Global Newsletter - May 2014

Dutch Global Campaign for Education Facebook action 2014
Kick off Seminar Series 'Leave no one behind'
Closure of the 3 year EU End Exclusion campaign
Outcome of the 11th Session of the CRPD Committee
Lobby & Advocacy (The Netherlands, EU and Post-2015)
Publications

Facebook action -

Dutch Global Campaign for Education

1 April - 30 May

This year's action week of the Dutch Global Campaign for Education focusses on a Facebook campaign to raise awareness on this year's theme 'Inclusion and rights of children with disabilities to education'.

Visit the Facebook page of the Dutch Global Campaign to like it, for inspiration and to post your ideas! You can also send stories and photos to GAW2014NL@edukans.nl, they will be posted on the facebook page. More information can be found in Dutch on the Global Campaign for Education website.

Kick off Seminar Series 'Leave no One Behind'

On the 26th of March the very first session of the Seminar Series 'Leave no one Behind' organised by the Partos working group 'Social inclusion in Economic Development' took place at the African Studies Centre in Leiden, The Netherlands.
Speakers were prof.dr. Ton Dietz (African Studies Centre) and prof.dr. Marco van Leeuwen (University Utrecht).

Next seminar session: Wednesday 7 May 2014 on Stigma & Exclusion: how to make marginalized groups visible.
Other sessions: 2 July 2014 (Inclusive Micro finance), 17 September 2014, 5 November 2014 and the 4th of March 2015
Please register with Bianca van Raaij @ b.van.raaij@lightfortheworld.nl
Goal of the Seminar Series is to facilitate an open debate and learning environment about inclusive development, examine how excluded groups (such as elderly, persons with disabilities, ethnic minorities) can be reached in mainstream development and economic initiatives, identify practical tools and methods.

Closure of the End Exclusion campaign

End Exclusion "Let’s enable the Millennium Development Goals”, the 3-year-EU-project implemented by LIGHT FOR THE WORLD, eRCo and DCDD, gave young Europeans the chance to experience inclusion and to speak out for the rights of persons with disabilities. 20.000 young people participated in 11 inclusive music and sports events in four countries. A total of 140.000 people were reached.

All the partners and guests celebrated the closing of this EU funded project with a conference in the European parliament in Brussels March 20th. Read the press release here.

Twitter

Website

Agenda

Dutch Global Campaign for Education Facebook action (1 April- 31 May) www.facebook.com/GAW2014NL
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UN meetings in preparation of the Post 2015 development agenda:

21/22 May - High-Level Event of the General Assembly “Contributions of North-South, South-South, Triangular Cooperation, and ICT for Development to the implementation of the Post-2015 Development Agenda”
9/10 June - High-Level Event of the General Assembly “Contributions of Human Rights and the Rule of Law in the Post-2015 Development Agenda”

Courses

June 30th - July 25th 2014 Summer School Disability & Development in Indonesia.
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15-26 September: a new course on Monitoring and Evaluation directed at managers, policy makers and evaluators to equip them with the required competencies to monitor and evaluate programs. The course will be held in Nepal by Enablement.
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6-17 October: Managers, policy makers and Government officials will benefit from the Management and Leadership course for the purpose of planning, managing, evaluating and scaling up CBR programs. This course will be conducted by Enablement in Leiderdorp, The Netherlands.
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3-13 November: ALERT Ethiopia will host the International CBR Course by Enablement. This 2-week introduction course in Community Based Rehabilitation, which is seen as an important strategy for inclusive development. It is a valuable resource for a broad spectrum of professionals with an interest in disability and development.

11th session of the Committee on the CRPD

31 March - 11 April 2014

The beginning of April the Eleventh Session of the CRPD Committee was held. General comments to the UN-CRPD were adopted in which the CRPD committee provides extra explanation and interpretation of the articles in their view. Read the adopted comments here.

Below you find an important comment (nr 47 page 13) related to article 32 on International Development:
International cooperation, as described in article 32 of the Convention, should be a significant tool in the promotion of accessibility and universal design. The Committee recommends international development agencies to recognize the significance of supporting projects improving ICT and other access infrastructure. All new investments made within the framework of international cooperation should be used to encourage the removal of existing barriers and prevent the creation of new barriers. It is unacceptable to use public funds to perpetuate new inequalities. All new objects, infrastructure, facilities, goods, products and services must be fully accessible for all persons with disabilities. International cooperation should be used not merely to invest in accessible goods, products and services, but also to foster the exchange of know-how and information on good practice in achieving accessibility in ways that will make tangible changes that can improve the lives of millions of persons with disabilities worldwide. International cooperation on standardization is also important, as is the fact that organizations of persons with disabilities must be supported so that they can participate in national and international processes to develop, implement and monitor accessibility standards. Accessibility must be integral part of any sustainable development efforts, especially in the context of the Post- 2015 Agenda.

Lobby & Advocacy update

EU policy & IDDC EU taskgroup

The IDDC EU taskgroup developed an EU election statement 'Putting People First - The European Union acting to strengthen the voice of Persons with Disabilities globally' for the upcoming EU elections May 2014. You can find an updated list of Member of the European Parliament (MEP)who have signed here. if you know any MEP please send them the election statement and ask them to sign. You can forward signed pledges to Francois Carbonez f.carbonez@licht-fuer-die-welt.at.

The Report of the European Union to the CRPD committee is a year overdue. Therefore the European Disability Forum (EDF) is currently writing their own shadow report on the EU implementation of the CRPD and IDDC agreed to contribute on articles 11 (humanitarian aid) and 32 (international development) which can only take up maximum half a page. Therefore IDDC decided to also write a separate EU Shadow Report on the CRPD articles 11 and 32. It is crucial that input will be given by both IDDC members and non members in the EU donor countries on current EU development initiatives and to which extent these include persons with disabilities. Preparations are being made by and more information will follow soon.

Post 2015 development agenda

The Open Working Group (OWG) on Sustainable Development Goals conducted a total of eight thematic discussions from March 2013 to February 2014. The Open Working Group concluded its thematic discussions and the Co-Chairs produced a report on the next steps. The Co-Chairs identified 19 focus areas and seven focus areas have referenced persons with disabilities and nearly all focus areas include accessibility. IDDC and IDA produced a joint analysis report on the report that you can read here. The focus areas will be used in further negotiations from early March until July 2014 in the creation of approximately 10 goals.

Policy briefs and input notes by International Disability and Development Consortium (IDDC) and International Disability Alliance (IDA)
- I nputs for the PGA Thematic Debate on “Water, Sanitation and Sustainable Energy in the Post-2015 Development Agenda”. 18-19 February 2014
- Input for the PGA High-Level Event on Contributions of women, the young and civil society. 6-7 March 2014
- Disability and Inequality in the Sustainable Development process. Briefing Paper for the Open Working Group Session on Promoting Equality – 5th of February 2014

The World We Want 2015 Consultation process on 'Participatory monitoring & accountability. This particular consultation is being co-convened by UNICEF, UN Women and UNDG with the support of the Governments of Canada, Peru and the Republic of Korea. The issue of participation and participatory monitoring has tremendous implications for traditionally marginalized groups such as persons with disabilities. In a truly participatory development strategy, persons with disabilities would get to decide their own fate, report about their own experiences and use their considerable knowledge to better their situations. It is important to ensure a significant contribution from persons with disabilities in this consultation. Please take action and look on www.theworldwewant2015.org

Political debate in The Netherlands

The debate within the parliament on the inclusion and rights of persons with disabilities in development continues and parliamentary questions are regularly posed. Preparatory steps have been taking regarding the process of ratification The government has proposed two laws to the Parliament in preparation of the ratification of the UN-CRPD. It is to be expected they will be handled before the summer and most likely ratification will happen beginning of 2015. At the same time DCDD is still in close contact with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on inclusion of persons with disabilities in their policy framework.

Publications

Fact sheets from the End Exclusion Campaign:

A selection of publications from the recent AskSource newsletter (February 2014):

Relevance of CBR and inclusive development in post-2015 development agenda THOMAS, Maya, NINOMIYA, Akiie, Bangkok, Asia-Pacific Development Center on Disability, [No date]
Disability prevalence among adults : estimates for 54 countries and progress towards a global estimate MITRA, Sophie, SAMBAMOORTHI, Usha, Rochester, USA, Social Science Electronic Publishing, Inc, July 2013
A66/12 Disability WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO), Geneva, WHO, March 2013
Disability, poverty, and livelihoods guide : guidance from Trickle Up SANSON, Jo, FELIX, Michael, New York, Trickle Up, November 2013
Accessible elections for persons with disabilities in five Southeast Asian countries THE CENTER FOR ELECTION ACCESS OF CITIZENS WITH DISABILITIES (PPUA Penca), GENERAL ELECTION NETWORK FOR DISABILITY ACCESS (AGENDA), Jakarta, Indonesia, IFES Indonesia, 2013
Inclusive nutrition for children and adults with disabilities GROCE, Nora, et al, Philadelphia, Elsevier Ltd, October 2013
Sustaining human development : addressing NCDs and disability across the lifecourse THE NCD ALLIANCE, et al, Geneva, The NCD Alliance, 2013
Inequalities : ageing and disability in the post-2015 development agenda OVERSEAS DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE (ODI), London, ODI, April 2013
DRR factsheet UNITED NATIONS OFFICE DISASTER RISK REDUCTION (UNISDR), UNITED NATIONS ENABLE, Geneva, UNISDR, October 2013
Armed violence and disability : the untold story THAPA, Rashmi, THALER, Kai, Brussels, Handicap International, 2012
Wheelchair service training package : intermediate level (WSTP-I) KHASNABIS, Chapal, MINES, Kylie, Eds, Geneva, World Health Organization, 2013
The ICT opportunity for a disability-inclusive development framework INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS UNION, Geneva, International Telecommunications Union, September 2013
Project : ¨Right to Choose¨|Manual for best practices and lessons learned|Inclusion of people with disabilities in the electoral and political processes of the Dominican Republic, 2012-2013 IBERO-AMERICAN NETWORK OF ORGANIZATIONS OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC (LA RED), INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATIOIN FOR ELECTORAL SYSTEMS (IFES), Eds, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, La Red, 2013
As long as they let us stay in class : barriers to education for persons with disabilities in China HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH, New York, Human Rights Watch, July 2013
Maternal and new-born care practices among disabled women, and their attendance in community groups in rural Makwanpur, Nepal LEONARD CHESHIRE DISABILITY AND INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT CENTRE, London, Leonard Cheshire Disability and Inclusive Development Centre, [2013]
Making rights a reality : young voices on the UN convention of the rights of persons with disabilities LEONARD CHESHIRE DISABILITY YOUNG VOICES, London, Leonard Cheshire Disability, November 2013
A deeper silence : the unheard experiences of women with disabilities : sexual and reproductive health and violence against women in Kiribati, Solomon Islands and Tonga SPRATT, Joanna, Suva, Fiji, United Nations Population Fund Pacific Sub-Regional Office, March 2013
International perspectives on spinal cord injury BICKENBACH, Jerome, Eds, et al, Geneva, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO), 2013
Include us! : a study of disability among Plan International's sponsored children PLAN INTERNATIONAL, London, Plan International, December 2013
What are the impacts of approaches to increase the accessibility to education for people with a disability across developed and developing countries and what is known about the cost-effectiveness of different approaches? BAKHSHI, Parul, KETT, Maria, OLIVER, Kathryn, London, EPPI-Centre, Social Science Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London, June 2013
CRPD advocacy by the world network of users and survivors of psychiatry : the emergence of a user/survivor perspective in human rights MINKOVITZ, Tina, Rochester, USA, Social Science Research Network (SSRN), August 2012
Guidance note on disability and emergency risk management for health WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO), et al, Geneva, WHO, 2012
Community-based rehabilitation : promoting ear and hearing care through CBR WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO), Geneva, WHO, 2012
Making inclusion a reality in development organisations : a manual for advisors in disability mainstreaming INTERNATIONAL DISABILITY AND DEVELOPMENT CONSORTIUM (IDDC), Ed, Brussels, IDDC, 2012
Signs for a good education HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH, New York, Human Rights Watch, October 2013