10 December 2010, Prishtina
Marking the International Day of Human Rights, Office of Good Governance in cooperation with the OSCE and UN Office, organized a conference to present achievements and challenges faced by institutions of Republic of Kosovo in upholding and applying European and international standards on human rights in relation to persons with disabilities and their participation in social life on equal basis.
PROFESSIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
(Disability Mentoring Day – DMD)
The idea of promoting professional opportunities for persons with disabilities started in the US and since 1999 this day is marked all over the world, including the Republic of Kosovo, on the third Wednesday of October. The purpose of this day is to enable employment of these people for one or more days, depending on their interest in the job they find. The benefits from this initiative are twofold. The jobseeker with disabilities shall be given the opportunity to practically learn and work in a real job and thus improve their professional skills, whereas employers will see their professional skills.
The Kosovo Multiethnic NGO Network in the voluntary promotional program DMD (Disability Mentoring Days) which is based on a US model and idea, organizes the traditional one month long campaign “October - month of professional opportunities for persons with disabilities” which aims at organizing these activities at the municipal level and enable the participation of a large number of citizens, where there could give their contribution.
You may see the marking of DMD in Washington (US) at the website www.aapd.com
The marking of DMD in Kosovo
Prishtina, 20 October 2010
The Government of Kosovo traditionally marks the international day of equal opportunities for people with disabilities. Office of Good Governance organized the employment of 50 persons for one or more days in all ministries, where the main decision makers in respective ministries had the opportunity to closely see the professional skills and the needs for employment of this category of workers, who should be included in all development policies and programs.
The NGO Hendifer from Ferizaj organized the opening ceremony of the one month long campaign “October –month of professional opportunities for persons with disabilities” with the participation of representatives of local and central institutions.
Many private companies and local media participated in the campaign which continuously followed and motivated this event. 100 working days for persons with disabilities were achieved, while two of them got jobs for three months and two others were employed with private companies with permanent contracts.
In the opening of the campaign “October – month of equal professional opportunities for persons with disabilities”, Municipality of Mitrovica employed five people of this category for five days to work in the administration, which would be paid 10 Euros a day.
Third Session of States Parties on the new Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
in United Nations in New York
01 - 04 September 2010
NGO Little People of Kosova participated at the Third Session of States Parties on the new Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities that was held in the UN Headquarters in New York. The session selected members of the UN Committee that was tasked to monitor the status and realization of rights for such persons in the world.
Most importantly, there was a broad debate between the state delegations on how to ratify and implement effectively the new Convention in the UN Member States and how to incorporate other matters related to persons with disabilities as urgent matters in the Millennium Development Goals – MDG.
Among many activities that took place during these four days of this international conference, we would like to mention the exhibition with artistic photos of authentic culture of persons with disabilities that was prepared and organized by the NGO Little People of Kosova, which presented this global innovative idea and the specific way of expressing life and culture derived from the experience and invalidity. The message that this exhibition conveyed to the participants was to bring to an end the silence and secrecy regarding differences, and rather encourage these people to show their differences as part of the identity of this category of world citizens.
