IN THIS EDITION:
- Highlights
- Activities in the past weeks
- Upcoming activities
- IDA members
- Other
- Job opportunities
1. HIGHLIGHTS
AFRICAN DISABILITY FORUM (ADF) SEEKS TRAINING AND LEARNING COORDINATOR TO SUPPORT BRIDGE CRPD-SDG TRAINING IN UGANDA AND TANZANIA
- ADF, in partnership with CBM and IDA, will be organizing two cycles of BRIDGE CRPD-SDG training in Uganda and Tanzania in 2018-19, supported by a grant from the Big Lottery Fund (BLF) in the UK. ADF now requires a full-time, BLF-funded, Learning Coordinator to support ADF in the BRIDGE CRPD-SDG training taking place in Uganda and Tanzania, and to help prepare a Learning Methodology for future use. The ADF Training and Learning Coordinator will be based in Addis Ababa with possible travel to Uganda and Tanzania. The assignment is for a period of 18 months, with possibility of extension for an additional six months. Applications should be sent to Berhanu Tefera, ADF Coordinator (fellowship [at] africandisabilityforum.org)">fellowship [at] africandisabilityforum.org) by 26 January 2017. More information available on ADF’s website.
2. ACTIVITIES IN THE PAST WEEKS
- SOCIAL PROTECTION FLOOR: The 3-day annual Global Coalition on Social Protection Floor meeting opened on 15 January 2018, in Nairobi, Kenya. The Coalition, created in 2012, consists of more than 80 NGOs and Trade Unions from all parts of the world, including IDA. The aim of the meeting is to review the overall advocacy strategy of the Civil Society Coalition, including the need and possibility of drafting a Global Charter for Social Protection Rights.
- CRC: The Committee on the Rights of the Child opened its 77th session (15-January – 2 February 2018) on 14 January 2018 in which it will be reviewing Guatemala, Marshall Islands, Palau, Panama, Seychelles, Solomon Islands, Spain and Sri Lanka. Click here to watch the public meetings webcasted live by the UN Office of Geneva according to the Committee’s agenda. In this session, IDA is providing distance technical support to DPOs from Salvador and Panama.
3. UPCOMING ACTIVITIES
JANUARY
- GLAD NETWORK: The Global Action on Disability (GLAD) Network will hold its second meeting in Helsinki, Finland, from 31 January to 2 February 2018. The meeting will be an opportunity to further develop a firm, coherent and practical commitment to disability-inclusive development and humanitarian action in line with the CRPD, through meaningful engagement with DPOs, and capitalizing on the collective voice, role and resources of GLAD Network members. More information available on IDA’s website.
- CRPD ELECTIONS PROCESSES: The Group of Friends is hosting a breakfast meeting on 31 January 2018, at the Permanent Mission of New Zealand, in New York, USA. The aim of the meeting is to promote gender balance, quality and independence in the nomination and elections processes for the CRPD Committee. The meeting will gather elections officers of the States Missions in New York. IDA will be represented by its Treaty Body Unit. More information will be provided in next week’s newsletter to the Board.
- IASC PACIFIC CONSULTATION: PDF, in partnership with the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Task Team on Inclusion of Persns with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action and IDA (co-chair of the Task Team), will hold a regional multi-stakeholder workshop for the Pacific to input into the development of the IASC Guidelines on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action. The consultation will be held on 24 –25 January 2018 in Nadi, Fiji. The consultation workshop will bring together a wide range of experts that have complementary knowledge such as: humanitarian workers with general or sectoral expertise (i.e. WASH, health, shelter, camp management, etc.) necessary to ensure relevance of the guidelines; disability in humanitarian action experts; governments; and DPOs. Read more on IDA’s page.
FEBRUARY-MARCH
- CRPD: The CRPD Committee will hold its 19th session from 14 February 2018 to 9 March 2018. It will be followed by the CRPD committee 9th pre-sessional working group from 12-16 March 2018. The Committee will examine the following countries: Haiti, Nepal, Oman, Russian Federation, Seychelles, Slovenia, Sudan (States Parties Reports) and Costa Rica, New Zealand, Paraguay, Republic of Korea (Lists of Issues Prior To Reporting). In this framework, IDA will support the participation of DPO representatives from Sudan, Nepal and Haiti. Registration to attend the public meetings is open until 9 March 2018. More information and instructions here. (download the informative note issued by the CRPD Secretariat).
- TRAINING OF TRAINERS: From 11 to 16 February 2018 will take place IDA-IDDC BRIDGE CRPD-SDGs Training of Trainers 2018 Module A in Geneva, Switzerland. The Training is organised by IDA and is financed by DFID and the Art 11 Initiative (IDA, CBM and HI). The trainees include leaders with disabilities from Africa, Latin America and Asia. Sessions cover topics such as CRPD compliance, key issues in a CRPD training, equality and non-discrimination, equal recognition before the law and inclusive facilitation, among others. The training will have a strong focus on the Article 11 of the CRPD on Situations of Risk and Humanitarian Emergencies and will support preparation of trainers for future BRIDGE CRPD-SDG cycles.
- BEIRUT ADVOCACY WEEK: A series of meetings will be held in Beirut late February-early March 2018, in the frame of the Beirut Advocacy Week. While more information on each event will be provided at a later stage, please see below the suggested dates:
- 25 - 26 February: Executive Committee Meeting
- 27 February - 2 March: DFID Programme Committee Meeting
- 2 - 3 March: Combined BRIDGE CRPD-SDG Art11 and BRIDGE CRPD-SDG MENA Region technical workshop
- 4 - 5 March Individual workshop days for BRIDGE CRPD-SDG Art11 and BRIDGE CRPD-SDG MENA Region
- 6 - 7 March: IASC Task Team MENA Region Consultation
APRIL
- COMMONWEALTH SUMMIT: The People's Forum at the Commonwealth Summit will be held on 16-18 April 2018, in London, United Kingdom. The mainstream forums will offer an opportunity for Commonwealth dialogue and provide a platform for wider debate of some of the key issues and challenges, in advance of discussions by leaders at CHOGM. Click here to register for the Summit.
MAY
- BOARD MEETING: It is suggested to hold IDA Committee meetings on 30 April 2018 and the Board meeting on 1 and 2 May 2018 (and optional 3 May 2018) in Quito, Ecuador. Dates are still to be confirmed.
JUNE
- 2018 Helen Keller World Conference: The 11th Helen Keller World Conference will take place on 19-27 June 2018 in Benidorm, Spain. With the main topic: “Our rights; Our Voice; We lead the Way” the 11th HKWC 2018 will focus on strengthening human rights, democracy and equality through full and equal inclusion of persons with deafblindness in all aspects of the global, regional, national and local society in which we live. Registration forms are available for download on WFDB’s website.
- COSP: The 11th Session of the Conference of States Parties to the CRPD will take place on 12-14 June 2018, at the UN Headquarters in New York, USA. Among other agenda items, the session will expect to feature an election of 9 members of the CRPD Committee.
JULY
- 2018 UK DISABILITY SUMMIT: IDA will be co-hosting the first UK global disability summit with the UK Department for International Development (DFID) in July 2018 (c.f. newsletter No.11). Dates are still to be confirmed.
AUGUST
- CRPD: The 20th Session of the CRPD committee will place from 20 August 2018 to 7 September 2017, in Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland.
OCTOBER
- UN WORLD DATA FORUM: The UN World Data Forum 2018 will take place in Dubai, UAE from 22-24 October 2018. The event will bring together data leaders from diverse stakeholder groups, including national and international statistical systems, academia, business community and civil society. The aim of the forum is to exchange ideas, showcase innovations, identify solutions, discuss future strategies, and provide mutual learning opportunities on a wide variety of topics. More information available on the website of the UN World Data Forum. Stakeholders are invited to submit proposals for sessions to be considered for inclusion in the programme by 31 January 2018. Proposed programme will be approved by the UN Statistical Commission’s High-level Group for Partnership, Coordination and Capacity-Building (HLG-PCCB). The Programme Committee or the HLG-PCCB may request revisions to some proposals.
4. IDA MEMBERS
EUROPEAN DISABILITY FORUM
- The European Commission appointed research firm Transport & Mobility Leuven (TML) to “prepare a best practices guide for all modes of transport on the carriage of persons with reduced mobility”. Such a guide should increase the visibility of best practices and facilitate their dissemination in other contexts, both in terms of locations and modes of transport. TML invites you to share experiences via an online survey available by clicking here. The deadline for participation is 22 January 2018.
- Following the adoption of the Council's position on the Accessibility Act on 7 December 2017, EDF has now published its complete and detailed analysis of this position (click here to read).
- EDF-AGE are holding a webinar entitled “EU Rail Accessibility Legislation for Beginners: Explaining the TSI- PRM” on 18 January 2018, 11:00 (Brussels time). The webinar will provide background information about the current EU rules on rail accessibility and the EDF/AGE position in the current revision. If you would like to register, please send an e-mail to marie.denninghaus [at] edf-feph.org (subject: Registration%20for%20TSI-PRM%20webinar%20on%2018%2F01) and let us know about any specific accessibility requirements you might have. The webinar will be captioned. The language of the webinar is English.
5. OTHERS
- REGIONAL WOMEN’S INSTITUTE ON LEADERSHIP AND DISABILITY – ASIA: Mobility International USA (MIUSA) invites Women with Disabilities from China, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka to apply for the Regional Women’s Institute on Leadership & Disability (WILD) – Asia. Sixteen women will be selected to participate in the eight-day WILD program in Sri Lanka (23-30 May 2018) to exchange experiences, explore strategies, strengthen a regional network of support, and create collaborative plans to promote inclusion of women with disabilities in community development efforts. Applications must be sent by 5 February 2018. More information on the programme and instructions for application are available on MIUSA‘s website.
- GAATES' INTERNATIONAL CERTIFICATION OF ACCESSIBILITY CONSULTANTS: GAATES’ International Certification of Accessibility Consultants - Built Environment (ICAC-BE) program is currently accepting applications from qualified candidates. Three levels of certification are available and all program details are available at www.gaates.org/certification. If you have any questions or wish to start your application please email: certification [at] gaates.org.
- CALL FOR SUGGESTIONS: G3ict is starting a new work project focusing on the inclusion of persons with disabilities in courtroom proceedings around the world. As an initial step forward on this topic, it has begun exploring globally what is the current situation regarding the use of technology to promote the inclusion of persons with disabilities and what the situation could or should be. G3ict is now looking to speak with people who might have expertise or perspective to share on this topic. Please contact James Thurstonjthurston [at] g3ict.org)">jthurston [at] g3ict.org) if you have any suggestions for and connections to such experts and leaders. These actors could come from governments, judicial leadership, the technology sector, and organizations of and for persons with disabilities. G3ict would also be interested in connecting with any judicial system that you believe might be doing a good job using technology to include persons with disabilities or even might be interested in exploring the topic.
- MAKING IT WORK GENDER AND DISABILITY PROJECT:The Making It Work @HI website is now much more accessible to all users, with new interactive features such as News and Blog pages. Among others, this website will enable you to read the latest news of the MIW Gender and Disability project, get information about projects using the MIW methodology, and browse through its ever-growing database of good practices on disability and inclusion.
6. JOB OPPORTUNITIES
- EDF: EDF is seeking a Policy Assistant, Disability-Inclusive SDGs to support its current EDF SDGs' coordinator in advocating for disability-inclusive SDGs in the Europe. The position is for six months, starting as soon as possible. Part-time position would be considered and flexible working hours are possible. Applications must be sent to Muriel Davia (muriel.davia [at] edf-feph.org)">muriel.davia [at] edf-feph.org) by 15 January 2017. More informationavailable here.
- EASPD: The European Association of Service providers for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD) is looking for an intern to assist the Policy team to start in February 2018 for 6 months minimum. Applications must be submitted to Ms Sabrina Ferraina (sabrina.ferraina [at] easpd.eu) by 22 January 2018. More information available on EASPD’s website.
- EBU: The European Blind Union (EBU) is recruiting its Head of Campaigning. Applications must be sent to eburecruitment [at] euroblind.org by 31 January 2018. More information available on EBU’s website.
- LIGHT FOR THE WORLD: Light for the World is looking for a new EU advocacy Coordinator for its EU office in Brussels. Deadline to apply is 31 January 2018. More information available here.
