia. The main goal of the meeting was to share information between Azeri and Georgian parents on the attitudes, services and systems for children and persons with disabilities in the two countries. Ms. Penahova spoke about topics, such as: various services for children and persons with disabilities in Azerbaijan, including healthcare, social and psychological services, the work of parents’ unions and services provided by them to other parents (including trainings on various topics, such as advocacy, skills to work on their children’s development, etc.), the importance of advocacy from the side of parents, as well as how to utilize minimum resources to provide the basic tools and equipment for children with disabilities, etc. Discussion continued with topics such as: management of difficult and self-injuring behavior, various opportunities to receive services or funding from the Azeri government for the citizens of Azerbaijan who live in Georgia, etc. At the end of the meeting, it was agreed that a mailing group of the attending persons would be created and communication via e-mail would continue to further share information and look into future opportunities for more cooperation of parents’ organizations and individual parents in the region of Caucasus. The meeting was followed by a smaller-scale meeting of Georgian parents to discuss various current problematic issues for children with disabilities in Georgia.
The meeting was organized within the project “Support to Social Inclusion of Youth with Disabilities” funded by the Czech Development Agency and implemented in cooperation with People in Need, Czech international non-governmental organization. The mobilization of parents for the meeting was made possible with the support from parents’ organizations “Parents Against Discrimination” and “Parents’ Information Center”.
The meeting was organized within the project “Support to Social Inclusion of Youth with Disabilities” funded by the Czech Development Agency and implemented in cooperation with People in Need, Czech international non-governmental organization. The mobilization of parents for the meeting was made possible with the support from parents’ organizations “Parents Against Discrimination” and “Parents’ Information Center”.
