How can we identify problems of physical, informational, digital, social, educational, and economic accessibility in a municipality? Which local programming and planning documents should be updated to reflect the goals of the National Strategy for Creating a Barrier-Free Environment in Ukraine? How can a plan for developing or updating a barrier-free route in a municipality be prepared? And how can communication with residents on building a barrier-free inclusive environment be made more effective?
Answers to these and many other questions can be found in the U-LEAD with Europe initiative “Steps for Specialists: Barrier-Free Environment in a Municipality”!
What is it?
This initiative is designed to build and strengthen the professional competencies of local self-government officials in creating a barrier-free environment within a municipality.
Benefits for the participants:
As part of the Training Programme the Participants will
- learn to apply international and national legal frameworks in the field of creating a barrier-free environment in their municipalities;
- understand how local self-government bodies can develop and implement local policies based on the principle of accessibility;
- develop skills to identify physical, informational, digital, social, educational, and economic barriers in a municipality;
- gain practical knowledge on planning barrier-free routes;
- strengthen skills in inclusive communication that respects human rights and ensures unhindered access to information;
- acquire tools for engaging persons with disabilities and those with lived experiences of care and support (relatives and family members of people with permanent or temporary health conditions, as well as older persons) in addressing local issues;
- establish new contacts and build cooperation with colleagues from other regions of Ukraine.
Who can participate?
A total of 75 participants will be selected for the Training Program "Steps for Specialists. Barrier-Free Environment in Municipality" with one representative per municipality with a population of up to 50,000 people.
Municipalities that participated in the Training Program “Establishment of a Barrier-Free Institution in Municipality” in 2024 or located in the temporarily occupied territories and in the areas of active hostilities, where the powers of local self-government bodies are exercised by military-civilian administrations, relocated municipalities cannot participate in the competition.
Local self-government officials are invited to participate: deputy heads, heads and specialists of executive bodies whose functional powers are related to economic and rural development, starostas.
When?
Five weeks, starting on 21 October 2025. All activities will be conducted online and are free of charge for participants.
How to register?
To participate in the selection process, you need to fill out the attached application form and send it to the email address: regops.u-lead@giz.de by 18:00 on 24 September 2025. The email subject should be formatted as "Barrier-Free Environment in a Municipality" in MS Excel format.
More details about participation in the Training Program can be obtained during the promotional event, which will take place on 17 September 2025 at 10:00. You can join the meeting via this link: Join the meeting now
