"Equal opportunities are not a privilege, but a right for everyone. Worldwide, more than a billion people continue to face barriers — both obvious and hidden — in education, healthcare, employment, transportation, the digital environment, and public life. These barriers do not arise from disability itself, but from systems and attitudes that do not take into account human dignity and potential. The task of UNDP is to help countries remove these barriers," said Armen Martirosyan, UNDP’s Deputy Resident Representative in Belarus, at the opening of the Forum.

12 new jobs have been created, including for people with disabilities;

• Inclusive platforms for training in modern digital skills, such as reverse engineering (3D scanning) and animation, are now operating in Luninets and Grodno;

• Children and teenagers in Bobruisk and Gorki are learning robotics and precision farming in specially equipped classrooms;

• The production of polyurethane wheelchair tires has launched in Mozyr, alongside the country's first inclusive coffee training center;

• The Braslav region has become accessible to tourists in wheelchairs, with three new inclusive routes and a barrier-free environment at the Drivyaty recreation center and the Braslav town beach.

Over 500,000 people with disabilities live in Belarus. According to the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences, the experience of disability touches more than half of Belarusians through their relatives or colleagues, which makes inclusion a shared responsibility.

The Forum was attended by public organizations representing the interests of people with disabilities, government agencies, international organizations, and private sector.

The Forum was organized by UNDP Belarus as part of the joint project “Support to the Efforts of the Republic of Belarus in Nationalization and Localization of SDGs,” with financial support from the Russian Federation.

Photography: Uladzimir Churnosov / UNDP in Belarus