30/06/2019
"Accessible Bitola, Accessible Macedonia" was the motto and theme of this year, a traditional march on Shirok Sokak, which Mobility Bitola successfully organizes every year. After the long preparation with minor obstacles, the imagined scenario of this important event was realized on June 30, 2019. Accompanying the accessibility campaign led by Mobility Macedonia, our association with its resources and helpers takes steps to achieve greater success with this significant issue. In the preparations themselves, a poster, leaflet and presentations for this event were made. All the factors in the Pelagonia, Demir Hisar and Prespa region (Bitola, Demir Hisar, Resen, Mogila and Novaci) were animated and invited, as well as the media and the non-governmental sector. Presenters at the workshop were the president of Mobility Bitola – Dr. Niko Jankov, prof. Dr. Vaska Atanasova from the Technical Faculty in Bitola and the President of Mobility Macedonia - Branimir Jovanovski, each at the level of the assignment, explaining this important issue in great detail. Among the participants there were members from almost all of the associated members of Mobility Macedonia, as well as numerous guests who additionally enriched the event.
Although all the mayors from the aforementioned regions were duly invited, only the Mayor of the Municipality of Novaci, Mr. Ljube Kuzmanovski, the President of the Council of the Municipality of Bitola, Valentin Gruevski, and the councilor Borche Korlevski were present and actively participated in the debate. Dr. Irena Ruzin, program director at the NI Institute and Museum - Bitola also took part in the discussion. There was also a noticeable presence of representatives from the Resource Center and other civil society organizations. The rest may honor us with their presence in some other occasion.
As always, the event began with the traditional march on Shirok Sokak, starting from Magnolija Square, where statements were given to the media, emphasizing the importance of accessibility for people with physical disabilities and the challenges and dynamics for solving obstacles, especially with measures that must to take power at the state and local level, as well as in raising public awareness of this issue. The goals and perspectives indicated that the government has the instruments of power in achieving the goals set forth in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which our country has ratified by force of law in 2011, together with the Optional Protocol. The introduction and implementation of legal norms are the first and most important link with political will and understanding by accepting the positive image that creates in the community. The impressive image of the march must not be an event with a single image, but a continuous series of events for which the main actors are the first people in the municipalities with their teams on this issue, which we will wholeheartedly remind and help every step of the way.
The small technical obstacles, which did not depend on the organizer, were not a problem for the second part of the event to be followed with attention from the participants and the audience, and to accept the conclusions as their own, so they will continue to be practiced in the campaign of Mobility Macedonia, which will take place in year-round.
We would like to thank all the participants at the event, especially the Mayor of the Municipality of Novaci, who is also the first responsible person from the rural municipality who accepted our commitment to accessibility, as well as the gentlemen from the Municipality of Bitola - Valentin Gruevski and Borche Korlevski - for the expressed preparedness and the determination to start and maintain the process of accessibility. Time will show how many declarative statements will be translated into works. We should also mention our strategic partners, who are constantly helping us in the realization of our ideas - MND Bitola. With this we only remind ourselves what we have done so far and what we need to do in the future. Activities continue.
