Presentation of the project "Accessible Pavlodar" at the Republican seminar-meeting

In the city of Pavlodar, under the patronage of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Republic of Kazakhstan, a republican seminar-meeting "On the comprehensive implementation of the Action Plan for ensuring the rights and improving the quality of life of the disabled in the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2012-2018" was held.

During the seminar-meeting, the existing problems of over 650,000 disabled people and possible solutions were discussed. Among the participants were members of the Republican Coordination Council on the issues of social protection of disabled people, delegations of the oblasts comprising deputy akims on social issues, oblast akim advisors on issue of people with disabilities, heads of employment coordination and social programs departments, and representatives of non-governmental organizations.

As a part of sharing experience in creating a barrier-free environment for people with disabilities and other low-mobility groups, Irina Bobkova, the head of the TANDAU Foundation, presented the "Accessible Pavlodar" project to the seminar participants. The project attracted considerable interest from both representatives of the regional state bodies of social protection and of non-governmental organizations.

During the presentation, the vice-minister of labor and social protection Svetlana Zhakupova also paid attention to the project "Accessible Pavlodar" and got acquainted with their work on the website (www.dospav.kz). At the end of the presentation Irina Bobkova compared the website "Accessible Pavlodar" to a similar map "Accesible Environment" of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Republic of Kazakhstan (www.friendlybuilding.kz). Despite similar functionality, it has a "dry" look for users compared to the website "Accessible Pavlodar" that has detailed text descriptions, photos, and video reviews of objects.

Svetlana Zhakupova agreed with the comments, but noted that the government agencies mainly work with the ministry's map, and the information reflected in it is enough to launch the procedure of imposing fines for the absence of a barrier-free environment at the facilities in the near future. Svetlana Zhakupova also gave a positive assessment of the website "Accessible Pavlodar" on the encouragement of civic engagement through interactive tools, such as adding objects, commenting, and filing complaints on inaccessible objects which will be launched in the near future.