Learning to Recognize and Prevent Discrimination in Vinnytsia Region

At the beginning of 2021, the team of NGO “Unique Country” created information materials to help civil servants and local government employees in Vinnytsia Region recognize discrimination and prevent its manifestations in decision-making processes.

For us, this topic is an important part of our work in the field of human rights, democratic governance and responsible interaction between authorities and citizens. Decisions made at the local level should affect people fairly, without prejudice and without restricting access to services or opportunities on the basis of characteristics that should never be grounds for unequal treatment.

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Who the materials were created for

The information materials were prepared for people who, in their daily work, interact with community residents, make administrative decisions, provide services or work in public-sector institutions.

They are designed to help people better understand:

• what discrimination is and how it can manifest itself in practice;
• why it is important to take the principle of equality into account when making decisions;
• how to prevent biased or unequal treatment of people;
• what role public officials and institutional staff play in protecting human rights.

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Distribution across Vinnytsia Region

The materials were distributed to more than 270 public-sector institutions in Vinnytsia Region.

In particular, they were received by:

• city, settlement and village councils;
• cultural institutions;
• educational institutions;
• administrative service centres;
• shelters for people affected by domestic violence or gender-based violence;
• offices of public officials who receive citizens.

This broad distribution made it possible to share basic knowledge about non-discrimination with specialists and institutional staff who work with people every day and can influence the quality, accessibility and fairness of services in communities.

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Why this matters

Preventing discrimination begins with the ability to recognize it. Sometimes unequal treatment may not be obvious or may look like a “common practice”, but such situations often create barriers for people in accessing assistance, services, information or participation in community life.

The information materials help draw attention to these risks and support a more attentive, rights-based and human approach in the work of civil servants, local government bodies and public-sector institutions.

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Partnership and support

The project “Learn to Discern: Media Literacy” is implemented by the International Research & Exchanges Board IREX with the support of the Embassies of the United Kingdom and the United States of America.