“The life is outside of the institution” is the name of the project created by the cooperation of experts who have a long experience in the field of social protection. The applicant on the project is association „Imam pravo“ which implements the project in cooperation with Humanitarian organisation „Child's heart“ and Social Protection Chamber. Implementation of the project activities is funded by European Union, the Delegation of European Union in Serbia, in cooperation with the Government of the Republic of Serbia, precisely with Ministry of Finance, department for contracting and financing of EU funded programmes, within the programme IPA 2013 Development of efficient community services in the field of education and social protection at the local level. Partner organisations, gathered around the project “The life is outside of the institution”, agreed that the topic of deinstitutionalisation is of great importance for our society and that it is necessary to continue to support this process. The starting point around which all partners agreed is that the process of deinstitutionalisation of adults in the Republic of Serbia is only at the beginning, and that there is a need for further development and improvement of social protection services, in order to directly affect the quality of life of persons with disabilities and their parent and / or foster families. Accurate statistics on the number of people with disabilities in the Republic of Serbia still do not exist, but rough estimates of experts say there are between 300,000 and 400,000 people with a certain degree of mental and / or intellectual difficulties. According to UN data, some 8500 adults with intellectual and / or mental disabilities are located in 46 residential institutions in the Republic of Serbia. Since the share of the population of the City of Belgrade in comparison with the entire population of the RS is about 23%, it can be arbitrarily assumed that about 2000 of them are residents of the City of Belgrade. In the last decade, our country has made great progress when it comes to deinstitutionalisation of children, but the process of deinstitutionalisation of adults is at beginning. The national law on social protection defines under Article 4 that every individual and family in need of assistance and support to overcome social and existential difficulties and to create conditions for meeting basic needs have the right to social protection through the provision of social services. Also, the implementation of the project activities fits into the UN standard for human rights, where persons with disabilities have the right to live in their community and the right to choose their place of residence - where and with whom they will live, as well as the whole spectrum of services. These rights are guaranteed by the Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The project itself is in line with the European Strategy for People with Disabilities from 2010 to 2020. The main goal of the strategy is to empower people with disabilities in order to exercise their rights and have full participation in the society. Scientists have found that support services at the local level and the stimulative environment of the community itself, almost universally provide better quality of life for people with disabilities than institutions. This is partly because such programmes allow greater social inclusion for people with disabilities and can provide better individual care than institutions, where services are more oriented towards groups. |
According to the EU study on institutions and their alternatives in 28 countries, from 2003 to 2007, community-based support programmes are usually not more expensive than institutional care. Although there are numerous barriers to deinstitutionalisation, extensive research and experiences from other countries have shown that this is indeed a good option for all people with disabilities. The main questions about services are no longer referred to the possibility of replacing the institution, but to the nature of the services and the degree of commitment of the society to help their fellow citizens to reach their potential as citizens. In this respect, the overall objective of the project is to improve the quality of life of people with mental and / or intellectual disabilities through their deinstitutionalisation and reintegration into the local community alongside with providing the necessary support for independent living. The specific objectives of the project are reflected in: • increasing the number of relocated persons with disabilities from institutions to biological or foster families • improving existing and creating conditions for the development of new social protection services to support people with disabilities for independent living in their natural environment In order to achieve the described goals, the implementation of the project activities is carefully structured and conceived so that it consists of four units, within which are planned several smaller but equally important and follow-up activities: - Achieving cooperation with residential institutions all over Serbia - Mapping 80 persons in residential institutions across Serbia - Creating an electronic database of mapped persons - Preparing families and / or foster families to accommodate beneficiaries - Deinstitutionalisation of 5 persons with mental and / or intellectual disabilities, originating from Belgrade but located in residential institutions throughout Serbia - Research on the needs of already deinstitutionalised 45 persons - Education of employees in social care institutions - Raising awareness of the general public By successful implementation of project activities, project goals will be achieved, and the results are reflected in: - Deinstitutionalisation and re-socialisation of 5 persons from the institution to a biological or foster family - Improving the social protection system and social services for persons with mental and / or intellectual disability - A comprehensive study on the current situation and opportunities for persons with mental and / or intellectual disabilities, as well as their needs, is written and distributed. - Principles of deinstitutionalisation and social inclusion of persons with mental and / or intellectual disabilities were promoted The planned activities will be implemented until December 5, 2018, when the project's end is planned. |