The project is being carried out on behalf of the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy, in close cooperation with the Office of the Government Plenipotentiary for People with Disabilities, and is one of 17 projects being carried out across Poland aimed at monitoring the extent to which the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is being implemented.
The project is being carried out between 1 April 2017 and 31 March 2019 by the „MOST” Association for the Support of Non-Governmental Organisations and the Bona Fides Association for Civic Engagement from Katowice.
Project objectives
The main aim of the project is to monitor the extent to which the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has been implemented in public administration bodies in Silesia, and to provide the authorities of these bodies with information on how they can improve accessibility for people with disabilities and, if necessary, secure funding for the required modifications.
The full implementation of the Convention in the Silesian Voivodeship will help to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities. To make this possible, the project includes the following:
- An increase in the practical knowledge of at least 54 representatives of Silesian administrative bodies regarding the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities within their institutions, through participation in individual meetings and joint collaboration;
- Improving the accessibility of services for people with disabilities provided by 54 administrative bodies, and combating discrimination against people with disabilities by implementing clear and straightforward procedures for the provision of services to people with disabilities;
- To draw up a comprehensive report on the progress of the Convention’s implementation in the Silesian Voivodeship.
All project activities will be carried out on the basis of „Methodology for monitoring the activities of administrative bodies with regard to the realisation of the rights of persons with disabilities, setting out the minimum requirements for carrying out such monitoring, including a draft tool for use by project proposers when conducting the aforementioned monitoring” (hereinafter: „the Methodology”), which was drawn up by the contracting authority – the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy – in collaboration with the Government Plenipotentiary for People with Disabilities.
II. Forms of involvement
The groups receiving direct support are the Silesian administrative bodies, together with their subordinate bodies:
- 6 urban municipalities (Wojkowice, Wisła, Mikołów, Cieszyn, Lędziny),
- 5 urban-rural municipalities (Szczekociny, Czerwionka-Leszczyny, Czechowice-Dziedzice, Wilamowice),
- 9 rural municipalities (Jejkowice, Krupski Młyn, Miedźna, Ożarowice, Dąbrowa Zielona, Janów, Rajcza, Irządze, Opatów),
- 12 district offices (districts: Bieruń-Lędziny, Bielsko, Będzin, Cieszyn, Częstochowa, Lubliniec, Myszków, Pszczyna, Zawiercie, Wodzisław, Żywiec, Racibórz),
- 16 cities with county status (Świętochłowice, Rybnik, Dąbrowa Górnicza, Tychy, Sosnowiec, Bielsko-Biała, Bytom, Gliwice, Piekary Śląskie, Ruda Śląska, Siemianowice Śląskie, Częstochowa, Jaworzno, Mysłowice),
- The Marshal’s Office of the Silesian Voivodeship,
- Silesian Provincial Office,
- 5 joint administrative bodies operating at provincial level (the Police, the Provincial Inspector of Trade Inspection, the Provincial Road Transport Inspectorate, the Provincial Inspector of Geodetic and Cartographic Supervision, and the Provincial Inspectorate for Plant Protection and Seed Inspection).
III. Activities
All project activities will be carried out in accordance with the Methodology.
Action 1
An assessment of the status of the Convention’s implementation in Silesian administrative bodies, and the development and implementation of recommendations.
The action is carried out in the following stages:
- Random selection of administrative units for the study and initial contact with the selected units. Signing of cooperation agreements for the study.
- A self-assessment of the implementation of the UN Convention within administrative bodies, carried out via an online survey in collaboration with a research team.
- Monitoring of the implementation of the Convention and the preparation of reports by research teams in collaboration with representatives of the organisations under review. The monitoring process is as follows:
- analysis of the self-assessment results using the available data;
- the conduct of at least 3 focus group interviews involving: representatives of non-governmental organisations working on behalf of people with disabilities, people with disabilities, and members of the District Social Councils for People with Disabilities and the Public Benefit Activity Councils. If necessary, in-depth individual interviews will also be held;
- Based on the data collected during the interviews, areas of activity that should be monitored will be identified. These areas will be prioritised;
- conducting an initial review, in the form of meetings between all members of the ZMW and the institution’s staff, and selecting the areas to be monitored;
- drawing up a monitoring plan;
- collecting useful, relevant, sufficient and appropriate data by means of: an audit of building accessibility (5–10 buildings per unit), analysis of the unit’s documents and activities, and meetings with representatives of the unit. Data is also collected from people with disabilities and NGOs. A minimum of two people take part in the face-to-face survey;
- analysing the data and preparing a preliminary report containing recommendations, and submitting it to the entity, which may provide comments on it. The recommendations, in consultation with the audited entity, are categorised as either feasible or unfeasible;
- holding a wrap-up meeting to draw up a final report containing recommendations in line with the Methodology standard, including information on how these recommendations are to be implemented and an assessment of their social and social and financial impacts in both the short and long term.
- The report is to be submitted exclusively to the audited entity and to the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy.
- Implementation of recommendations. Members of the research team are responsible for this process; they assist the units in preparing the relevant documents and procedures and putting them into practice. Each unit is to receive, amongst other things, one advisory session.
Task 2
Verification of the implementation of the recommendations and their use to bring about changes to the public tasks being carried out.
The project will be implemented in the following stages:
- Verification of the implementation of recommendations that can be carried out within the framework of the project, which involves:
- 1 verification visit,
- an analysis of existing data and the actions taken by the organisation,
- To draw up a verification report and submit it to the audited entity and the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy.
- Preparation of a comprehensive monitoring report covering the entire Silesian Voivodeship. An integral part of the report is a summary in the form of a presentation, as well as an e-platform presenting aggregated data for the entire voivodeship.