Bond Ddg Meeting Minutes

BOND DDG MEETING MINUTES

24October 2006

VSO Offices, Putney

Chair:Lorraine Wapling ADD

Attendees:Victoria Shewell Sue Ryder

Samantha RennieHandicap International

Sarah CottinghamVSO

Helen Brown VSO

Barbara Trapani VSO

Shampa NathHealthlink

Hazel Jones WEDEC

Sue CoeWorld Vision

Emanuela BrahamshaSense International

Helen PinnockSave the Children

Eleanor Cozens Sightsavers

Sarah Sheldon motivation

Sue Stubbs IDDC

Kirsty WilsonIDCS

Natasha SharmaOrbis

Sunanda Mapillapalli LCI

Chapal Khasnabis WHO

Julia PeckettSense International

Kate GoodingSightsavers

Julius KamyaADD (secondment)

DFID's "How to Note' and dialogue between DDG and DFID

Lorraine updated the group on how we have been developing closer relations with DFID, that we were involved in consultations on DFID’s social exclusion paper and that we have been exploring ways of engaging country offices. Representatives of the DDG had a meeting earlier in the year with DFID (Julia Chambers) but the team has now changed, and our contact is now Zoe Stephenson in the Equity and Rights Team.

DFID are currently working on a ‘How To’ note on disability for use by its country offices. The Overseas Development Group at the University of East Anglia won the contract to carry out this piece of work and is in liaison with DFID on this, although it looks unlikely that anything will be produced by December as they had intended. It would be good to give a collective response to the draft note produced. The DDG Steering Group are meeting Zoe Stephenson on November 7th and will find out more about the process then, as well as finding out more about her role. They will feed back from this at the next full meeting.

Hazel Jones also noted the opportunity to influence the ODG directly and VSO noted possibilities to tie this note in with a forthcoming DFID ‘comprehensive spending’ meeting.

WHO CBR guidelines

Chapal Khasnabis from the WHO spoke about the different divisions (disability policy, physical rehabilitation, CBR and assistive devices) within the WHO and how they work, with the aim of making the DDG more aware of what they do, and ways in which we can support/get involved. They are currently producing CBR guidelines which will address problems experienced in the past with too narrow a focus (geographically or in terms of a single discipline e.g. medical model). They are working with the ILO and UNESCO to bring CBR into focus as a poverty alleviation tool. Work started on this in 2004, and although difficult to prescribe a single approach in many different contexts, an over-arching matrix has been developed to cover empowerment, health, education, livelihoods and social inclusion. Drawing on people working in the field with practical experience rather than a more distant consultant, they have involved people from many different backgrounds. Looking to promote concept of community-based inclusive development (CBID) as community-based rehabilitation considered to be overly focused on medical aspects. There is a meeting in December to look at the first draft of the guidelines. WHO has also started a global mapping initiative to learn more about CBR across the world, and there have already been more than 300 responses. Chapal urged DDG members to lobby DFID, following the success achieved in the Nordic countries, to channel funding to disability programmes.

Dissemination of the guidelines will be done by the partners in this project, the WHO, ILO and UNESCO, and possibly the World Bank who are joining, as well as 8 NGOs actively involved in the project. Through their networks, it is hoped that the guide will be widely disseminated, creating awareness of the new concept CBID. Chapal clarified that the WHO has approached DFID but didn’t get very far, and now the contact person (Julia Chambers) has moved on. Kate Gooding suggested finding out from her how far the discussions had gone then taking it further with the new team. Eleanor Cozens asked if the UNDP was involved in promoting new concept CBID. Chapal explained they do not have a focal person dealing with disability issues (mainstreaming often means no single contact person), but that the UN Convention will hopefully generate some interest around this. They are also working with other WHO departments to raise awareness on disability. Lorraine suggested following this up with DFID, and keeping in touch with Chapal.

Links with IDDC

Sue Stubbs took the opportunity to talk about the work of the IDDC, which has a similar aim to the DDG. Very member-led with a part-time co-ordinator and a number of thematic taskforces working on particular themes e.g. conflict, UN Convention, EU influencing etc. Suggested possibility of DDG members working with the IDDC on some of these taskforces. All agreed that this seemed like a good idea, and since the next IDDC Board meeting will be in January, Lorraine suggested that the DDG would discuss ways of getting involved in this at their next meeting and feedback to Sue prior to the January meeting, when she can discuss further with IDDC members. Sue will send more detailed information on each of the taskforces to Lorraine for consideration at the next meeting. Sue Coe felt that EU influencing was an area where it would be particularly useful to collaborate.

Africa Campaign on Disability and HIV & AIDS

Barbara Trapani drew attention to this campaign, whose next meeting will be held in Cape Town in January. Eleanor Cozens asked how involved members had to be in order for their logo to appear. Barbara said that this had not been clarified until now, and the meeting in January would be an opportunity to clarify the structures and responsibilities of different agencies. Sue Coe added that requirements are quite flexible, depending on how much input different agencies can offer. She also noted her disappointment that the publicity materials were not very disability accessible, and that this must be addressed as it sends the wrong message.

Julius Kamya from Uganda spoke briefly on his secondment to ADD, via VSO, where he is working on how to make HIV/AIDS programmes inclusive of people with disabilities. He highlighted problems around lack of concrete data, and lack of knowledge of how to include people with disabilities in HIV/AIDS work etc, both within ADD and generally. He will shortly be sending out a questionnaire to gather information, knowledge and key contacts on this issue. Chapal suggested targeting UNAIDS and WHO. He noted that there have been some sensitization workshops within the WHO, but lack of follow-up and concrete, practical ideas so hasn’t gotten very far. Kate Gooding asked about any mention of HIV/AIDS in the WHO CBR guidelines, and Chapal and Sue explained that this was a cross-cutting theme, but that a separate chapter on it could also be added at a later stage if deemed necessary.

Eleanor Cozens noted that an IDDC group is working on HIV/AIDS and would welcome further materials. If you have anything to contribute, please contact Susan at Handicap-International. Kirsty Wilson also suggested it was worth talking the World Health Programme about this. Lorraine noted this was also a possible area for collaboration with IDDC, and this will be discussed further in December.

Education - potential for joint work

Kirsty Wilson highlighted the work of EENET, which is co-ordinated at the University of Manchester, and possibilities for working with DDG members on education (possible DDG sub-group on education, promoting inclusive education to other organisations, an information-sharing event etc). Handicap International, Save the Children, VSO, World Vision, Sense International, Sightsavers and ADD all expressed an interest in contributing in some way. Sue Stubbs suggested that in terms of making this happen, an EENET e-group could be set up. She also highlighted the need for core funding, and the possibility that interested organisations could consider contributing to this initiative, but that to do this, EENET needed to establish a greater level of activity and more formal membership. This could work alongside a possible IDDC taskforce on education, which is currently under consideration. The EENET could play a role in advocacy as well as information-sharing, but overall it was felt that this would be difficult to co-ordinate (advocacy in whose name?) and it may be better to build up a group around information-sharing before starting to work on advocacy issues. Sunanda Mapillapalli also noted that the network had a role to play in strengthening regional networks. Kirsty will email all those interested organisations to determine the way forward, ensuring that Manchester University are fully involved in developments from the outset. Hazel Jones highlighted a model that they have used in the water sector which consists of a fully-funded resource centre to field technical enquiries, and which may be a useful approach to consider for EENET. It was agreed this could be a useful model to consider, and Hazel will circulate information on this.

VSO's Mainstreaming Disability Handbook

Barbara introduced this resource, which is also available on audio CD on request. Mainly for internal use by VSO but please do circulate. Partners can contact VSO in-country for further info.

Email list/sharing information

Kate clarified the need to update the BOND email list, and she will be speaking to them about this. There is also a D-group for more informal information-sharing. It is hoped that the new Disability Information Officer at HI will take on the role of moderating this group.

UN convention – any work on this?

Lorraine noted the potential for work around the new UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. IDDC are also working on this, so possibilities for joint work. There are two main areas where we can work on this; ratification (what can we do to promote ratification by countries in the South?) and Article 32 which states that developed countries must assist developing countries to mainstream disability, meaning that once the UK has ratified the convention, we can lobby DFID on this. BCOPD are meeting ADD to discuss and Lorraine will feed back. Anyone interested in getting involved can be added to the IDDC taskforce email list.

Hazel noted the forthcoming conference in Brussels. She will be speaking, and if anyone has any examples of using WEDC resources to mainstream disability, or any other water/sanitation-related case studies, please contact her. For info on implementing the Convention on the Rights of the Child, contact Sue Stubbs, who is facilitating a session on this. If you have more general contributions or striking examples, contact Sophie Beaumont at .

Lorraine requested that those attending the conference circulate information/minutes to the rest of the group. The Convention can also be raised with Zoe at DFID when they meet.

International day of disabled people

Lorraine suggested that at the minimum, we write an article for the Networker to mark the day (Dec 3rd). We were hoping to link the launch of the DFID ‘How To’ note with IDDP, but this is likely to be postponed. Theme is e-accessibility, and a number of people shared their experiences of combining a celebration of IDDP with World Aids Day and Human Rights Day. WHO is working on making its website more accessible to mark the day. Hazel suggested the possibility of arranging a display in the atrium of the DFID offices as they have done in the past in the water sector. Lorraine will discuss this possibility with Zoe at their DFID meeting. Sunanda agreed to write an article for the Networker, and Lorraine will put her in touch with BOND about this.

Round up of any relevant news/projects

-Samantha from Handicap International informed the group that her colleague Hannah Corps, Technical Advisor – Inclusive Education, , was willing to facilitate any work on education. If interested, please contact Hannah directly.

-Samantha also noted that HI has recently recruited a new Disability Information Office, Michael Guy, who will be involved in the Source website. Please do get in touch for any information.

-Sunanda drew our attention to the following Leonard Cheshire International resources:

EDAMAT, a mainstreaming tool for European policy-makers which will be launched on 21st Nov (final day of Convention conference)
A report about the voices of young people in the Convention
A booklet on Nicaragua and sign language.

If you would like a copy of any of these resources, please contact Sunanda.

-Sarah (Motivation) informed the group of a conference in Bangalore on 5-11th Nov bringing together different stakeholders with an interest in wheelchairs, supported by USAID and WHO. Please contact Sarah for more information.

-Hazel noted that there is now a French translation of the water/sanitation and disability publication. Contact her if you would like a copy. The WEDC Annual Conference will also take place in Sri Lanka on 13-17 November to address issues around accessibility of water to vulnerable groups. If you have any partners in Sri Lanka who may be interested, please send their contact details to Hazel and she will add them to the mailing list.

-Shampa (Healthlink) noted that a DFID-funded project is just finishing and there will be a photography exhibition on 8th December in central London.

Lorraine thanked everyone for their contributions and noted that prior to this meeting, the Steering Group had met and agreed that the next meeting should focus on looking at the structure of the DDG, the possibility of setting up sub-groups, and ways of working with IDDC. The meeting will also consider themes for 2007 and will feed back from the DFID meeting. Kate Gooding to set a date for a meeting in early December.