Russian Federation

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CONTEXT
Since the fall of the USSR, the Russian Federation has undergone a period of profound change in its political and socio-economic situation and also as regards mentalities. It is difficult to summarize the changes and upheavals that have shaken this country, which currently has a population of 145 million people spread over an area of 17 million kilometres. The situation is rather paradoxical with contradictory and conflicting trends of revitalization, stagnation and decline.

In the disability field, the tendencies described above are reflected in the medical and social systems and the emerging civil society:

• major innovation in the legal field, on social and medical policy and practice for accompanying disabled people, in response to pressure from disabled people’s and war veterans’ associations, and thanks to initiatives by representatives of public authority.
• massive resistance to change: practices oriented towards a hyper-medicalised model; heavy state structures with poorly paid civil servants lacking motivation; hyper-specialisation of disability professionals, who do not have a global approach to the person;  management of disabled people without consideration for the human dimension
• obsolete and decaying institutions fending for themselves, the quality of treatment declined in the 90s, and in spite of the principle of free health services, patients have to pay for access to treatment.

BACKGROUND
Handicap International has been working in the Russian Federation since 2000 and accompany and support actors in the field of disabilities in their efforts to bring about change, notably by promoting technical exchanges and supporting the associations that are innovative with respect to the social and professional integration of disabled people. For example, Handicap International accompanies and supports the Curative Pedagogy Centres in Moscow and Pskov, the Svet association for parents of children with disabilities in Vladimir and the Down Syndrome association in Moscow.

We also focus on assisting victims of the Chechen conflict, primarily in the field of rehabilitation and inclusion. In May 2001, Handicap International opened a delocalized office in Nazran with an annex in Grozny. For details about our operations in Northern Caucus, visit the Chechnya page.

ACTIVITIES
To improve the living conditions of disabled people in the Russian Federation, Handicap International runs two projects.

1) Creation or support to structures for the social and professional accompaniment of disabled people in Perm, Pskov and Vladimir

• Continue to develop workshops for adolescents with mental disabilities with three partner associations
• Reinforce the capacity of the professionals who run these workshops and create refresher training curricula for specialized educators in keeping with the new study plan, taking into account the foreign experience of the Open Training Institute in Moscow
• Raise awareness of the public, the public authorities and the economic environment to access to education and the social and professional integration of people with disabilities (round tables, exhibits, videos, information brochures for families)
• Support the initiatives of associations that are active in the field of education and social and professional integration

2) Development and implementation of a resource centre intended to promote dynamic exchanges and the dissemination of information between actors in the field of disabilities within the Russian Federation and with Europe.

• Create a website on professional integration issues
• Finalize a documentation centre project in Moscow
• Provide technical support and facilitate discussion on matters pertaining to disabilities (music therapy, equitherapy, participation in national theatre projects for people with disabilities and the international festival Movies without Borders)
• Continue to network Russian organizations for disabled people (technical visits, training periods, participation in seminars)
• Organize exchanges and joint actions among our teams and the DIRN (Disability Information Resources Network) project partners in Uzbekistan and the Russian Federation.

BENEFICIARIES
The principal beneficiaries will be people with disabilities who are members of the partner associations, associations for people with disabilities and their families – such as ARDI (Vladimir), CPC (Pskov and Moscow), ADS (Moscow), Perspektiva (Moscow), KRUG (Moscow), Aspectus (Perm) – and professionals working in the field of disability.

RESOURCES
Our team in the Russian Federation consist of 10 people, with 2 expatriates.

CONTACTS
2/1 Semyanovskaya nab
Office 711
105094 Moscow
Tel/Fax: (007095) 234 84 63 or 360 20 68
E-mail: himoscow@mtu-net.ru