The coronavirus pandemic greeted us all unprepared, but it revealed new ways of working and communicating. The Youth Club “Let me do it” adapted its work to the circumstances.
„My Voice Matters“ Campaign
The Youth Club “Let me do it”, which operates within the Association “Life with Down Syndrome FBiH”, has adapted its work to the circumstances, and with the first lockdown, online workshops have started through available platforms. As part of its online workshops, the Club launched the “My Voice Matters” campaign.
The campaign took place in an election year, and the elections that followed were an inspiration. The campaign worked in two directions, on the one hand it aimed to raise the knowledge and skills of young people with Down syndrome about the stages of the election process, and to raise awareness of political parties about the importance of providing accessible information about their programs and goals, understandable for people with intellectual disabilities on the other side.
This way of working with young people and the public has a long-term effect, because the acquired knowledge can be used in the further life of people with Down syndrome and future choices. Youth education and promotion activities were based on the strategic directions of the association’s activities aimed at improving respect for the human rights of people with Down syndrome.
All information and educational materials used in the workshops were made according to European standards Easy to Read.
Trainings for young people within the campaign “My voice is important” were held once or twice a week with the possibility of additional group and individual meetings if the need arose.
Some of the topics covered at the trainings are:
- Human rights,
- My identity,
- UN Convention simplified for persons with disabilities,
- The right to vote,
- Elections,
- Local government (on the municipality and the municipal council),
- Analysis of barriers in the local community and
- How to make a positive decision
Practical learning
After the educational workshops, the members of the Youth Club had the opportunity for practical learning. They toured and analyzed their local communities, and identified the barriers they encountered.
In the second part of the practical training, they had the opportunity to visit the buildings of municipalities, talk to councilors and mayors, as well as follow the Municipal Council session where they could follow how everything they learned looks in practice.
In parallel with working with young people, we carried out activities that affected political parties and individuals through meetings with candidates for local elections. The association had numerous guest appearances on radio and TV shows and talked about accessible information, and in this way raised public awareness of the rights of persons with disabilities.
At the end of the campaign, a Guide to local elections was prepared according to the European Easy to Read standards used in the production of the material. Young people successfully adopted all the information from the trainings, strengthened their knowledge and skills, and all participants in the campaign exercised their right to vote and voted on their own.
Kampanja „Moj glas je bitan!“
Pandemija koronavirusa nas je sve dočekala nespremne, ali je otkrila nove načine rada i komunikacije.
Klub Mladih „Neka ja ću“ koji djeluje pri Udruženju „Život s Down sindromom FBiH“ je svoj rad prilagodio okolnostima, te su s prvim lockdown-om počele online radionice putem dostupnih platformi.
U sklopu svojih online radionica Klub je pokrenuo kampanju „Moj glas je bitan“.
Kampanja se odvijala u izbornoj godini, te su izbori koji su slijedili bili inspiracija. Kampanja je djelovala u dva pravca, s jedne strane je imala za cilj podizanje znanja i vještina mladih s Down sindromom o fazama izbornog procesa, te podizanje svijesti političkih stranaka o važnosti davanja pristupačnih informacija o svojim programima i ciljevima, razumljivim osobama s intelektualnim teškoćama s druge strane.
Ovaj način rada sa mladima i javnosti ima dugoročan efekat, jer se stečeno znanje može koristiti u daljem životu osoba s Down sindromom i budućim izborima.
Edukacija mladih i aktivnosti promocije su se temeljile na strateškim pravcima djelovanja udruženja koje imaju za cilj unaprijeđenje poštivanja ljudskih prava osoba s Down sindromom.
Sve informacije i edukativni materijali korišteni na radionicama su izrađeni prema europskim standardima Easy to Read.
Edukacije za mlade u sklopu kampanje „Moj glas je bitan“ su se održavale jednom do dva puta sedmično uz mogućnosti dodatnih grupnih i individualnih susreta ukoliko bi se ukazala potreba.
Neke od tema koje su obrađene na edukacijama su:
- Ljudska prava,
- Moj identitet,
- UN Konvencija pojednostavljena za osobe s invaliditetom,
- Pravo na glasanje
- Izbori,
- Lokalna samouprava (o opštini i opštinskom vijeću)
- Analiza barijera u lokalnoj zajednici i
- Kako donijeti pozitivnu odluku
Nakon edukativnih radionica članovi Kluba mladih su imali priliku za praktično učenje. Obilazili su i analizirali svoje lokalne zajednice, te identifikovali barijere na koje su nailazili.
U drugom dijelu praktičnog učenja su imali priliku obilaziti zgrade Općina, te razgovarati s Vijećnicima i načelnicima, kao i pratiti Sjednicu općinskog vijeća gdje su mogli pratiti kako u praksi izgleda sve ono što smo učili.
Paralelno radu sa mladima smo provodili aktivnosti kojima smo djelovali na političke stranke i pojedince kroz susrete sa kandidatima za lokalne izbore. Udruženje je imalo mnogobrojna gostovanja na radio i tv emisijama i govorili o pristupačnim informacijama, te na ovaj način budili svijest javnosti o pravima osoba s invaliditetom.
Po završetku kampanje izrađen je Vodič kroz lokalne izbore prema europskim standardima Easy to Read koji su korišteni u izradi materijala. Mladi su uspješno usvojili sve informacije sa edukacija, pojačali svoja znanja i vještine, te su svi učesnici kampanje ostvarili svoje pravo na glasanje i samostalno izašli na izbore.