The monitoring training cycle

Between March and June 2015, MyRight carried out a cycle of eight two-day training sessions on the topic of Monitoring the human rights of persons with disabilities, as part of a project on Concrete inclusion of persons with disabilities in healthcare in Bosnia and Herzegovina, financed with funds provided by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) and Light for the World.

Participants at the training session included representatives of the seven coalitions with whom MyRight is implementing capacity strengthening programmes for persons with disabilities, as well as representatives of organisations of persons with disabilities fromall parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The coalitions MyRight is implementing the programme with are: the Tuzla Canton Coalition of organisationsof persons with disabilities, Stronger Together Coalition of organisations of persons with disabilities from Herzegovina Neretva Canton, the Doboj Region Coalition of organisations of persons with disabilities, the Zenica Doboj Canton Coalition of organisations of persons with disabilities, KOLOSI - the Bijelina Town Coalition of organisations of persons with disabilities, the Eastern Herzegovina Coalition of organisations of persons with disabilities, and the Coordination Committee of the Sarajevo Canton Association of  Persons with Disabilities. The Zenica Doboj Canton and the Eastern Herzegovina region coalitions are both new partners.

A unique feature of this training programme, of which we in MyRight are very proud, is that the entire content of the training on the importance of monitoring human rights of persons with disabilities was created and developed by two activists from movement of persons with disabilities, Ms Amna Alispahić, a member of the Sarajevo Coalition''''s Association of the Visually Impaired, and Ms Ira Adilagić, a member of the Sarajevo Coalition’s Association of the Deaf and Hearing Impaired.

Organisations taking part in the first training session included members of the Sarajevo Canton Coalition of organisations of persons with disabilities and representatives from five other Coalitions of organisations of persons with disabilities from around Bosnia and Herzegovina who are not part of the MyRight programme.

Through these training sessions, 158 individuals with disabilities from 77 organisations took part, attaining a new and fresh understanding of the monitoring process.

Each training session was conducted by a pair of trainers: the chief trainer, Amna Alispahić, herself conducted all eight sessions and was assisted at each session by a different member of the training team: Ira Adilagić, Jasminko Bijelić, Alma Hodžić, Zoran Panić, Jelena Mišić or Boris Cvjetković. The trainers had previously developed their own expertise in conducting training sessions at a cycle of train-the-trainer sessions organised by MyRight in 2013 and 2014.

Jasna Rebac, the field coordinator for theStronger Together coalition from Herzegovina Neretva Canton, was a guest speaker at all eight training sessions and shared with the participants the rich experience she has gained as a field coordinator for the Monitoring the human rights of persons with disabilities project, implemented by MyRight between 2012 and 2014.

Representatives of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Council for Persons with Disabilities also made an important contribution to training and it is our hope the presentation of their work at these sessions will encourage more fruitful cooperation in future with the coalitions and organisations ofpersons with disabilities in the pursuit of their common goal of improving the status of people with disabilities throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina.

We are also happy to report that representatives of the Human Rights Ombudsman for BiH also responded to our invitation and took part in the training sessions, presenting the work and role of this august institution in our society. They ended every presentation by underlining and reminding individuals with disabilities of the importance of submitting their grievances to the Ombudsman institution so that it can in turn make its recommendations to the relevant bodies, calling on them to respect the rights of people with disabilities, as guaranteed by the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and under current national law.