On December 17-18th, GASW and Union “Our Children” conducted a meeting/training in Achara region, namely, with the parents of children with disabilities in Khelvachauri raion. The meeting was organized by Khelvachauri municipality and its Youth Center.
20 parents and several local municipality representatives participated in the training. The meeting participants spoke about the problems of persons with disabilities and the physical, institutional and attitudinal barriers which they face in their raion in this regard. The training participants and the meeting facilitators also shared their experience in regards to the protection of the rights of and advocating for the needs of persons with disabilities and planned the next steps.
The involvement of parents was so active that at the same meeting, by the initiative of the parents, the Khelvachauri club of the parents of persons with disabilities was established. The club will start working with the support of Khelvachauri Youth Center. The parents’ willingness to get acquainted with each other, to share their needs and experience as well as to work together to achieve positive changes for their children was so strong that the dates and prioritized issues for the next meetings were already identified. These are the issues which need advocacy through mutual support among parents.
In addition, the issue of engaging a representative of parents in the work of the municipal board was also discussed which is important for implementing services and programs tailored to the needs of persons with disabilities. In addition to the aforementioned topics, the meeting focused on the rights of persons with disabilities and the role of parents in the process of supporting their independent living. A discussion was held on the challenges in regards to the topics essential to social inclusion as well as ways to resolve them.
GASW is happy to have had an opportunity to implement this activity together with such active organization in the field as the Union “Our Children”. We would like to thank this organization as well as Khelvachauri Municipality for the opportunity for such successful cooperation. We hope that we will be able to implement many more positive changes through our successful cooperation.
20 parents and several local municipality representatives participated in the training. The meeting participants spoke about the problems of persons with disabilities and the physical, institutional and attitudinal barriers which they face in their raion in this regard. The training participants and the meeting facilitators also shared their experience in regards to the protection of the rights of and advocating for the needs of persons with disabilities and planned the next steps.
The involvement of parents was so active that at the same meeting, by the initiative of the parents, the Khelvachauri club of the parents of persons with disabilities was established. The club will start working with the support of Khelvachauri Youth Center. The parents’ willingness to get acquainted with each other, to share their needs and experience as well as to work together to achieve positive changes for their children was so strong that the dates and prioritized issues for the next meetings were already identified. These are the issues which need advocacy through mutual support among parents.
In addition, the issue of engaging a representative of parents in the work of the municipal board was also discussed which is important for implementing services and programs tailored to the needs of persons with disabilities. In addition to the aforementioned topics, the meeting focused on the rights of persons with disabilities and the role of parents in the process of supporting their independent living. A discussion was held on the challenges in regards to the topics essential to social inclusion as well as ways to resolve them.
GASW is happy to have had an opportunity to implement this activity together with such active organization in the field as the Union “Our Children”. We would like to thank this organization as well as Khelvachauri Municipality for the opportunity for such successful cooperation. We hope that we will be able to implement many more positive changes through our successful cooperation.
