InterAmerican Development Bank Opens Dialogue on Social & Economic Inclusion of People with Disabilities
By Rosangela Berman-Bieler (iidisab@aol.com)
On March 16 the InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB) held a dialogue among political and community leaders, representatives of the private sector and the media, and specialists to raise awareness on the importance of adopting policies that include persons with disabilities in economic and social life. This important IDB initiative in the disability field was organized within its annual meeting in Santiago, Chile.
The "Dialogue on Development and Inclusion: Opportunities for People with Disabilities" focused on two main fronts: education and the labor market; and transportation, infrastructure and urban design. The initiative also called for new studies and reports on the magnitude of the problem and best practices and most effective projects.
The purpose of the Dialogue was to: (1) draw the attention of Latin American and Caribbean leaders and decision-makers to the benefits of investing in persons with disabilities; (2) discuss best practices in the areas of education and labor, and urban access and transport; (3) emphasize the importance of collaboration between the public and private sectors; and, (4) increase the Bank's role in the process of opening opportunities by identifying where its lending and non-lending vehicles could be utilised.
The event was attended by over 500 persons representing governments and civil society organisations from all over the Latin-American Region.
This was the second event on disabilities organized by the Bank. The first one was held in 1997, at the IDB Headquarters in Washington DC, for an audience of around 100 people. The meeting looked at the inclusion of persons with disability in labor markets in Central America. That meeting was co-sponsored by the Government of Canada.
The dialogue launched by the IDB and cosponsored by the governments of Canada and Finland is consistent with the efforts by the Bank and Latin America to promote social inclusion prior to the United Nations World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance, to be held in South Africa in August 2001.
The Inter-American Institute on Disability (IID), through its headquarters located in Washington, DC, was the main consultant for the initiative of the IDB in Chile. (See related activities at www.iidisability.org).
Considerations for Cooperation
Although the need to take steps for inclusion of the nearly 10 percent of the population of Latin America and the Caribbean that has some form of disability has been widely recognized in the context of human rights, the economic and social benefits have received less attention.
"Development programs in such areas as infrastructure, city planning, housing, transportation, information technology, and education and training offer key opportunities to address access for persons with disabilities," noted Mayra Buvinic, chief of the IDB Social Development Division.
"Disability should be a public policy issue about mainstreaming this population in education and the labor market," said Buvinic. "We therefore need specific, accurate census data on disability. It is also important to note that the countries can gain major benefits by expanding opportunities for disabled people but incur high costs if they don't."
The IDB intends to intensify the process of creating new opportunities through the utilization of financial and non-financial mechanisms, and the Bank will also encourage alliances between the private and public sectors.
Program
The March Dialogue included presentations on the benefits of investing in disabled persons and was divided into two roundtables:
Roundtable I: Strategies to Expand Access to Education and Labour Markets. This dialogue explored the role of public policy and included presentations on initiatives to expand access to people with disabilities in education and the labor market.
The Panelists for this session were: Patrick Worth, Founder, People First, Canadá; Rafael de Lorenzo, Vice-president, Fundación ONCE, Spain; Liisa Kauppinen, President, World Federation of the Deaf, Finland; Decio Goldfarv, President Fundación Teletón, Brazil; Robert Metts, Economist, Institute for Disability Research, USA; Gilberto Rincón Gallardo, Coordinator, Comisión Ciudadana de Estudios contra la Discriminación, México.
Roundtable II: Strategies to Improve Accessibility for Infrastructure and Urban Design Projects. This session explored how to expand access to people with disabilities in urban environment, urban transportation, communications, and the internet, highlighting the role of public policy.
The Panelists for this session were: Eduardo Alvarez, Arquitect, Instituto Uruguayo de Normas Técnicas, Uruguay; The Hon. Billie Miller, Deputy Prime Minister, Barbados; Tom Rickert, Executive Director, Access Exchange International, USA; Francisco Ortíz-Chaparro, Representative, Telefónica de España, Spain; Lucy Wong Hernandez, Executive Director, Disabled People's International, USA; Paulina Cavada, Arquitect, Universidad de Chile, Departamento de Planta Física, Chile.
IDB President committed to the cause
During his speech at the closing ceremony of the Dialogue, IDB President Enrique Iglesias noted that the event helped raise awareness on the situation and needs of people with disabilities in the Region.
He said that the Bank is now committed to the inclusion of people with disabilities in social and economic development and affirmed that "inclusion is a synonym for equality."
President Iglesias reported that the IDB had spent more than $400 millon for projects related to urban access and transportation under the principles of universal design in Curitiba, Brazil, which is considered among the best practices in the international community. Also, the IDB has donated more than $2.5 millions to technical cooperation related to disability.
He noted that the Bank has to do much more and that the Dialogue had helped to determine priorities, provide an exchange of experiences among experts and identified new initiatives where the Bank's technical and financial contributions can generate a more significant impact.
Lack of Information
One of the key problems identified during the process of organizing the Dialogue was the lack of information and data on disability issues in Latin America. How many disabled persons in the region, what kind of disabilities, their level of education and employment--these are just some of the necessary data to identify, analyse and plan for the development of programs in the field.
The IDB President noted that for education, issues related to access and inclusion will be focal points and that the Bank will finance programs in this area and will reinforce such concepts in the dialogue with country members.
And, recognizing the great impact that technology can have in the lives of disabled people, he said that the Bank will work to ensure that the needs of individuals with disabilities are included in all its projects related to information technology.
New alliances: launching ORITEL
The final session of the meeting was presided over by Chile's First Lady Luis Durán de Lagos, IDB President Enrique V. Iglesias, and Mario Kreutzberger, television host and director of the International Associaton of Telethon Organizers (Organización Internacional de Instituciones Teletón--ORITEL).
President Iglesias and Kreutzberger signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation to jointly explore possibilities to promote the expansion and strengthening of those institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean that assist persons with disabilities.
ORITEL is an organization founded by the popular Chilean television personality Don Francisco, who through annual marathon programs known as Teletones has raised contributions to provide rehabilitation services to children with disabilities. The program, founded in Chile, has been extended to 10 countries of the region.
New Video on Disability Issues and other products
The video "Construyendo con todos: Discapacidad y desarrollo en América Latina y el Caribe" (Building for All: Disabilities and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean) was shown on the final day of the dialogue. It was produced by the Bank and the television crew of Teletón in Chile to raise the awareness of governments, communities, the private sector, and civil society to promote discussion and action.
The documentary contains messages from personalities, including actor Christopher Reeves and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, who describes freedom to pursue opportunities as a principle for development.
The video also contains testimonials from persons in different cities in the region who had to overcome enormous difficulties for personal, educational, and professional development, and it explains the importance of creating universal urban environments, without structural barriers, accessible to all.
The video is available, in Spanish and English, through disability@iadb.org.
Papers on Disability in Latin America
As important products of this initiative, six background papers were produced for the Dialogue. The preliminary drafts circulated at the seminar are being edited and will be published.
The papers and authors are:
- Disability and Inclusive Education - Gordon Porter
- Disability and the Labour Market in Latin America - Gonzalo Hernandez Licona
- Methodological Considerations in the Analysis of Household Survey data on Disabilities in Latin America - Andres Montes and Ernest Massiah
- Accessibilidad a la Infraestructura, Transporte, Tecnologia y Communicacaiones - Eduardo Alvarez
- Accesso de la Personas con Discapacipad a los mercados de Trabajo - Grupo Latinoamericano para la Participacion, la Integracion y la Inclusion de las Personas con Discapacidad (GLARP)
- Disability in Latin America and the Caribbean: A review of Statistics and Inclusionary Policies - Pamela Dudzik, Ann Elwan, Robert Metts.
Transportation
At the Seminar copies of the recent IDB publication "Transporte para Todos" were distributed. Copies of this document can be ordered from the IDB Bookshop via email: www.ttt.org.
Follow-up with NGOs
The next day of the IDB Dialogue, the Inter-American Institute on Disability (IID) organized a discussion on "How to include disability among the strategies for social development". During the session, around 80 representatives of NGOs, government agencies and advocates from 14 countries of the region carried out a direct dialogue with the disability issue coordinators from the World Bank and the IDB. More information on this meeting will be posted shortly at www.iidisability.org.
Information and further contact
With all the experience and expertise acquired by the Inter-American Development Bank in the process of organizing the Dialogue in Chile and other disability related activities, the IDB is planning to launch a series of follow-up initiatives not yet announced. For information on IDB disability related topics, please contact the Disability Program coordinator Ernest Messiah (disability@iadb.org).
table of contents - home page - text-only home page
|
