By UNDP/GEF SGP UKRAINEOCTOBER 21ST, 2019
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grants Programme (SGP), implemented by UNDP, is a programme that builds capacity at the local level to address global environmental challenges and sustainable development in developing countries. Established in 1992, SGP provides financial and technical support to civil society organizations to conserve and restore the environment while enhancing people's well-being and livelihoods. SGP is rooted in the belief that local actions can contribute to addressing global environmental issues while promoting sustainable local livelihoods and empowering local communities. Building upon its emphasis on social inclusion, the SGP is in a unique position to promote and build capacity for disability-inclusive development and support effective resilience projects.
South-South cooperation (SSc) refers to a broad framework for collaboration among countries of the global South, spanning the political, economic, social, cultural, environmental and technical domains. Involving two or more developing countries, it can take place on a bilateral, regional, sub-regional, or interregional level, where they share knowledge, skills, expertise, and resources to meet their development goals through concerted efforts.
JOINT EFFORTS TO MOVE INNOVATION PROGRAMME FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES FORWARD
In summer 2018, the country teams of the GEF SGP in Belarus and Ukraine discussed an opportunity to exchange experience on empowerment of people with disabilities and learn how SGP initiatives in both countries could mainstream and enhance their inclusion to improve environment and livelihood.
The first South-South cooperation initiative Ukraine-Belarus within SGP Innovation Programme on persons with disabilities started with the experience sharing workshops in Minsk and in Stolin district. Scientists, representatives of social protection departments, heads of rehabilitation centers, CSOs, NSC members and SGP teams in Belarus and Ukraine became the participants of the workshop.
Engagement with disabled persons organizations was essential to ensure that SGP approach is responsive to the heterogeneous perspectives of the disability community and that nothing is developed “about us, without us” for persons with disabilities. The lessons learned from SGP projects in Belarus will be shared via CSO networks in Ukraine.
STOLIN – THE TOWN WITHOUT BARRIERS!
Mikhail Skrebeiko, Head of the Stolin regional NGO “Center of the support for young people with disabilities” supported all the visits. Moreover, teams visited the Center, which was one of the SGP grantee-partners, and which energy-efficiency project resulted in reducing more than 85% of the energy consumption, 3.1 tons/year CO2 emissions; and reached annual financial savings - at least $ 1,650; 15 educational, religious and social organizations, as well as government agencies and other interested got acquainted with the NGO experience on the rational use of energy resources and the use of alternative and renewable energy sources.
Mikhail is just one of the thousands of people with disabilities who live in Stolin district: “There are many challenges for people with disabilities to be able to navigate easily and have good orientation in the urban space. It is a major barrier to participate in normal life – to go for a walk, to visit the hospital, to approach the shop, or just meet friends”.
Local authorities and CSOs in Stolin work together on removing barriers for the physically disabled, that can range from blocked wheelchair ramps to buildings without lifts, to inaccessible toilets, to shops without step-free access. The participants could see numerous tactile markings on the ways people move in Stolin. Furthermore, it has specially equipped playgrounds for children with disabilities, understatement of sidewalks, and public buildings suitable for people with disabilities. Belarus and Ukraine share a common legacy of Chernobyl tragedy, that’s why the issues of people with disabilities, social inclusion and kindness are the same for all the participants of this South-South exchange.
STOLIN - NOONE LEFT BEHIND!
Day Care Unit for people with disabilities, who are over 18 years old, provide assistance in everyday labour and socio-psychological rehabilitation of orphans with disabilities with ages from 18 to 23 years old.
State institution "Rechitsa district center of correctional developmental education and rehabilitation" for children from 3 to 18 years old is located in the Rechitsa town near Stolin. The center provides assistance to children with severe and multiple developmental disorders; with problems of the musculoskeletal system; with impaired intelligence; with learning difficulties; with impaired hearing, vision, speech.
The center’s approach is an integrated system of pedagogical, socio-psychological, correctional and rehabilitation assistance to children with special needs of psychophysical development in order to socialize and integrate them into society.
Fruitful discussion took place during the visit to the Center for independent living for people with disabilities (mental retardation), located in the village of Luka, Stolin district. The CSO activists together with the local community work on creating a space and building for permanent residence of people with disabilities (up to 10 persons). Ukrainian participants were highly inspired by the work of summer camps (people with disabilities, children, volunteers, up to 150 persons), as well as a winter camp for people in difficult situations. Mikhail Skrebeiko, Head of the Stolin regional NGO “Center of the support for young people with disabilities”, takes the lead.
COOPERATION WITH THE STOLIN DISTRICT EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
The team expressed its appreciation for continuous cooperation of the Stolin District Executive Council with the GEF SGP. Moreover, participants could learn from the firsthand experience in promoting public participation and social inclusion in Stolin. In addition to its excellent and consistent accessibility efforts, Stolin has also committed to promote the employment of people with disabilities and to support independent living.
Svitlana Nigorodova, GEF SGP NC in Ukraine emphasized: “The overall goal of the Innovation Programme on Persons with Disabilities will be to demonstrate and generate lessons and good practices on how environment-related projects could actively promote the participation of people with disabilities and have concrete results on both environment and socio-economic issues”.
The participants from Ukraine shared their experience in implementing projects on Polissya landscape, which is the priority area of operations for both SGP country programmes. The presentation “Community practices in soil fertility restoration on Polissya landscape” by Svitlana Zhuravel raised wide interest and discussion.
Alexandr Levchenko has mentioned: “An important aspect of the GEF SGP activity is to ensure sustainability of achieved results and their mainstreaming, upscaling and replication. Sharing the principles of ensuring equal access for various target groups to resources for development and solution for local problems, GEF SGP prioritizes the support for remote areas, underdeveloped regions, low-income households, unemployed young people, people with disabilities. 86 % of the projects have been implemented in rural areas with a low social and economic potential for development and solving environmental problems”.
Antonina Levochkina, Professor of the Kyiv Taras Shevchenko National University, Department of Social Work, Doctor of Psychological Sciences spoke about GEF-SGP project “Empowering people with disabilities, social inclusion and women's participation” as well as touched upon social inclusion in Ukraine: challenges and ways forward.
BELARUS: LOCAL ACTIONS – GLOBAL BENEFITS
SGP Belarus emphasizes building on local ecological and cultural knowledge and practice, facilitating innovation and introduction of new techniques as appropriate, and following community leadership in solving problems. The Ukrainian delegation was lucky to meet these amazing people and inspire with their hard work!
We visited the office of the local NGO “Center of rural development”- one of the first NGOs in Belarus working for sustainable development of local communities.
The head of the Center Viktar Velesnickiy spoke about the project “Organization of used polyethylene film collection for recycling at village Belousha Stolin district Brest oblast” that resulted in arranging the system for collection of used polyethylene film from private greenhouses for recycling at Belousha Community.
The project “Creation of conditions for expanding the volume of used plastic films collection” has improved the infrastructure, 130 tons of plastic films were collected and sent for further recycling, as well as community awareness was raised.
WE LOVE BELARUS!
Belarus is a fascinating country with beautiful villages, primeval forests and a friendly, hospitable culture awaiting visitors.
Here are some interesting facts the Ukrainian team brings back home about this incredible country:
Dmytro Zhovtonozhko: “I visited Belarus for the first time. Belarusians are extremely hospitable. People are known for their modesty, kindness and hospitability. Everybody is eager to offer help to us”
Svitlana Zhuravel: “Belarus has got an ancient fairy-tale forest! The biggest old-growth European forest – Belovezhskaya Pushcha – is situated in Belarus. Home to European bison and hundreds of other animals and birds, Belovezhskaya Pushcha is all that remains of the primaeval forest that once stretched across the vast European Plain. Some oak trees growing in this forest are more than 600 years old”
Tatyana Chorna: “There’s beauty all around! In Belarus, wandering around a quaint village is a colourful experience, with small wooden houses painted in bright colours and featuring artfully carved windows”
Olga Ignatova: “It’s pretty hard to find rubbish on Belarusian streets – cleanliness prevails everywhere from the largest town to the smallest village. We dream to have the same in Ukraine”
Ekaterina Severina: “Potato is considered the second bread in Belarus. I found an incredible choice of over 100 dishes from this vegetable, and draniki – a potato pancake – is one of the most famous specialities”
Belarusian flag refers to their landscape. Nearly half of Belarusian territory is made up of forests – this fact is symbolised by the green stripe on the country’s flag. Belarus is sometimes called the ‘Lungs of Europe’ for its countless forests, rivers and lakes, so if you’re a fan of exploring beautiful natural landscapes, Belarus is the place for you.
Belarusians have achieved international greatness. Belarus has many Nobel Prize winners. Among them are Simon Kuznets, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 1971, and Zhores Alferov, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2000. There are also two Nobel Peace Prize winners – Shimon Peres, who won in 1994, and Menachem Begin, who won in 1997.
However, perhaps the most notable is Svetlana Alexievich, who became the first woman from Belarus to win a Nobel Prize after she was awarded one in 2015 for her services to literature.
SOUTH – SOUTH COOPERATION: FUTURE PROSPECTIVE
This collective work contributed to envision a viable future of the SGP supported initiatives in Belarus and Ukraine. It allowed to make some systemic lessons on the current common environmental challenges on Polissya landscape as well as share common vision on the possible local solutions.
As a result of the round table, ideas were developed for a number of joint events between the teams of Ukraine and Belarus, ideas were expressed about the exchange of technologies and innovations to help people with disabilities, project ideas were proposed, including activities in the territories of both countries.
The most important result achieved from Belarus – Ukrainian SGP South – South Cooperation – new ideas and initiatives for future SGP successful and effective projects to be developed and implemented in Belarus and Ukraine.
Yuri Solovjev, GEF SGP NC in Belarus: “This workshop showcases examples from SGP-supported projects that illustrate the importance of South-South Cooperation as a necessary tool for the achievement of the SDGs, particularly related to environmental and social goals. South-South knowledge and innovation by civil society and communities in Belarus and Ukraine can produce timely and significant results. South-South cooperation promotes direct learning and relationship-building between communities in countries that face similar challenges and operate in similar development contexts, to increase self-reliance and share solutions and technologies to overcome these challenges. We do believe, our joint first steps to implement SGP innovation programme for persons with disabilities will bring in new shared vision and approach.”
Footnotes: Prepared by Svitlana Nigorodova, Yuri Solovjev, Alexandr Levchenko, Elena Bondarenko, Valentyna Kyrychenko, Anastasiya Petrova
.jpg)
