IDDC

Making Development Inclusive: National event series - event 5
Conference World Report on Disability and CBR Guidelines in Different National and Cultural Contexts

On 28 October 2011 IDDC member DCDD and partners took the lead in launching the 2011 World Report on Disability and the new CBR Guidelines (2010) in the Netherlands. Through speakers and workshops the event also addressed other countries aiming to link learning between Africa, Asia and Europe.

The event was part of the Making Development Inclusive project and organised in partnership with Liliane Fonds, Enablement and Disability Studies the Netherlands.

Professor of Human Rights Law and Director of the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM) at the University of Utrecht, Jenny Goldschmidt, served as Chair of the day.

The conference started off with three prominent keynote speakers. Tom Shakespeare of the World Health Organization (WHO) first went through the primary findings and recommendations from the World Report on Disability. Léon Poffé of the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports followed with his presentation of a Dutch view of the Report. Then David Botwey, Director of the SWEB foundation in Ghana, presented how the new CBR Guidelines would be relevant in the context of Ghana. 

After a plenary discussion following the speakers three books were presented:
- the draft Dutch translation of an easy-read version of the World Report on Disability was awarded to Mr. D. de Haas, representative of the DPO for intellectual disabilities in the Netherlands;
- a Dutch publication of Disability Studies in the Netherlands “Verbinding in de context” was awarded to Ms. Silke Hoppe, one of the publication's main authors;
- Enablement's “Dream of Inclusion for All - powerful CBR materials” was awarded to Mr. Rens Verstappen of sponsor organisation Netherlands Leprosy Relief.

The afternoon featured six workshops on various topics entitled “Contexts in CBR,” “Assistance and Support,” “Enabling Environments,” “Employment,” “National Action Plans,” and “Democratization and Citizenship.” Each workshop was led by a facilitator and two co-presenters of a variety of backgrounds and fostered lively discussion in answering the question of what would need to be done tomorrow to ensure people with disabilities can participate in an equal basis in society with regards to the workshop's topic. From their discussions, each workshop produced a statement which they presented at the end of the conference. The workshops also produced a cartoon on their workshop's theme, an idea of the DPO of people with intellectual disabilities in the Netherlands. Each workshop included representatives from Africa, Asia, and Europe, supporting the conference’s goal of bringing people from the three continents together for mutual learning.

 
The conference was extremely relevant in the current context of the Netherlands, which has not yet ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), has no standing National Action Plan on Disability, and lacks a policy on inclusive development cooperation. However, the issue of inclusive development has gained more attention and there has been a new momentum towards better addressing disability at the national and international levels with the release of the World Report on Disability and the new CBR guidelines. As a leader in International Development Cooperation, the Netherlands could make a positive impact by ratifying the CRPD and acknowledging the need for more inclusive development.

--> View all images from the event here 
--> Download full report of the event in Dutch here