As part of a series of celebratory events to mark its centennial, Rehabilitation International (RI) will convene a side event on the margins of the High-level Intergovernmental Meeting (HLIGM) on the Final Review of the Asian and Pacific Decade of Persons with Disabilities, 2013–2022, Jakarta and online, 19–21 October 2022.
The RI side event will, among others, share highlights of the outcomes of projects in the ESCAP region supported by the Global Disability Development Fund (GDDF), including the following:
- Capacity Building of Women with Disabilities: Advocating for Rights (India)
- Vocational Training and Education for Youth with Disabilities (Hanoi, Viet Nam)
- Facilitating Inclusive Education for Children with Disabilities (Nepal)
- Workshop on Accessible Information Communication Technology and Web-based Vocational Skills (Macau, China).
Under the Presidency of Mme. Zhang Haidi and through the generous support from China Disabled Persons’ Federation (CDPF) RI took on a new dimension by launching the grant program: The Global Disability Development Fund (GDDF).
The RI Global Disability Development Fund (GDDF) is intended to support projects in the fields of rehabilitation, education, empowerment, and poverty alleviation. These projects or activities applied and implemented by RI members independently or in collaboration with their partners, should focus on areas such as rehabilitation, rights protection, education and employment, assistive devices, accessibility, data collection, and research. The projects supported by the RI GDDF grants are being implemented all over the world, including the Asia-Pacific region.
The RI Side-Event will also feature an introduction to the RI Centenary draft Declaration with a request for inputs and comments. The draft Declaration recalls highlights of the foundational milestones and historical legacy of RI Global over the past century. RI remains to this day the only cross-disability, multi-stakeholders and interdisciplinary organization linking disability activists, disability practitioners and governmental decision-makers. It has forged many disability achievements of the past century. The Declaration will outline RI’s unique vision, action path and contributions towards disability inclusion in the world for the next hundred years.
In addition, the RI side event will highlight the ESCAP contribution to the 3rd United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (3WCDR) whose outcome document stipulates the role of persons with disabilities who “are critical in assessment of disaster risk and in designing and implementing plans tailored to specific requirements, taking into consideration, inter alia, the principles of universal design.” The recognition of the critical role of persons with disabilities in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) triggered the change made by the United Nations system on engagement with civil society in world conferences. In that regard, with reference to civil society stakeholders, it expanded “Major Groups” to “Major Groups and Other Stakeholders” to enable the clear representation of persons with disabilities.
The RI Side-Event will also underscore RI support of and partnership with ESCAP over the past three regional decades and more focusing on upholding the rights of persons with disabilities.
Event details:
Date: October 19, 2022
Time: 12:30 – 13:40 (Jakarta Time)
Modality: Online Via Zoom
Language: English
Program:
Moderator for the Event – Dr Il-Yung Lee (Past RI Vice-President, Asia-Pacific Region)
Welcome Remarks – Ms Yeja Lee (RI Vice-President, Asia-Pacific Region)
RI Global Disability Development Fund (GDDF) Projects for Asia-Pacific – Ms Teuta Rexhepi (RI Secretary-General) with Representative, RI President’s Office
RI Declaration – Mr Mathieu Simard (RI Deputy Vice-President, North America Region)
3rd World Conference on DRR and the formulation of the Disability Group in the wider civil society grouping for the World Conference on DRR – Mr Hiroshi Kawamura (RI ICTA Chair)
Questions & Answers
Closing Remarks – Ar Dr Joseph Kwan (RI Deputy Vice-President, Asia-Pacific Region)
Live captioning and International Sign Language Interpretation will be provided during the event. Persons with disabilities who wish to request accommodations or who have questions about access, please contact info@riglobal.org in advance of the session.
To attend this event, go to https://us06web.zoom.us. The passcode is 889111.
