During our activities so far, four workshops have been held for students, one for the educational assistants in the schools involved in the project and one for the professional psychological-pedagogical services.

The four workshops were attended by 12 students who were ready to take on the role of peer educators on the topic of non-discrimination of persons with disabilities. The topics covered at the first workshop were general and addressed general human rights and children’s rights in particular. The second workshop was about the concept of discrimination and the habits that cause this phenomenon, such as prejudices and stereotypes. At the end, they talked about the way discrimination can be overcome and that is through tolerance. At the third workshop the topics of disability and discrimination of people with disabilities were discussed and the students also prepared their initial draft ideas on how they will perform peer education for their classmates. In the last workshop we talked about the types of violence and the protection against discrimination. Also, the ideas for the students’ presentations were deepened with the help of the instructors giving the students the opportunity and creative freedom to express the material they had prepared to the best of their ability. With that the small cycle of trainings intended for the students was closed and it was followed by

Workshop intended for educational assistants who work in schools with people with disabilities. Considering the current reform in our educational system where greater inclusion of these persons is introduced in the educational process, this training has met with great interest among educational assistants. Many questions were raised and the assistants took the opportunity to express their views, opinions and insights about the various processes that take place in education, especially in the part of their work engagement in schools. At the workshop, the same topics were discussed with them as with the students, but in a more condensed form and at a higher level.

The last of the planned six workshops was held this week. It was intended for the professional services of schools in Bitola and covered the topics of legal regulations related to protection against discrimination of persons with disabilities. Professional services had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with these legal regulations through a presentation held for them by a representative from the Commission for Protection and Prevention of Discrimination (CPPD). After pointing out the legal decrees, a case study was also shown where the CPPD acted on a case reported to them with which the professional services had the opportunity to see what the procedures look like when reporting discrimination against a person with disabilities and what are the institutions and procedures that should be followed in the entire procedure. With that the school services had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the latest and most recent changes in the legal provisions and procedures related to this topic.

With the project “Stop the Discrimination of People with Disabilities”, we raise awareness of the existence of discrimination in all spheres of life in our society and indicate the regulations that help to reduce it in the future. The project “Stop discrimination of persons with disabilities” is supported through small grants from the anti-discrimination program of the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation – MCMS, financed by the European Union and implemented by Poraka Nova, in cooperation with YMCA.

Read below to learn more about this project