A student's project from VSMU achieved a double victory in the final of "100 Ideas for Belarus"
A correspondent for "Vitebskiye Vesti" met with Svetlana Nadzhafova, a 6th-year medical university student, who celebrated a double triumph. The project "All Inclusive" won the republican competition "100 Ideas for Belarus" and also took first place in the "Best Online Project" nomination.
Svetlana Nadzhafova (right) with project co-author Kristina Volodko.
The project aims to integrate people with disabilities and the rest of the population. It involves the VSMU Volunteer Council, the university's Department of Medical Rehabilitation and Physical Education, the public association "Republican Association of Wheelchair Users" (RAIK), the Territorial Center for Social Services for the Population of Pervomaysky District of Vitebsk, and the Vitebsk Boarding House for the Elderly and Disabled.
– Once, I and several other students from the medical university attended an active rehabilitation event for wheelchair users organized by RAIC, – Svetlana shared. – We wanted to get involved in this activity. We promote the ideas of active rehabilitation and an accessible environment, conduct joint training sessions on medical and social rehabilitation and safe escorting, and try to involve wheelchair users in projects, for example, in the initiative of the Pervomaisky District Social Services Center "Freedom in Motion" for the development of wheelchair dancing. We organize and conduct "Accessible!" campaigns, assist in holding events, and highlight integration issues in the media, social networks, conferences, and round tables.
The idea that the students proposed at the competition is the creation of a unified republican registry of people who use wheelchairs. This will allow us to see the overall picture of a specific person's quality of life and reflect their needs, so that healthcare, social services, and public associations can begin active comprehensive work at an early stage.
Svetlana is a person with an active life stance. She is the chairperson of the university's volunteer council, the head of the "Sanatorium at Home" and "All Inclusive" projects, and the head of the student scientific club of the Department of Medical Rehabilitation and Physical Education.
– Did our expectations come true? We couldn't even imagine achieving a double victory! Of course, we prepared, took into account all the remarks and suggestions from experts at previous stages, and set ourselves up for a positive outcome. But to win in two nominations at once – we never even thought of that. I want to thank my team: our cohesion, desire to be useful, creative attitude, and responsible approach – all this brought us victory. And for the victory in the online voting, we are grateful to everyone who voted for our project. This means we are doing a truly useful job. We will move forward, implementing new ideas, – noted Svetlana Nadzhafova.
We would also like to highlight the project of Mikhail Dirko, a student from Secondary School No. 2 in Novolukoml – "Know Your Region." This is a mobile application dedicated to the Year of Small Motherlands.
Mikhail said that there is no information about many attractions of his small homeland even in specialized directories. This is how the desire to create an application arose, with the help of which everyone can get acquainted with unique objects. The program has maps and a navigator that will help build an optimal route.
The application is already publicly available on the Play Market service, and anyone can download it for free. The application will be further developed, and in the near future it will appear in Russian and English.