Project Steering Committee meeting

Project Steering Committee meeting was held on February 23, 2021 with participation of representatives of the institutions and organizations comprising the Committee: Delegation of the European Union to Serbia, Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, Ministry of Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue, Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities, Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs, Ombudsman, National Organization of Persons with Disabilities of Serbia, Team for Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction, Ministry for European Integration.

The aim of the meeting was to present current activities and review future activities on the project, but also to present the changes that have occurred in relation to the originally planned training concept - study visits to one of the EU countries will not be organized due to the current epidemiological situation., Instead, the participants of two-day training sessions will have the opportunity to get acquainted with examples of good practice in improving accessibility in our country

The participants of the meeting were introduced to the concept of accessibility and design for all, emphasizing that the project will use the concept of design for all in its work, because it is a European concept that is compatible with domestic legislation.

The project team prepared the first draft of the Accessibility Legal Framework Analysis, which was sent for consideration to a focus group of accessibility experts. The collected comments have already been integrated into the Analysis, and this document will be further improved by comments of participants in all trainings to be organized by the Project in the coming period. Such an improved document will be submitted to the relevant institutions at the end of the project cycle, and primarily to the Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure in order to improve the legislative framework in this area.

The project team is currently working on the preparation of trainings for decision makers, representatives of the civil sector, media, public and public utility companies, the directorate for urbanism, construction, and other inspectorates. In parallel, the project team is developing a Guide for planning the implementation and control of the implementation of accessibility measures on public buildings, which will be completed in April, and then distributed to the trainees.