Public Dialog in Action

Presentation of the project “The Virtual Eyesight”

A Regional Conference titled “Public Dialogue for Social Development of Local Communities”  took place in Brest on September 22 at the Department of Labor, Employment  and Social Protection of the Brest Region Executive Committee.  The conference concluded a yearlong US Embassy Small Grants Program-funded project of the Belarusian Association of Social Workers (BASW). The essence of the project was to  educate social workers from governmental and non-governmental organizations in the Smorgon, Kobrin, and Leninsky Districts of Brest on modern technologies of social work and to create space for permanent dialogue.

About 100 representatives of the Territorial Centers for Social Services from Brest region and Smorgon, members of social NGOs and consumers of social services gathered to share experiences and  present their newly developed projects . The conference demonstrated how  joint efforts and cooperation between social governmental and non-governmental organizations could result into concrete initiatives and programs aimed at overcoming social problems in the society.  One of the bright examples of such  cooperation was the project “The Virtual Eyesight”, developed and presented by the Kobrin District Organization of the Belarusian Association of People with Visual Impairments.