Ipra Golden World Contribution Award for the United Nations Global Goal for Sustainable Development No. 10 Reduction of Inequality, handed to in Vienna. Svetlana Stavreva, former president and today a member of the board of IPRA (International Public Relations Association), awarded the director of the Apriori World agency, Danijel Koletić, in Vienna.
In 2020, IPRA named the Apriori World project “Soaps with Dots”, which has been working on PRO BONO for the Association of the Blind Zagreb for seven years, the Global Project of the Year, which is in line with the global goal of sustainable development 10, reducing inequality.
In this social entrepreneurship project, blind and partially sighted people produce soaps in Braille, which are bought by various companies, institutions, associations, with the aim of promoting social entrepreneurship, but also the inclusion of people with disabilities in community work. As announced last year, the company has also started producing liquid soaps as an upgrade. Also, September 29 marks one year since the start of production of liquid soaps. The project initially employed two people with disabilities, today 4, and the plan is to hire as many more next year. Liquid soaps, available on the market under the name “Touch of Nature”, also contain disinfectants. This unique project in the world is being prepared to be offered to other Associations of the Blind and Visually Impaired from next year.
On the occasion of the award ceremony, the director of the Apriori World agency, Danijel Koletić, stated: “I am happy to have received the award in person. This award is binding, motivating, but also inspiring. I believe that if you want, every man on this planet can take some time to volunteer. Corporations and certain organizations do this as part of their internal programs, but we still lack greater sensitivity to people with disabilities. Especially in the digital age, which, apart from disability, unfortunately becomes uninformed because there are no laws that oblige all institutions and companies that provide basic services such as public transport, purchase tickets for various events, and even schools, kindergartens and colleges to program their websites according to WCAG standard (Web content accessibility guidelines) so I believe that will change soon. It is unfortunate for me that this has not already become the standard. The European Union has adopted a directive on this, but unfortunately it is insufficiently applied, not only within the European Community, but also outside it. ”
The “Dots Soaps” project aims to share the acquired practical knowledge in creating production with other Associations of the Blind from the middle of next year in order to open opportunities for self-sustainable development in the employment of people with disabilities.