Round table “Equal Opportunity for Everyone – European Value” at the Office for European Affairs

Novi Sad, 3 December – Marking 3rd December, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, a round table “Equal Opportunity for Everyone – European Value” has been held in the premises of the Office for European Affairs. After the introductory remarks and presentation by Igor Bajić, Advisor for EU Integration Processes, Office for European Affairs, Mrs. Marija Vrebalov, Vojvodina Development Fund, introduced the education centre, which is primarily aimed at the education of persons with disabilities, furthermore, the unemployed, young people and employees of provincial institutions. In her presentation, Mrs. Marija Fenjac, Provincial Secretariat of Health and Social Policy, referred to all the current challenges which persons with disabilities face. She also presented the provincial administration programmes aimed at improving the living and working conditions of the group members. After the presentation, there was a lively discussion in which the participants were guests from the Association of Patients of Dystrophy, Paraplegy, Cerebral and Children’s Paralysis, Centre “Living Upright”, Association of Disabled Persons for Cerebral and Children Paralysis, etc.

As one of the possible solutions, Igor Bajić also included CBC funds and gave a brief presentation on them focusing on the measure referring to People-To-People projects, and emphasizing that associations could also apply for economic development measures. All the participants agreed that it was necessary to act pro-actively and that all challenges could be overcome and better living conditions could be created only by means of targeted and planned actions. Wishing further to motivate the ones present, Marija Vrebalov invited all the interested to apply for the next round of IT classes, and announced English classes and training on business plan design. The last presentation in the round-table was a photo-story by Siniša Ponjević, film-maker, who described his experiences with the Home for Children with Special Needs in Pazarić, B&H, where the author had spent six months working as a volunteer.