The Pécs City Hall scheduled the convening of the 3. Civil Forum on Santa Claus’ Day, 06.12.2023.

The aim of the Civil Forums is to provide the city administration and civil organizations working for the city with up-to-date information from the local government, indicate their needs and have conversations.
The need for regular convening of Civil Forums is one of the results of the urban Civil Concept established in 2021. This was formulated jointly by the municipality and NGOs in order to cooperate more smoothly and closely from now on.

The topics of the current 3. Civil Forum were the Pécs City Civil Framework and the “Decide with Us!” participatory budget.

The Pécs City Civil Framework was established last year, also based on the needs of civil organizations. Its essence is that the city should allocate an amount from which it supports the programs of the city’s civil organizations through tenders.
This year was preceded by the provision of an extraordinary overhead subsidy to NGOs, also through tenders.
In the end, HUF 50 million was available for the Pécs City Civil Framework. 95 applications were received, of which 57 organizations received funding, typically all of them half of what they requested. The reason for this, according to the City Hall, is to allow as many organizations as possible to receive funding. However, the largest amount of support was HUF 400,000. The People First Association also implements the exploration of new locations in the Barrier-free Pécs Database from only HUF 300,000.
In their comments, NGOs asked for the tender to be announced earlier next year and for the decision and contract conclusion to go much smoother, which made the work of NGOs very difficult this year. They also asked the city to create an online platform for this purpose and not have to submit the application in paper form.

This year, Pécs joined the “Decide with Us!” participation budget, following several Hungarian cities. The aim of this exemplary initiative is to enable citzens themselves to decide over a certain amount what kind of urban development they want to implement from it.
Of course, the first year caused minor and especially major bumps, but the process has started and will continue, which makes us proud of our city.

Unfortunately, the implementation of the cooperation principles laid down in the above-mentioned 2021 Civil Concept is already progressing more difficultly. Since April 2023, a large civil umbrella organization has been coordinating the Civil Concept. However, none of the activities undertaken have been implemented in the past two years, which is demotivating for many NGOs.
These include:
– Creation of a Civil Portal to provide news to and about civilians.
– Establishment of professional working groups with the participation of NGOs on Equal Opportunities, Democracy Development and Climate/Green topics.
– Creation of a Civil Database for which all NGOs can register. It would be an excellent partner search opportunity for each other, and the municipality would also know who to turn to. Registered organizations can regularly receive information from the city about tender opportunities, and only registered applicants could apply for the Pécs City Civil Framework.
– Pécs Civil Day, one-day colorful program with the opportunity to introduce yourself.

We are still waiting for all this and we strongly hope that it will be implemented in 2024.

An important closing topic of the Civil Forum was ESG introduced by the EU, the social responsibility obligation of large companies. To learn about this, the town hall promises to organize training for civil organizations in Pécs. We are looking forward to it, it will be an exciting topic!

Yesterday, 7. November 2023, the online training of our “Walk in our shoes” project, supported by the International Visegrad Fund, began.

The aim of the international training is to prepare our Polish and Czech partners to use a similar, special form of direct social sensitization, such as the People First Association’s Hidden City Tor-Tour. (https://peoplefirst.hu/en/blog-post/hidden-city-tor-tour/)
We are convinced that we will have a much greater impact on public sensitization towards accessibility if we not only talk about it, but simply show it. If the participants of the Hidden City Tor-Tour can experience together with us what it is like to overcome barriers as tourists and citizen. If they try the tools (wheelchair, white cane), they can also try a little bit of the “obstructed” life itself.

The training is held by experienced experts of People First, we meet our Polish and Czech partners online three times. The first session was about barrier-free tourism, the effects of the project and the role of best practices in civil society, and then we had a good conversation. People First has also created a detailed curriculum for participants to deepen their understanding of the topics.

We meet online twice more, followed by the project development phase, and then study tours in the three countries.

A tréning alatt készített képernyőfotót látunk. Baloldalon az előadás egyik diája, rajta angolul: Bemutatkozás, a projektről, People First és trénerek bemutatkozása, A résztvevők bemutatkozása. Mellette a Visegrad Fund logoja és linkje. Jobb oldalon kis képkockákban a résztvevők arca látható, ahogy éppen figyelnek az előadásra.

New accessible locations will soon be added to our Barrier-free Pécs database!

Today we held the preparation training of the team exploring new locations in the Accessible Pécs Database in our InnClusive community space in sumptuous scenery. Being Halloween, we discussed the Methodology, the locations to be explored and the preparation under cobwebs and in the company of pumpkins.

Thanks to our winning tender (unfortunately only small amount) of the Pécs City Civil Financial Framework we can add new locations to the Accessible Pécs Database. Our database is still unique in the country, only in Pécs does a professional database present the truly (!) accessible locations of the city free of charge in Hungarian and English.

During the short project time, four new locations will be explored by our expert members with disabilities: Evelin, Hilda, Kriszta, Gergő. Our brilliant IT expert, Zoli, takes care of navigating the database even better.

What will be the four new locations? Places that you have suggested to us. Which ones you would like to know if you can get in as a disabled person, an elderly person, pushing a stroller, a temporarily disabled person.

Follow our Facebook page, we’ll find out soon which locations they are!

In Hungary, every taxpayer can donate 1% of their personal income tax annually to an eligible NGO. Our association thanks for this year’s donations.

Thank you very much for the fact that in 2023 even more of you thought of us than last year when offering 1% of your taxes!
Keep this good habit and keep thinking about us.
This year too, we will spend it on accessibility and improving the lives of people with disabilities!

Style is for everyone!
With this title, the audience of Pécs could see a hilarious fashion show on September 9, 2023! Models with disabilities presented the clothes of shops and fashion designers in Pécs.

Tge Szabadkikötő – a popular pub in Pécs -, was completely full, about 80 kind people applauded and cheered throughout the event. It was so nice to be there and proudly watch the models, who bravely, casually, with a smile showed how beautiful and skillful they were. There was no shortage of humor or gags.

Of course, we were especially proud of our association members, Hilda Kerekes, Gyöngyi Molnár, Krisztina Koltai, Evelin Almadi and Zoli Dudás, for showing this new side of themselves. And even that!

In addition to several Pécs NGOs, originators of the idea Izabella Nagy style consultant, Klára Balogh social worker, the People First Association also participated in organizing the unique fashion show and brainstorming. Our board member Hilda Kerekes played a huge role in the organization, of whom we are especially proud.

Many thanks to the supporters for supporting this free event with clothes, food, drink, and lots of love!
Ruha Otthon, Zora Fashion, Bella Napoli használtruha Pécs, Karácsony Andrea – Couture Collection, Nova Luna Couture,Inanna Wedding, Gangel Benjamin Férfiszabósága, beautiful make-up and beautiful hairstyles were made by Ágota Bánusz, Kinga Radnóti, Brigitta Fődi, Ildikó Udvari-Szabó, thanks to Akli Krisztina Desszertműhely for tasty and beautiful cookiesnek, for Hetényi Pince for fine wines, and for Káca Tanya for special cheeses. The location was provided by Szabadkikötő. If you follow us on our Facebook page, you will soon see great photos by Viola Gál and videos by Mihály Földesi.(https://www.facebook.com/PeopleFirstHun)

Everyone offered their support for free, and some clothes were eventually given to the performers as gifts! We have no words for that, only gratitude.

Short report from PécsTV:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eY061c1nLD4&t=349s

There will be the Barrier-free Tourism Day festival in Orfu again this year, even if the organization has been delayed.

The basic informations:

📌On September 2, between 10:00 and 16:00, we organize the VII. Barrier-free Tourism Day
📌Locations this year are only the Island and Medvehagyma House. The Sports Camp is only available for motorcycling.
📌Of course, there will be experiences! Namely:
sailing, motorboating
fishing
motorcycling
driving
horse riding, horse-drawn carriage rides
dragonboating

📌Organizers: Municipality of Orfu, Gyeregyalog.hu Association, People First Public Benefit Association – Pécs, Dragon Nest Foundation and Orfu Tourism Association

Details can be found continuously on the event’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/turizmus.akadalymentes

Google Maps stores information about the accessibility of more than 40 million locations worldwide, including public transportation, landmarks, and restaurants.
Based on this vast amount of information, this new feature can help people with reduced mobility plan their trips by checking if the location they are visiting has an accessible entrance. This can be useful for parents with strollers or travellers carrying suitcases.
But we emphasize, THIS APPLIES ONLY TO THE ENTRANCE!

Google has made this new feature visible to everyone by default starting in May 2023 in the form of users seeing a wheelchair icon for places where there is an accessible entrance.
The same icon is crossed out where there is no accessible entrance or markup because no information has been received.

In this information Google relies on community contributions from local guide volunteers, businesses, and everyday users to make the feature work. Currently, information other than accessibility of entrances can only be filtered from individual reviews.

How can you get more useful accessibility information from specific locations?
The People First Association was the only one in Hungary to create a database that could be an even more useful tool than the new function of Google Maps for visitors to Pécs and its surroundings, as well as for locals.
In our Barrier-free Pécs database you can find truly accessible Pécs locations explored by the expert members of our association, with thorough descriptions and photos. The on-site inspection of our disabled and able-bodied members covers restaurants, cafes, hotels, tourist attractions, shops, cultural and sports objects, churches, public institutions, public toilets and tourist paths.
We show you not only the entrance, but also the use of the interiors, the approach, the usability of the website and much more. Explore our database in English here: https://peoplefirst.hu/en/helyszinek/

We highly recommend to your attention another opportunity that has just started to take the problems affecting you into your own hands. It can even be used in accessibility announcements!

A civil initiative that has been successfully operating nationwide for a long time has also become available in Pécs.
THE PÉCS JÁRÓKELŐ (PASSERBY) HAS STARTED.
Find and report a problem!

Volunteer case managers in Pécs connect city residents with the municipality and public utility providers to solve troublesome problems in public spaces.

tHE jarokelo.hu is a solution-oriented and transparent citizen customer service that aims to enable anyone to contribute to the quality of our environment with their reports, making our homes cleaner, tidy, safer and more beautiful.

The service has been operating since 2012 and solves about 6,000 cases a year. The Power of Humanity Foundation and Járókelő operate the Pécs interface in partnership. The popularity of this public space fault reporting page for city dwellers lies in its simplicity.

Read more about all this here:https://www.emberseg.hu/…/elindult-a-pecsi-jarokelo…/
and on the Járókő page, you can even immediately report a case:https://jarokelo.hu/

Just starting out?
Or postpone it until a little later?
Are you vacationing nearby here or traveling far?

Please TELL US HOW ACCESSIBLE YOUR HOLIDAY WAS?

We will post it on the Facebook page of our association, let many people know where it is worthwhile, where it can be and where it is better not to go on an ACCESSIBLE HOLIDAY!

Send a short (but really) report and some pictures.
Here we are waiting for holiday experience reports (also in English):
info@peoplefirst.hu

It was a huge honor for our association on 17. April 2023.
U.S. Ambassador David Pressman also met with NGOs during his visit to Pécs. During the working lunch, the People First Association also had the opportunity to introduce themselves and briefly exchange views with the Ambassador about the possibilities of civic life.

We are very pleased that, after the Dutch Ambassador, the American Ambassador also visited Pécs to get to know the point of view of Hungarians living in Baranya. Mr. David Pressman has expressed his commitment to continue to travel extensively around the country in order to meet as many opinions as possible.

As the Ambassador said: “It was wonderful to spend time with a diverse array of local community organizations working hard to ensure Hungarians from all walks of life have access to opportunities.”

More information about the visit can be found here: David Pressman’s visit to Baranya