Accessibility in Serbia: Mercy Corps
MDG #2: Achieve universal primary education
Many children with disabilities are excluded from opportunities for education by inaccessibility: of schools, transportation systems and travel routes. Mercy Corps has been working with organizations in Prokuplje, Serbia to make roads and sidewalks friendlier to people who use wheelchairs and crutches.
It is very difficult for people who have mobility disabilities to carry out their day-to-day activities in Prokuplje, Serbia. The town sidewalks are not suitable for wheelchair travel, since there are no ramps. People with disabilities are forced to travel off the sidewalks in heavy traffic. There are some organizations in the area that are working to remedy these kinds of problems, but unfortunately they have little to no resources to successfully carry out their projects.
To address these issues, Mercy Corps Serbia’s Community Revitalization through Democratic Action (CRDA) program has entered into a project to facilitate greater mobility for people with disabilities in Prokuplje. Mercy Corps, in cooperation with medical professionals, urbanism professionals, the Union of Muscular and Neuro-Muscular patients, and a Serbian NGO that works primarily with the disabled community named Cooperating with Education (EHO), is working to build ramps along the main street sidewalks in Prokuplje.
This project will have multiple benefits. It will allow people with disabilities from Prokuplje and neighboring population centers to be able to avoid the heavy traffic along the main street in Prokuplje. By traveling on the sidewalks, disabled people will be able to reach their destinations faster, more effectively and more safely. Ramps will allow people with disabilities to go to school, and to enter shops and be able to buy goods and to reach services. Because Prokuplje is a main business center for the region, the project will impact disabled people from surrounding areas as well. The increased mobility options that result from this project will raise community awareness to improve the self-confidence of disabled persons and their sense of belonging in the larger society.
Contact:
Mercy CorpsDept. W
PO Box 2669
Portland, OR 97208-2669
Phone: (800) 852-2100
Email: info@mercycorps.org
Web: www.mercycorps.org
What works?
- Mercy Corps addressed community accessibility as a strategy for community revitalization.
- A simple, low-tech strategy (sidewalk ramps) made schools, businesses and services more accessible to disabled community members.