We have great news in our international CODE project, which works to make the financial sector and banking accessible!

We have completed a comprehensive training material consisting of five modules that cover everything related to financial services and banking. We worked with numerous experts and sought the opinions of those directly affected—people with disabilities—so we believe we have developed truly valuable educational material. We considered it very important to make this course accessible in every way, so we translated it into the languages of all partner countries and made it available in a variety of formats, from Word documents to PDFs and videos, with visual elements and audio descriptions to help with reading and comprehension.

Now comes the pilot phase, where we will test the curriculum with groups of people with disabilities and finalize the training based on their valuable feedback.

Another big news is that on June 28, 2025, an EU regulation of fundamental importance to our project came into force! The European Accessibility Directive, officially known as Directive (EU) 2019/882, more commonly referred to as the European Accessibility Act (EAA), aims to ensure that uniform rules apply to the accessibility of digital products and services, including online banking services and ATMs, in the EU market.

From the end of June, all banks must adapt their ATMs to the new EU accessibility directive. The aim is to remove the barriers that currently make it difficult for people with disabilities to use ATMs.
The legislation requires developers to design and construct ATMs that are accessible to people with visual, hearing, intellectual, or other disabilities. The most important changes to ATMs include larger font sizes and better contrast on the display, voice instructions through headphones, clearer, more intuitive menus, tactile surfaces, and embossed buttons.
Like all accessibility initiatives, these changes will not only make it easier for people with disabilities to carry out administrative tasks. All users will benefit from clearer displays, easier-to-understand menus, and more precise instructions.
Banks must inform their customers about the changes.
This directive was adopted by the EU in 2019, but member states are only required to apply it from June 28, 2025.

Please read our latest information in the current newsletter of our CODE project. Share it with others, people with disabilities, interested parties, training centers, and the banking sector!
Follow us on the People First Facebook page or the CODE project  Facebook page for updates on the project’s progress.
The July 2025 newsletter of the CODE project is available in PDF format by clicking here: EN_CODE_Newsletter4_July 2025 (1)

The second personal meeting of our FairCare project was held in Dun Laoghaire, near Dublin, on 25-26 June 2025. During the two-day meeting, important issues were taken forward by the Erasmus+ project on developing self-determined lives in long-term care.

We reviewed the evaluation of the questionnaires on the needs of the three target groups (people with disabilities, family members/carers and institutional staff), which formed the basis of the project. This is very important because these needs will now be used as a basis for the development of the training material aimed at empowering people in need of care to develop self-determination.

Following the discussion of the training topics, the design of an interactive platform was the topic, which will be used for the training material and communication between the target groups. This will be created by People First.

The dissemination of project ideas, news and progress, as well as the internal communication of the project team, is essential to work effectively and achieve the best possible results. The latter can be a challenge for an international team, so we had to talk about it, also as a task for our association.

We left the pleasantly cool, beautiful seaside town with good feelings, because the FairCare project is going very well. We feel that the principle of “Nothing about us without us”, i.e. the active involvement of target groups, continues to be excellently implemented.

You can read more about our FairCare project here in our website’s Projects menu: FairCare project

The Association held its Annual General Meeting on 5. June 2025 at the House of Civil Communities in Pécs.
The General Meeting was well represented by the members of the association, so it was quorate.

The membership first had to face the dry facts and listened to the 2024 financial report of the Presidency, which was accepted.
The 2024 progress report was much more stimulating, there were questions of interest and clarification, and the progress report was also approved by the assembly. There was much to report to the Presidency, once again 2024 was a very busy year.

We then moved on to freer topics and presented the certificates of appreciation to our most active members in 2024. Ildikó Kakusziné Tamasy and Gyöngyi Molnár received certificates for their work last year. With this we would like to make it memorable to all of us how much we appreciate and thank both of them for their commitment and heartfelt activities for the disabled society and the association’s causes. Thank you!
This year our partner organisations Emberség Erejével Alapítvány and TASZ Pécs received a certificate from us. Both organisations are doing a lot for the development of human rights of the local disabled community, and we owe a lot to them in partnership building. Our partners received the certificate earlier, on the European Independent Living Day on 5 May.

Even targeting the buffet table, we have started to talk about the organisational changes that the increasingly complex functioning of the association requires. The General Assembly approved the change plan, and its implementation will start shortly for a test period.

Then, in order to strengthen the internal life of the association, this year’s leisure and cultural plans were discussed. This included the planning of excursions, community-building team games and open programmes.

In the questions and answers session we had a lively discussion, including useful information, excellent new ideas and training for the membership.

We have won the battle, but not yet the war.

In recent weeks, the government’s proposal for a “Law on the Protection of National Sovereignty” has caused a great stir in public opinion. Many NGOs soon started calling it a “disarmament law”, as it would list and punish all NGOs that receive money from abroad – regardless of what kind of activities they carry out. As the proposal is contrary to both Hungarian and EU law, and even basic common sense, protests and creative actions are taking place almost daily. The famously cohesive and active civil network of Pécs has been mobilised, and we too have taken to the streets, organising demonstrations and holding street forums in various busy places in Pécs.

It felt amazing to receive such clearly positive feedback from people on the street — they congratulated us and told us they’re rooting for us, the civilians. Here in Pécs, just like across the country, it’s clear that the overwhelming majority of people do not agree with this frighteningly anti-democratic undemocratic draft law — no matter which political party they support. In addition to civil organizations and the media, judges, lawyers, the advertising association, and trade unions have also spoken out against the proposal. Even the banking sector has expressed concern. We’ve received messages of solidarity from all over Europe, and the European Commission has also called on the government to withdraw the the proposal.

It’s encouraging to see that speaking up really does makes sense, because the draft law was taken off the agenda as unexpectedly as it came, the day before the parliamentary vote! It will certainly not be debated in Parliament until the autumn, which is clearly also thanks to civil activism.

Although the vote was postponed, the draft law itself has not been withdrawn.
The vote was postponed, but the proposed law was not withdrawn. Therefore, in Pécs we will continue with the street forums, and on 10 June we also gathered a Civil Forum, where we want the Pécs municipality to clearly condemn this draft law in a resolution and stand up for its civilians.

It’s much harder in these circumstances, but we’re continuing to do the work that needs to be done.
We became for you.
We are with you.
We stay because of you.

The results of our association are never achieved alone. We continue to believe deeply in partnerships. Pécs has a vibrant civic life, so we are fortunate to have the opportunity to connect with excellent organisations.

The European Day of Independent Living on 5 May is very important for our association, as People First organisations around the world have a fundamental aim to support independent living for people with disabilities in all areas of life.

In 2024, the Presidency of our association decided to try to make this one of the most important days of our association memorable not only for ourselves, but also for our partners. Therefore, on this day we present certificates of appreciation to our active members and partners.

Today we were able to meet and very warmly present the certificates of thanks to two important partners, for whom we have much to thank and without whom local civil society would be much poorer:
the Emberség Erejével Alapítvány and the Pécs office of TASZ.

Who are they? TASZ (Society for Civil Liberties) provides very important human rights assistance to NGOs, including us. They also do essential community-building work – in Pécs, for example, they have been successfully bringing together NGOs working with people with disabilities for years to work together on various accessibility goals.

The Emberség Erejével Alapítvány (Power of Humanity Foundation) has set us on the path of professional tendering and planning, and serves as an example for us in community- and partnership building. They are one of the strongest drivers of civil life in Pécs.
Thank you for working for social inclusion!

In the picture from left to right:
Hildegard Kerekes (People First), András Nyirati (Emberség), Viktória Brumecz (TASZ), Veronika Pataki (People First), Anita Fúrós (Emberség)

Being an NGO in Pécs is good!
Another great collaboration has been launched in our city, a truly niche initiative of which we are delighted to be a part. Indeed, you can be part of it as a local NGO or local company. Read on to learn how:

Generated and coordinated by the Emberség Erejével Foundation, active companies and NGOs of Pécs who want to do something for the local community joined forces to work together for local values and the local community.
Our first joint project is the development of the ” Leave it between us!” campaign, which aims to encourage the people of Pécs to donate 1% of their personal income tax (SZJA) to support local organisations, thus enriching the local community.

On the last day of April, we held a press conference to present the ” Leave it between us!” campaign and the organising Civic and Business community. So far, the Civic and Civic Team is made up of 12 organisations – including People First – but it is open, so we are looking for more civic and business organisations who want to get involved.

The team has created a website where the activities of the NGOs applying to be presented can be accessed. In fact, the data of all (575) Pécs-based NGOs that received a 1% SZJA donation in 2024. From here, the people of Pécs can choose to which of them to donate 1% of their personal income tax by 20 May.

The website also includes a brief description of the companies and NGOs participating in the campaign, as well as campaign leaflets and information materials for local businesses who would like to join.
But if anyone is lost on how to make a donation, we also provide help and a direct link.

As the biggest problem is that many people in Hungary don’t bother to donate their 1%, the main goal is to encourage them to get active. This 1% is deducted from everyone’s taxes, so if someone does not donate it to an NGO, it is lost to the public. Some people think that their little money is worthless, but that is far from the case! For NGOs, every little amount of money is a great help to their work!

And why do we want local NGOs to be supported by donors? Because we think it is important to support local values and to strengthen the work of local NGOs, because they work for the people of Pécs.

Local companies joining the current campaign commit to inform their employees about the importance of the 1% donation and motivate them to donate by the 20 May deadline, preferably to a Pécs NGO.

JOIN us and become part of this exemplary campaign either this year or in the future!

If you want to be listed as a CIVILIAN on the maradjonkoztunk.hu website, please fill in this form: https://forms.gle/zFeFZ1TsS2DamFJj9

If you would like to join the campaign as a COMPANY, or the Companies & Civilians community, please send an email to info@emberseg.hu

Support local values, and 1% of your PAYE will stay with us!

Current members of the collaboration (who hope to see their community grow):
Companies:
Games for Business
Innoteq Kft.
Pannon Cégcsoport
Webstar
YCO

NGOs:
Emberség Erejével Alapítvány
Élménylelő Ifjúsági Egyesület
Közelítő Egyesület – Pécsi Kosár
People First Közhasznú Egyesület – Pécs
Pécsbányai Kulturális Egyesület
Pécsi Közösségi Alapítvány
Zöld-Híd Alapítvány

We would like to present to you the next Newsletter of our CODE international project, to keep you informed about the progress of the project. This project aims to promote awareness, awareness of people with disabilities and innovation in the banking sector.

The training material for people with disabilities is almost ready, the development of a platform and an app to support independent banking is underway and will then be tested by the target group.

For more information, see the short Newsletter by clicking here: EN_CODE_Newsletter3_April 2025 (2)

Before we start working together in our international FairCare project, we wanted to have a friendly, interactive online chat with the Hungarian Advisory Group. We will be working together for almost three years and we believe that their work will be the most important in this international project.

The Hungarian Advisory Group consists of 10 members from 7 organisations, to our great pleasure not only from Pécs, but also from Győr and Szeged. Similar advisory teams have been set up in each country, representing the three target groups of the project: people in need of long-term care (in our case, people with disabilities and the elderly), family members-friends-relatives, and institutional staff.

Their role will be to give their opinions at every phase of the project, to influence the progress of the project and to put the “Nothing about us without us” principle into practice with their ideas.

Not everyone was able to attend our first Hungarian team meeting, but we had a very nice chat and we will meet again soon, this time with everyone. The professional work has already begun, and important opinions and ideas have been expressed. We can already see that this is going to be a great team and a pleasure to work together! 🙂

On 16 April, we sent out the questionnaires identifying the needs of our project target groups to the Hungarian Advisory Group for their comments. We want to make sure that everything is clear, that we have thought of everything and that it is sufficiently accessible.
The questionnaires to be sent out will be finalised taking into account the opinions of the Advisory Groups in each partner country.

Thank you for today’s meeting Hungarian team! 🙂

Read more about the FairCare project here: FairCare project

The first Newsletter of our FairCare Erasmus+ project has been published and we are very pleased to inform you about the international cooperation.

You can read about what this cooperation is all about. Briefly, you can meet the partners who are working together in this project to develop independent living in Hungary, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Spain and Cyprus.

We have also written a few sentences about our first personal meeting in Barcelona, where we launched this ambitious and very important gap-filling project.
For the first time, everyone who needs to participate in the development of independent living is involved:
everyone who needs long-term care,
family members and carers,
and the innovative thinking staff of institutions.

Advisory teams have been set up in all countries, including Hungary, with representatives from all the mentioned sides. In Hungary, the team not only includes participants from Pécs, but also excellent organisations from Szeged and Győr. The Advisory team gives its opinion on everything, representing the principle “Nothing about us without us!”.

The Newsletter:

You can read the newsletter in pdf here: Fair Care Newsletters 1

Read more about the FairCare project here: https://peoplefirst.hu/en/blog-post/faircare-erasmus-international-project/

Follow us on Facebook too!
People First Association: https://www.facebook.com/PeopleFirstHun
FairCare project: https://www.facebook.com/groups/523950267376170

Is there still a justification for segregation today?!
Are there specific problems for people with disabilities, or are all the problems needed for independent living a common social phenomenon?

These were the questions we explored at our second Disability and Independent Living discussion on 18 March 2025 at the House of Civic Communities. We were delighted to be able to repeat the extremely active and inspiring discussion we had last time. Proving how much there is a need for similar conversations, both in terms of the topic and the circle of participants. Such a gathering of all actors involved in the development of independent living – people with disabilities, family members/supporters and innovative thinking institutional staff – to meet and learn from each other’s experiences is unprecedented.

At the current discussion, the circle of participants was enlarged, and Szilvia Bognár, the civil councillor for social relations of the Mayor’s Office of the City of Pécs, accepted our invitation. On behalf of the press, we thank Pécs TV and Dunántúli Napló /Bama for their visit. It was a rare occasion, and therefore a special pleasure for us, that Szilvia Bognár and the press officer of the Dunántúli Napló stayed for the whole discussion, actively participating and enriching the exchange of ideas with very important thoughts.

After the presentation of our Erasmus+ Indeed project, funded by the European Union, which made the series of talks possible, an exciting part of the discussion followed. At the last workshop, several of our disabled peers raised the point that they had benefited from segregated education and that they would like to see a place for it in today’s inclusive world. In the ongoing forward discussion that started on this, we concluded that segregation as a concept has outlived its time. Yet, if we listen carefully, it is present in our world today, and not always in a harmful way. In other words, the team does not consider segregation itself to be useful, nor does it wish for its return, but it has a place in some forms in the world today. Whether it will be the result of an evolution and disappear or be transformed, the future will decide. However, the topic was very inspiring and the team would like to pursue it, possibly with the involvement of teaching/education professionals.

Another topic of discussion was whether people who want to live independently in today’s world face the same problems as people with disabilities. Going around the topics of work, housing, health care, transport, separation from parents, the need to know own rights, the discussion team concluded that yes, basically the problems and expectations are the same. However, in some segments, people with disabilities need special attention and special help. But it is important to note that although accessibility came out as a specific need in each of the topics, it is still useful for everyone who wants to live more comfortably.

Our Indeed project will soon end with a very useful Guide, available also in Hungarian for everyone. It will provide useful guidance on how to generate similar local conversations on developing independent living, in addition to the methods and experiences of the participating partner countries.

The project is a continuation of the Erasmus+ FairCare project we have already launched, in which we are broadening the target group and discussing the importance of independent living with all people who need long-term care. In the same way involving all the parties who need to be present in the development of independent living. Here we will also develop training materials and set up advisory teams of participants from the three sides in each country to implement the “Nothing about us, without us” principle.

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