On February 26, 2015, during a meeting of the Public Council at the Fund of Social Protection of Persons with Disabilities OSF Director Ivan Sikora and policy expert Sergiy Pancyr presented the results of OSF research "The Government Support for Public Organizations for Persons with Disabilities: Monitoring and Evaluation". The majority of the members of the Public Council at the Fund of Social Protection of Persons with Disabilities took part in the expert survey and activities carried out by the Open Society Foundation in the framework of the project "Analysis of policies to support enterprises and organizations of disabled people in Ukraine: promoting equal access of NGOs to state support and provision of social services to people with disabilities", implemented by OSF with the support by the International Renaissance Foundation.
For the first time in Ukraine the proposed research provided integrated and comprehensive policy analysis of government support for public organizations for people with disabilities and its impact on ensuring the rights of persons with disabilities to participate in public life and the right to work in accordance with the international standards.
We analyzed the goals and needs of beneficiaries, the instruments of public support for the enterprises and public organizations for disabled persons, evaluated their effectiveness and equal distribution, analyzed the Polish experience of promoting the employment of disabled people and prepared the recommendations for job creation for persons with disabilities.
Today, every 18th Ukrainian lives with disabilities. The total number of people with disabilities reached 2.8 million, or 6.1% of the population. Of these more than 755 000, or nearly 27%, were employed. ILO standards provide the employment of 50% of the total number of disabled people in the country. In other words, 1.4 million of people with disabilities should be employed in Ukraine. Even if we consider the number of disabled people of working age, we still face the issue of quality of employment, efficiency and availability of state support.
Monitoring results and analysis demonstrate that the Ukrainian model of government support for the organizations of disabled people is "elitist". The availability of state support for most NGOs is questionable. Over the past 8 years (2006 to 2014) only of 23 out of 88 (26%) national organizations of people with disabilities were able to receive the assistance. At the same time, two organizations (Ukrainian Society for Blind (UkSB) and Ukrainian Society for Deaf (UkSD)) received UAH 242 million or 63% of total state support: 42% - UkSB, 21% - UkSD. The enterprises founded by these societies were granted 58% of total state support for 4 years.
Every year the same organizations get the lion's share of funds, and three-quarters of national organizations cannot access the public funding at all.
Enterprises founded by the organizations of disabled people and other businesses that receive funding to create new jobs face a similar problem. In recent years more than 50% of total funding was received by 3 to 5 enterprises, despite the fact that more than 40 companies on average were involved in support programs.
The Open Society Foundation and other stakeholders are interested in change. We are ready to cooperate to improve the efficiency of budget funds and ensure the right of persons with disabilities to participate in public life and to work in accordance with the international standards.
More information and infographics are available in the article ‘Two organizations receive 2/3 of public funding for people with disabilities’.
