Universal accessibility is now much more than a concept, it has become a fundamental aspect in the struggle for the integration of disabled people conducted for more than six years by the Office of the Secretary of State for the Integration of Persons with Disabilities (BSEIPH) and organizations of civil society, it is in this context that two training days around universal access were recently organized by the BSEIPH in partnership with the "Christian Blind Mission" (CBM Haiti) and "Haiti Tec". The primary objective of this training was to enhance the knowledge and competencies in evaluation of access to the built environment, of members of the "Team of Competence" before the audit phase, which is to assess on the ground, access to buildings open to the public in order to make recommendations for improving accessibility for all.

The audit will be conducted on a sample of 25 schools in the metropolitan area of ​​Port-au-Prince, including: public and private schools, health facilities and other buildings open to the public.

The "Team of Competence" of evaluation is composed of a Team Leader hosen by the BSEIPH, a Technical expert of CBM and 8 investigators, members of Disabled People's Organizations (DPOs). The investigators have the role of achieve accessibility audits, to ensure advocacy, data collection and the development of proposals to improve the accessibility of buildings evaluated.

In the short term, it will be a technical team responsible for assessing a building or environment in terms of access and usability by disabled people. The team will also be a tool to facilitate dialogue and encourage owners or managers to perform development work in accessibility of their buildings.

The Team Leader will play a supervisory role, of analysis, evaluation, of evaluation while supervising the progress of the project while the technical expert will be responsible for coordination, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. The latter will oversee both the technical and methodological design of different project phases and its operational progress and financial.

The group will remain in the long term, a reference tool available to the Haitian government and other national and international organizations involved in the reconstruction process for accessibility diagnostics. It will also ensure the transfer of know-how and tools on universal accessibility standards, among others at various target groups, DPOs and construction professionals.

This is to a motivated team and ready to invest the ground that Gérald Oriol, Jr., Secretary of State for the Integration of Persons with Disabilities, spoke, saying that "This work will allow us to assess the buildings but also to educate stakeholders," convinced of the importance of this initiative in the struggle for universal accessibility.

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-8841-haiti-social-promote-financial-independence-for-people-with-disabilities.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-8351-haiti-social-advancement-of-the-cause-of-persons-living-with-disabilities.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-7803-haiti-social-easy-access-to-new-buildings-for-persons-with-disabilities.html

HL/ SL/ HaitiLibre