THE ACTIVITY OF PUTTING UP ELEVATORS FOR DISABLED PERSONS IN BUJANOVAC

20. December 2011.

At the end of November 2011, 38 young persons, who are involved in the Youth Build Serbia project, started putting up elevators for disabled persons (EDP) at the entrance of the health center in Bujanovac. This group of young people undergoes a three-month training, which is a part of the Youth Build project. The training is provided in the municipalities of Presevo and Bujanovac by the Civic Initiatives organization. The training is aimed at making it possible for the young from these two municipalities to develop practical and entrepreneurial skills that would help them get employed and be active in their community.

During the training, the young from Presevo and Bujanovac identified the problem of a lack of elevators for disabled persons and decided to get involved in putting up elevators in their community and in engaging more people from their community to assist them with this activity. At the end of November 2011, the activity of putting up 8 elevators began, whereas a total of 21 elevators will be put up in Bujanovac. The activity was supported by entrepreneurs and the local self-government. The activity of installing elevators for disabled persons shall be undertaken in the municipality of Presevo, too, where these young people are also going to get involved in setting up a soup kitchen.

The Youth Build project is aimed at improving the socio-economic position of the young in South Serbia by strengthening their capacity to get employed and to be active in society. The project engages the young to take activities in their local community through informal vocational education and field work in local environment. Youth Build is a model that is being used and that produces excellent results in over 15 countries throughout the world. Having over 30 years of experience, Youth Build prepared over 94,000 young persons for taking activities and for getting engaged in building their communities themselves. This is the first time that this model is developed in Serbia. A multiethnic group of around 40 participants from Bujanovac and Presevo is involved in using the model and they will undergo intensive three-month training at the training centre.

Youth Build Serbia is supported by the Coordination Body of the Government of the Republic of Serbia for the Municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja, the Youth Build International, the Balkan Trust for Democracy and the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The project implementation was also supported by the municipality of Bujanovac, the Directorate for Development of Bujanovac and the Butriniti Architecture.