Savez udruženja osoba s cerebralnom paralizom Federacije Bosne i Hercegovine

Subject: Information on the project of the Cerebral palsy associations of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina “Communication with hearing impaired persons, an obligation of inclusive society”

Cerebral palsy associations of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina has successfully implemented the project „Communication with hearing impaired persons, an obligation of inclusive society“ within the Project „Dialogue for the future“ implemented by UNDP, UNICEF and UNESCO in partnership with the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Project „Dialogue for the Future“ is funded by the United Nations Office for Peacebuilding Support/Peacebuilding Fund (PBF).

The Project implemented a joint four-month training (17 sessions) of municipal counter clerks and members of the local professional teams of the Association members, once a week for 2 hours, or 90 minutes.

Within the project, 5 municipalities participated: Sarajevo Center, Novo Sarajevo, Novi Grad Sarajevo, Ilidža and East Stari Grad. In addition to 5 municipalities, the Gorazde City Administration participated in the project. In this regard, it can be said with certainty that the Project „Communication with hearing impaired persons, an obligation of an inclusive society“, had an impact on improving the quality of life of people with hearing impairments in these municipalities and city of Gorazde.

In addition to the aforementioned municipalities, the following associations participated in the Project:

• Cerebral palsy associations of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
• Association for assistance to children and youth with special needs „Sunce“ (Sun) Pale,
• Association of parents of children with cerebral palsy and other disabilities „Dlan“ (Palm), Zenica,
• Association of patients with cerebral palsy and dystrophy of Bosnia-Podrinje Canton Goražde, and the
• Association of persons with cerebral palsy of Sarajevo Canton.

Accessibility for all is a basic human right, and any barrier in an environment that denies access and free movement to persons with disabilities or other persons with reduced mobility represents, and must be recognized as discrimination.

In order to ensure that every hearing impaired person has equal rights and opportunities, the Cerebral palsy associations of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina conducted a series of workshops through the Project „Dialogue for the Future“, where municipal clerks learned the basics of sign language, and created an electronic dictionary with about 400 recorded terms in sign language. Videos of the concepts covered during the workshops are available on the Association's website at www.cpafbih.org, and a manual will be available soon. The manual is intended for all members of the community who can and should contribute to the development of social inclusion and who can use it in their daily work: public clerks throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, teaching staff in kindergartens, schools and colleges, parents of children with disabilities, as well as medical and health science professionals.

The publication of the Handbook „Accessibility for all - Communication with hearing impaired, an obligation of inclusive society“ is the main result of the Project, which enables all interested people, regardless of location, to learn the basics of sign language, which has the effect of improving inclusive culture, policies and practices.

On August 15, 2019 a successful promotion of the handbook „Accessibility for all - Communication with hearing impaired, an obligation of inclusive society“ was held in the premises of the Association.