Pécs Community Foundation

Pécs’s Future Foundation 2018 

Community Creativity Projects

The Project’s name: “Pécs is livable as a barrier-free city”

Its duration: 22.11.2018 – 31.08.2019

About the project:

Members of People First Association Pécs have formed teams of two and started  visiting restaurants, cafes, hotels, shops in Pécs to map barrier-free places. If it was barrier-free, with the consent of the owner, preferably with him together  put a sticker – which we designed – on the doors just like Visa or MasterCard. In case the place has a truly barrier-free toilet a WC sign appears in the lower right corner of the sticker as well. If the toilet isn’t barrier-free, the WC sign don’t appear on the sticker.

If the establishment is not fully accessible but improving its accessibility is possible and the owners of the establishment are open to it, we supported them with advice regarding the sourcing and installation of ramps, handrails etc., as well as help with official procedures or redesign.

In return the Association does not expect any financial compensation from the restaurants/cafés 

All of this greatly contributes Pécs, as an assessment of barrier-free livable city, it’s also a tourist attractant factor.

Let’s make Pécs barrier free! A barrier free society is not only advantageous to the disabled; young mothers with prams, the elderly, and those with temporary injuries also benefit.

The attitude of the owners was positive, they were happy to help. Where they were not cooperative we didn’t discriminate, only we removed it from the database. Persuading is not our job. But the attitude of the owner, manager and staff is very important, it was also a “barrier-free condition” for us. 

We have posted all times the identified sites with photos on our and additional Facebook sites. We had a lot of likes, comments and shares. https://www.facebook.com/PeopleFirstHun/

We have uploaded the identified sites on the wheelmap.org too, by this introduced the locations of Pécs in an european-level database. We have done this two ways: evaluated the already registered ones, and uploaded the missing ones with self-made photos. https://wheelmap.org/search

We have created a menu item on our website with a category database. We want to do this database more professional in the future. Our website is bilingual, all data and reports are in English and Hungarian – except the blog. http://peoplefirst.hu/akadalymentes-pecs/

Participants, number of the involved people, effects:

The “sticker project” was implemented by a 6 person-team of People First Association. 3 are wheelchair users 1 movements inhibited, 2 able bodied assistance. Many of our members also helped with ideas, with place recommendation, and we got a lot of Facebook comments from the city population.

Our membership is enchanted (8 person) who indicated that specifically in the projects they want to participate. 

All included companies became partner (restaurants, hotels, national organisations), we have built everywhere a linked to one person relationship. These are very useful contacts for us (e.g. Hungarian Post Company, OTP the most important Hungarian bank)

Partners, potential supporters:

Among our members and close cooperating partners was a lively debate many times about the accessibility, suitability of a place, shall we put the sticker on or not, what is the really important aspect….

We have decided that some of the answers from the finding locations are not satisfactory for us. We continue to consult with them and in the last resort we turn to the Equal Treatment Authority. 

We have a concrete relationship with many useful organizations (Biokom, Decathlon, IT Services, Hungarian Post Company, McDonalds, OTP Bank, hotels, restaurants, Bishop of Pécs, media). There was a case for applying into the project an organization itself (Pécs Plaza). 

The attitude was very positive, we experienced only 2-3 times impassivity. The willingness to change was strong, even when the accessibility was a difficult task (tourist attractions like the Cathedral or the Mosque, or historic building like Almalomb restaurant in Hosszúhetény)

The project expansion was made possible by the support of C.S. Mott american foundation Academy for the Development of Philanthropy in Poland, “Pécs City for wheelchair users – Promoting Inclusion through both Improved Wheelchair Accessibility and Community building activities” project. 

Data

finding locations in Pécs from barrier-free perspective (restaurants/cafes/hotels/shops/public institutions/churches/public toilets): 53

sticker received: 22

not accessible: 14

accessible but corporate marketing reasons sticker placing is not possible (e.g Árkád Pécs, McDonalds, OTP Bank, Hungarian Post): 5

waiting for feedback: 12

As mentioned, in some places we continue to agree, wrote an official letter with the involvement of rehabilitation engineer and lawyer. In case of negative answer we will turn of the Equal Treatment Authority. 

Media appearances:

• 2019.04.24. print média: Dunántúli Napló “Színes matricával jelzik, ha egy hely akadálymentes” 2. o

<iframe src=”https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FPeopleFirstHun%2Fposts%2F2284803801610271&width=500″ width=”500″ height=”634″ style=”border:none;overflow:hidden” scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″ allowTransparency=”true” allow=”encrypted-media”></iframe>

• “Nincs akadály” jegyzet 2.o
• BAMA online: https://www.bama.hu/kozelet/helyi-kozelet/szines-matricaval-jelzik-ha-egy-hely-akadalymentes-1803352/?fbclid=IwAR0U0hBjJVezhqVrYJZtlbFJnNHz5f-FM0QY10woB7dxH3GhufcIpXfM9N8
• 2019. május print média:  I Love Pécs Magazin “Pécs akadálymentesen is élhető város!” cikk 33.o

<iframe src=”https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FPeopleFirstHun%2Fposts%2F2300960023327982&width=500″ width=”500″ height=”670″ style=”border:none;overflow:hidden” scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″ allowTransparency=”true” allow=”encrypted-media”></iframe>

• Facebook kampány: 2019.04.08. “Tegyél te is az akadálymentes Pécsért”  – bematricázzuk Pécset! 7556 elért ember, 557 aktivitás, 62 like, 13 hozzászólás, 50 megosztás

<iframe src=”https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FPeopleFirstHun%2Fposts%2F2258365727587412&width=500″ width=”500″ height=”750″ style=”border:none;overflow:hidden” scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″ allowTransparency=”true” allow=”encrypted-media”></iframe>

• 2019. április print média: I Love Pécs Magazin: “Pécsi Közösségi Alapítvány Fontos lépések az élhetőbb, akadálymentesebb Pécsért!”12.o

<iframe src=”https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FPeopleFirstHun%2Fposts%2F2252085481548770&width=500″ width=”500″ height=”689″ style=”border:none;overflow:hidden” scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″ allowTransparency=”true” allow=”encrypted-media”></iframe>

• A feltárt, akadálymentes helyek megjelenítése a nemzetközi wheelmap.org oldalon: https://wheelmap.org/ 
• Database in our website (in Hungarian and English): http://peoplefirst.hu/ 
• Facebook site (in Hungarian and English): https://www.facebook.com/PeopleFirstHun/ 
• Instagram site: peoplefirstpecs 

Continuation of the project:

We started the project in at the end of the year 2018 and completed it in August of 2019 in the framework of this project.

BUT, we can’t stop the project, because on the one hand, a constant updating requires, on the other hand, the disabled people requires the continuation. This is a entirely niche activity in Pécs, a current database is required. 

We still have many places to discover and new directions will be implemented by the posts, comments of the local residents and interested: churches, tourist attractions, public institutions, cultural institutions, basic public institutions, hiking trails.

We also want to explore how places can be approached: bus lines, accessibility of the buses, accessibility of the bus stops, where to get off the bus, condition of walkways, route planning. 

The already identified sites must also be checked – e.g. the public toilet on the Kossuth square was barrier-free and we got a comment, that it is full of cleaning tools by now. 

We found the opportunity to continue, from September 2019 we keep doing it with a winner application of NFSZK FOF2019 project, now according to the above extensions!  

Further plan to make the project part of city marketing – but to do this, need to create a strong city marketing in Pécs. This could help the prospective Disability Council Pécs for which we are currently working on.

Thank you for the  Pécsi Közösségi Alapítvány/Pécs Community Foundation  to give a push to the

• project idea and implement a niche activity in Pécs
• strengthen our membership

• partners expansion

• increase our awareness

•  courage  of new applications

Veronika Pataki Veronika, president

People First Association – Pécs

19.09. 2019.

Our main goal was with the ECK project was to make disabled people an active part of local society. We could reach that with all project elements.

The Barrier-free Tourism Day is increasingly well-known at national level and since 2019 in an international level too. New elements have been added, e.g. presentation of disability sports, involving a new location (sports camp), which have all made significant progress. In the organizing team disabled people are more and more active. The number of volunteers is constantly growing and expanded with new arrivals like students and high school students who are particularly keen to volunteer with us. Volunteers are important element of social sensitizing. 

Exploring barrier-free hiking  trails project element proved to be an excellent community-building activity within the association and the involvement of the local population was also successful in this project element. An unexpected effect was the strong media interest.

We developed a methodology to the Hidden city barrier-free guidance project element, and tried it on 6th of September with serious interest. It was also a great opportunity to build contacts with local populations and actors in tourism. The future continuation of the project element, the inclusion in the permanent tourist offers in Pécs proved to be a greater task than we thought, but the opportunity has arrived at the end of the project. We have also prepared to continue it in our international Peer-AcT Erasmus+ project.

A methodology has been developed also in Barrier-free advice project element. Here we are looking for additional partners, mainly lodgings in Pécs and the area around Pécs.

It was an important goal and impact in the whole project to make Pécs better and more livable.

ECK was the most complex project so far, which required a lot of work but thus brought satisfaction, recognition, external and internal success and brought new tasks. The greatest achievement is the increase in the activity and responsibility of the members.

It is difficult to highlight one as the best moment of the project, but since the best way to achieve the accessibility in our minds  with enjoyable, cheerfully performed sensitisation, the Hidden city barrier-free guidance can be highlighted. We really enjoyed it, and the participants too. It’s a pleasure to show our city, it’s a pleasure to work with good partners. This is part of accessible tourism, which will be of great emphasis in the life of our organization in the future. We have already had serious results, we can boast of many best practices in Hungary and abroad. This is the project element that demonstrated the best the internal professionalism, which draws attention to the fact that people with disabilities are equally people. In this case, they are equally qualified in terms of diploma, language skills, creativity, innovativeness and even humor.

Thank you ECK!

This time last year we promised that we would be even more active and cohesive, and that, within the limits of our possibilities, we would strengthen the cooperation between local civil organisations. We feel we have succeeded. We have new members, new partners, new projects, and took part in every meeting and event that we possibly could. More and more of our members take an active role in the life of our association, they contribute with their ideas, opinions, write blogs, organise and take part in public events, work in team projects, travel abroad, attend trainings, strengthening and shaping our community.

The events of 2109 in a nutshell:

We wrote lots and lots of grant applications, some of which have won. Our activities have been organised around two main projects:  Strengthening Civil Organisations 2019 – SCO/ECK (http://peoplefirst.hu/en/projects/erosodo-civil-kozossegek-eck-2019/).  As part of this project we have been exploring and assessing accessible hiking trails, and were co-organisers of the 3rd Barrier-free Tourism Day. As well as that, we have developed the methodology for barrier-free architectural consultations and have advised local tourist service providers. In cooperation with our partners in the tourism industry, we created a barrier-free tour of the city of Pécs, entitled ‘Hidden City’. Our project team members received remuneration for the work they did.

In November we participated in another successful SCO grant application, as a result the 4th Barrier-free tourism Day will take place in September 2020.

Our other main activity is our ‘sticker’ project, which we have won in collaboration with Pécs Community Foundation. This project has raised more awareness to our work within the community (http://peoplefirst.hu/en/projects/pecs-jovoje-alap-2018-kozossegi-kreativitas-projektek/).  This project involves the gap-filling activity of exploring barrier-free tourist attractions of Pécs. Our members visit various places, every single place visited is evaluated, and categorised based on its accessibility. Accessible places are awarded a sticker, designed by our members, which is then placed on the entrance door. Finally each place is then entered into a database on our website, with photos and a written evaluation. The database is available to the public both in Hungarian and English (http://peoplefirst.hu/en/akadalymentes-pecs/). Our project team members did this work, which is of invaluable importance, for a very modest payment.

In August we won another NFSZK FOF2019 grant, which means we can continue our sticker project, adding new criteria to the assessment.  (http://peoplefirst.hu/projects/nfszk-fof2019-matricas-projekt-2/ )  

Cooperating with and sensitising younger generations, especially those in secondary school, is very important to us. We have been successfully working together with the students of two secondary schools who are doing their community service. Secondary school students can continue to do their community service with our association.

According to the goals of the Local Action Program for Equal Opportunities we have joined forces with other civil organisations to establish an NGO network that would help the work of the local government. We attended and co-organised workshops. Setting up a disability committee is still a priority for us.

Instances of civil cooperation: we had several discussions at the regular afternoon meetings organised by Kerek Világ Alapítvány, in May we attended an open day for civil organisations (Nyitott Udvarok Napja), in June we attended a workshop organised by Civil Közösségek Háza on national and international good practice, as well as workshops on accessibility with the participation of local service providers. We are building a relationship with Kilátás Alapítvány, with the hope of future collaboration in the area of purchase of equipment. We took part in Szomszédság Akadémia, and have given a talk on social campaigns. Last but not least we are working together with Budapest NGOs to establish independent and assisted living.

Our international relations have broadened as well. We have been participating in international projects, have travelled, studied and worked abroad. We organised workshops for people living with disabilities on how to set up a business as a part of an Erasmus+ project, establishing FairShares social enterprise model in Hungary. Its final conference held in English, in Pécs was well attended. In March we developed a sensitising game in cooperation with our German partner, VSBI in Pécs, which we followed up by testing it in 5 German towns, with the help of our members. The goal of Peer AcT Erasmus+ project is to train peer mentors in accessible tourism. In May we attended an international conference in Osijek, and in November two of our members participated in Germany in a week-long training run in English. The training will be repeated in Hungary in early 2020, to pass on the knowledge to five other association members.

Realising the power of social campaigns we have started a number of them and participated in many others both nationally and internationally. Just to name a few of these:

In April we started the ‘Why’ campaign in which we explain briefly why certain things in the world of people living with disabilities are the way they are. Why, for example, disabled parking spaces are so much wider than regular ones; what the tactile guide stripes for the visually impaired mean etc.. To read about the campaign click on ‘Why’ on our homepage (http://peoplefirst.hu/en/miert/). 

In the international campaign InKLOsiv, we showed accessible toilets in Pécs.

In June, People First joined TASZ as a supporting organisation in their campaign for independent living and personal assistance, entitled ‘A Day off for Every Family’.

In October, within the framework of a campaign organised by ‘Lépjünk, hogy léphessenek Alapítvány’ we organised an open forum with the mayoral candidates, where our members talked about their experiences with support services in Pécs and studying at university; women raising children with disabilities; and everyday life in nursing homes.

Our website has a new menu entitled ‘Barrier-Free Pécs’, where barrier-free locations in Pécs can be searched for in various ways. This menu is both for locals who would like to plan their shopping, run errands or just go for a walk, and for tourists planning to visit Pécs. The menu is also available in Hungarian and English.

All the while we had lots of fun spending time together hiking, drinking coffee, exchanging ideas, discussing, convincing each other, visiting concerts, festivals and conferences, playing sports, working…

On 25th December we closed the year with a very cheerful Christmas party where – as always – we welcomed friends and people from Pécs.

To be continued in 2020.

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