The project “Social entrepreneurship of people with intellectual disabilities in the area of the Municipality of Tuzla” is financially supported by the Municipality of Tuzlaž
The idea was to ensure the sustainability of the new model of caring for people with mental disabilities in the local environment, which was established in 2000 by the Agreement on financing accommodation services for people with mental disabilities by the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy of the Government of Tuzla Canton. Within the framework of the model, social entrepreneurship was registered and the activity expanded to the production and sale of agricultural products.
The project “Social entrepreneurship of persons with intellectual disabilities in the area of Tuzla Municipality” provided support for social entrepreneurship of persons with intellectual disabilities in the area of the City of Tuzla. Improvement of the social inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities through work placement was enabled, which ensured the continuity of the started process of institutionalization prevention through raising social competence. There is increased involvement in the community; improved interpersonal relations, realized right to individual access, exercise of choice and control. The ultimate goal is to improve personal independence and productivity, greater participation in the community as well as improving the quality of life.
The citizens of Tuzla became familiar with the possibilities of people with intellectual disabilities through a public demonstration and sale of products. About 5,000 kg of fruits and vegetables were produced and sold.
The activities are aimed at educating 40 people with intellectual disabilities and training them for: production and sale of organic food and employment; Navigating the social environment (use of public transport, orientation in the city); Training in the acquisition of skills needed for employment (acquiring, learning and using business skills, contacting and talking to other people, seeking information and providing assistance).
Human development, learning and education, life at home, life in the community, employment-work engagement, health and safety, behavior, sociability, protection and self-advocacy are enabled by the employment of persons with intellectual disabilities in the local community. By focusing on support as a way of improving education, employment, recreation and the living environment, an approach has been improved in which the person with intellectual disabilities is at the center of the process, which provides the entire support system.
Activities
All activities were carried out on the property of the Association, which is located in the Trakilovići neighborhood near Požarnica.
An assessment of the individual abilities of persons with intellectual disabilities was carried out, which served to create individual work programs and determined work activities and provided support for each user.
User education was carried out in several stages:
The first phase related to the preparation of educational material suitable for people with intellectual disabilities (various types of vegetables, appearance of vegetables, advantages of vegetables in a healthy diet, preparation of vegetables for food, preparation of winter storage, storage)
Within the second phase, 6 workshops were held:
Workshop on organic food production,
Workshop on land preparation
Workshop on work clothes and shoes
Workshop on planting seeds, production and procurement of planting material, and planting, watering, weeding, hoeing;
Workshop on picking vegetables,
Workshop on selling vegetables.
The third phase was carried out with the sale of vegetables through a public event and promotion of organic food production, which was organized within the Day Center in Slovinovići, where citizens bought our products, received promotional material, could talk to members of the professional support team and, if desired, could fill out a survey on attitudes. according to the capabilities of people with intellectual disabilities. From the conversations with the citizens, it was possible to see that prejudices and negative attitudes regarding the possibilities of these people are changing significantly.