table of contents - home page - text-only home page International Conference of the Dutch Coalition on Disability and Development Planned for September 2001 Proposed title: Facilitating empowerment of people with disabilities in developing countries Introduction: Every day people are born disabled or become disabled due to diseases, accidents and situations of war. The adverse results of disability fall most heavily on people in the poorest sections of society. They have the least financial resources with which to purchase therapies and equipment or to adapt their environment; and who may also have less time to care for one another, as they are obliged to work long hours at poorly paid work in order to afford the bare necessities of life. A substantial number of people (5-10 %) in developing countries live with some kind of serious disability that affects their access to formal education, adequate healthcare, income and social life. The understanding of disability by people with disabilities themselves, their family and society at large is foremost negative. People with disabilities often have a low self-esteem and this is enforced by underestimation of their capacities by their environment. They are not well organized and have no or limited influence on the policy makers who decide about special services and accessibility of public services and facilities. Issues of disabilities do not get high priority in structural programs that address human rights and poverty alleviation whereas the effects of disability weigh most heavily on the poor. The Dutch Coalition on Disability and Development (DCDD) was established in April 2000 by a group of disability & development experts from the Netherlands. The DCDD is concerned about the apparent declining interest in the Netherlands for disability-issues in developing countries and the predominance of the "charity" view of disability. The DCDD is a young movement in the Netherlands uniting forces of three groups: the disability movement, the service providers and the development agencies. By this tri-partite cooperation, the DCDD aims to evoke debate and interest with policymakers in the development agencies to promote equal rights and access to public services as well as special services for people with disabilities in collaboration with disability & rehabilitation experts. To achieve this mission successfully the DCDD promotes equal membership and co-operation between the disability movement, service providers and development agencies in the Netherlands. For this purpose the DCDD undertakes several kind of activities together with its natural partners in developing countries. As one of its activities the DCDD plans to organise a Conference about the "Empowerment of People with Disabilities in Developing Countries" in 2001, tentatively planned for September. General objective: To promote a critical forum for debate and co-operation between the disability movement, service providers and development NGOs regarding the empowerment of people with disabilities in developing countries Specific objectives: to clarify the position of people with disabilities in developing countries from the perspectives of disability activists, service providers for people with disabilities and Northern NGOs working for poverty alleviation in developing countries, to highlight the opportunities and bottlenecks of alliances between likeminded movements and organizations in the Netherlands and in developing countries, to explore the common interests between the disability movement, service providers and development NGOs for a structural approach of disability to address poverty and exclusion of people with disabilities in developing countries, to discuss the results and barriers of development NGOs to reach people with disabilities as poorest of the poor in their country programs, to present a Joint Plan of Action by the participants and a Request for Action to the Dutch authorities to promote empowerment of people with disabilities in developing countries. Targeted Outcomes: Members and Partners of DCDD will have: enlarged their understanding about the situation of people with disabilities in developing countries based on a variety of evidence, initiated plans and projects with counterparts to improve the situation of people with disabilities, jointly drafted a Memorandum and Plan of Action to promote the position of people with disabilities in developing countries, committed themselves to further the Plan of Action in the policy and working strategy of their respective organization, joined hands to activate the interest for disability as a structural development issue at high policy making levels. International NGOs and Policymakers will have: gained understanding about the link between disability and poverty, examined the overlap between disability and human rights, gender and disaster mitigation issues, expressed their interest in the disability issue and will work upon awareness raising and policy adjustment with their respective constituency. Media will have: informed stakeholders and a wide audience about the content and objective of the conference, raised curiosity about the issue among new complementary organizations and movements, internationally inserted the issue from the DCDD website, message board and other interactive media. Profile of Participants: constituency of the DCDD: disability movement, service providers and development agencies in the Netherlands key persons in the field of disability and development international advisory body of the DCDD: renowned disability activists in Africa, Asia and Central America international partners of the DCDD involved in the disability movement, rehabilitation, and inclusion of people with disabilities in general programs Dutch Government and Parliament: ministers of OS & VWS; party specialists and members of Parliamentary commission involved in international affairs/human rights/social diversity European parliament: influential members of parliament with responsibilities and/or interests in international affairs/human rights/social diversity International NGOs involved in adjoining issues like human rights, gender issues, landmines Representatives of organisations that support the work of DCDD Number of Participants: To enable active sharing, informal networking and real commitment to implement a Plan of Action the amount of participants will be limited. The conference will be open to 100-150 participants according to the profile mentioned above. At least 30% will be made up of experts from developing countries and at least 20% of leaders with disabilities to achieve optimal influence from the stakeholders in the field. In order to enable optimal access and participation for people with disabilities and partner-organizations of the DCDD in developing countries the conference plans to interlink the venue with a number of platforms in developing countries by using modern media and technology. Planning of the activities: To enable efficient use of time for the members of the international advisory body of the DCDD the program will be split up in three components: strategic planning meeting for DCDD: DCDD board & staff with the International Advisory Body, international conference, DCDD lobby tour: DCDD chairman, coordinator & members of the International Advisory Body. The outcome of the strategic planning will be incorporated in the final Plan of Action for the conference Draft Agenda: Day 1 (closed session for members of the International Advisory Body and Board of DCDD) Meeting of the International Advisory Body (agenda to be made by the Board of DCDD) Day 2 (open sessions for all three groups of participants) 10.30 Opening 10.45 Introduction The need for DCDD "standard rules" Recent developments in issues like community & handicap, empowerment, outcome based community work etc. in industrialised and developing countries Discussion / interaction with the participants 11.30 The position of people with disabilities in developing countries Presentation by one of the disability activists in a developing country Suggested issues: What is done already? How do people with disabilities in developing countries realise their objectives? What can be learned from experiences in developing and industrialised countries? Does help help or does help introduce alien elements in the development process? How can people with disabilities in industrialised countries help people in developing countries? How does gender affect ones position? Voting on statements by the participants and reactions from the floor Or: "Sale" of outdated ideas, worn out models, bad fitting concepts etc. 12.30 lunch 14.00 Perspectives of the Dutch Disability Movement on the position of people with disabilities in developing countries Suggested issues: marginalized position of people with disabilities poverty-illness-disability cycle myths in disability issues empowerment common developments in the Netherlands and developing countries 15.00 Perspectives of the Dutch Development agencies and support organisations Suggested issues: Roles and opportunities of the Dutch support organisations to contribute to empowerment of organisations and people with disabilities in developing countries Limited/one-issue programmes vs. broad development programmes Priority setting and decision making by organisations in developing countries The Western idea of independence vs. local ideas Manpower development Disability check in the evaluation of programmes 16.00 tea break 16.30 Perspective on the position of people with disabilities in developing countries by organisations that provide services for people with disabilities and educational institutions in The Netherlands Suggested issues: the impact of direct contacts, often on a personal basis, and support on a small scale to organisations in developing countries the relation of these small scale projects and structural development quality of small scale projects 17.30 Closure remarks 17.45 End of second day 18.30 Dinner 20.00 Informal meetings, poster sessions, presentations by participants from developing countries, party Day 3   9.30 Case study / Best Practices on co-operation of comparable groups in developing countries Suggested issues: who took the initiative to work together? what problem was formulated? critical success factors what problems could not be solved? is the programme interesting for policy makers? is the programme incorporated in structural development programmes? 10.30 Summary of message board and statements Participants join by voting on different statements Discussion between invited people about the issues and possibility to re-vote on discussed statements Participation of people in developing countries possible using internet / tele-conferencing (Alternative: Auction of new ideas and concepts) 11.30 coffee break 12.00 Ideas: workshops Cabaret 13.00 Lunch 14.00 Dutch government policy: The position of people with disabilities in developing countries in development programmes 14.45 Action Plan DCDD Formulation and ratification of a Plan of Action by the participants of the seminar promoting the position of people with disabilities on the political development agenda in the Netherlands. The Plan of Action will follow-up the objectives and outcome of the seminar, will state the commitment of the participants to further the agreement in their own organization and network, will specify the arrangements made to monitor the progress of the implementation of the Plan of Action within a jointly agreed timeframe. # text needs to be prepared on forehand and to be discussed and "polished" during the conference # 16.00 Closing remarks List of Abbreviations: DCDD Dutch Coalition on Disability and Development NGO Non-Governmental Organisation table of contents - home page - text-only home page