Center for pervasive developmental disorders “Levania” ” is a non-profit organization registered in the Republic of Belarus in 2014.
The founders of the center are Inga Dubinina and Alexey Konstantinov.
Our vision
We believe that education is one of the most important value and is a fundamental human right as well as it is the basis for society development and welfare.
We consider inclusive education to be the most effective way to provide modern education of the highest quality.
We see inclusive education as the best way to raise awareness and to eliminate prejudices, myths and outdated norms of society.
We seek to establish an inclusive educational environment based on the following principles:
- justice, equality and accessibility for everyone
- individualization
- innovativeness and openness
Our theory of change
Discriminative attitude exists mainly due to the lack of awareness, knowledge and adequate tools as well miscommunication between the key stakeholders and actors. We aim to affect the current situation through:
- increase in stakeholders’ awareness and ability to consider multiple perspectives and needs
- provision of the educational institutions of all levels with proper inclusive setting (approach, methods and tools)
- creation a center of competence and experience-sharing as a basic communication infrastructure
- establishment of pilot sites for the innovative models and approaches
Following the rights-based approach, we aim to raise awareness and thus to affect the behavior of the key rights holders (in our case these are families and children with disabilities). On the other hand, we strive to cooperate with state institutions, as a duty bears of these rights, in terms of development and implementation of modern, efficient and comprehensive approaches to the inclusive agenda. We also work to support communication between these two groups of stakeholders.
There are four levels at which we can interact with the educational environment:
- the level of the individual child
- the level of family and community
- the level of educational services: schools, universities, and other educational settings
- the level of society: national policy and legislation, cultural and social norms
Our strategic priorities for the period January 2016 till June 2017
Key Priority # 1 (at the level of educational services):
Development, promotion and support of inclusive practices in educational institutions.
Objective: Complete the inclusive education service pack, launch the experimental pilot sites, implementing a comprehensive, rights-based approach to learning and education in contemporary forms. Offer consultancy and inclusive education service, addressing requests from any level (municipal, local community, particular institution: school, university, club, theater, sports section and so on.)
Key Priority # 2 (at the level of educational services):
Creation of the center of competence and experience-sharing dealing with the issues of educational content, its modern forms and approaches. Promotion of mindfulness and embodiment practices among children, teachers and parents.
Objective: Launch an educational hub, aimed at studying and implementing innovative approaches and models in education. Integrate into international projects and experience-sharing networks. Deliver projects to integrate mindfulness and embodiment practices in educational institutions.
Key Priority # 3 (at the level of society: national policy, legislation, culture and norms)
Promotion of the inclusive agenda into national educational policy, legislation and social practices.
Objective: Contribute to the development of national legislation in compliance with rights-based approach and practices.
Key Priority # 4 (at the level of the individual child and family):
Promotion of the innovative methods and practices of rehabilitation for children with neurological disorders; family support.
Objective: Develop and promote MoveTeam project. Launch the parent support club.