Community Services to Vulnerable Groups: Expanding Participation of People with Disabilities Quarterly Report October-December 2014

There are 119,000 children with special needs, including about 30,000 children with disabilities among them. Discrimination and marginalization of adults and young people with disabilities is a typical social phenomenon for Belarus. Adults are often excluded from social and economic life, and decision-making practices, while children with disabilities suffer from insufficient access to education and appropriate quality of services as well as social exclusion and a lack of participation opportunities. The project "Expanding Participation of People with Disabilities" aims to increase the integration of people with disabilities through the development of innovative services and strengthening the capacity of grassroots organizations. The project has three main objectives: build the organizational, networking, and advocacy capacity of grassroots organizations supporting people with disabilities and their families; support advocacy efforts by people with disabilities grassroots organizations to promote inclusion; and support the introduction and development of inclusive education of children and young people with disabilities. This quarter, the project's activities focused on the sustainability of changes introduced within the course of project implementation. The project covered a wide spectrum of activities focused on capacity building, development of support services for further promotion of inclusive education in the pilot sites, and advocacy efforts of people with disabilities organizations. A roundtable discussion on the draft Concept Paper on Inclusive Education in Belarus was conducted, which facilitated a discussion that addressed the concept paper from a variety of angles. The meeting produced detailed statements regarding the advantages of the draft, its weak points and gaps, and possible solutions. ChildFund and its partners provided technical support for the further development of inclusive education in the pilot sites. Interest in inclusive education is growing, evidenced by the fact that educational departments invite trainers of the National Trainers Group on Inclusive Education and cover the training expenses from local budgets. The trainers used methodological resources developed within the project. In total, seven capacity-building events were conducted, and 180 specialists from different regions and organizations were trained on inclusive education. One working meeting with stakeholders from the Baranovichi region was conducted.