By IDA

 - December 8, 2017

From 5 to 7 December 2017, leaders from the Niger Federation of organisations of persons with disabilites participated in a technical workshop, held in Geneva, with IDA on the implementation and reporting of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in line with the CRPD. The visit was made possible by funding from the UK Department for International Development.

>> Read the report in French and in English.

Siddo Mouhou and Mahamadou Oumarou, respectively the President and the General Secretary of the Niger Federation of Organisations of Persons with Disabilities, participated in the workshop. In addition, Idriss Maiga, President of the West African Federation of Persons with Disabilities (WAFOD) and President of the African Disability Forum (ADF), participated with the team from Niger, with the aim to have exposure to the methodology of SDG implementation, for its replication in the region. The group was supported by the IDA Secretariat.

Leaders from the Niger Federation of DPOs participated in Geneva.

On the first day, the team from Niger met Stefan Tromel, ILO Senior Disability Specialist, who shared the ILO mainstream and specific work on the rights of persons with disabilities. Mr. Tromel also highlighted key opportunities to DPOs to work and partner on the SDGs implementation and reporting in their country, in order to advance the CRPD’s implementation. In the afternoon, the DPOs from Niger participated in a training session on SDGs indicators and its attributes.

On the second day, the leaders from Niger met with Kali Taylor, Advisor at the SDG Lab, a multi stakeholder initiative that contributes to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by supporting Geneva-based actors in further leveraging expertise and knowledge into policy, practice and action. The DPOs from Niger shared a number of points on making SDGs inclusive of persons with disabilities and received advise on key areas for action that could be strengthened supporting their Government to implement inclusive SDGs.

leaders from the Niger Federation of DPOs in meeting with Kali Taylor.  

The convention was followed by a meeting with Guzal Kamalova, Child Protection Specialist from UNICEF, coordinator of a project on child project. The Niger Federation shared with her on their project focused on creating social and judicial systems inclusive of women and children with disabilities, which is supported by the European Union. Ms Kamalova shared details on implementation and monitoring of UNICEF’s projects on the protection of children with disabilities form all forms of violence in the Central and Eastern Europe.

In the afternoon, the group meet with Mina Mojtahedi, Disability Inclusion Coordinator of the International Red Cross Red Crescent Movement (ICRC Movement), who shared information on the ICRC Movement structure, its work in Niger and in the region, with particular focus on preparedness on situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies. Participants from Niger shared involvement of the Federation in the Niger Preparedness Plan, and their join work the ICRC movement in Niger.

To conclude the day, leaders from Niger and IDA staff worked on the structure of the report that will be prepared during the first quarter of next year.

 leaders from the Niger Federation of DPOs in meeting with IDA Secretariat

On the third day, members of the delegation meet with Elanie Marks and Carla Sabariego, both from the Disability Team of the World Health Organization, and had the opportunity to discuss about universal health care coverage and universal access to health. Colleagues from Niger raised their wonder that professionals from several areas that relates to persons with disabilities are not prioritised in health professional trainings in their countries, in particular related to ergo, occupational and communicational therapists.

In the afternoon, the group met with OHCHR staff, Nicolas Fasel, Adviser on Human Rights Measurement and Indicators, and Facundo Chavez, Human Rights and Disability Advisor, and discussed about development of indicators on human rights and its interconnection with the SDGs. Members of the Niger Federation shared experiences in working with the National Commission for Human Rights and with the National Statistics Commission, and observed that, despite progress, persons with disabilities are still hidden and, therefore, not counted in data collection processes in Niger. 

leaders from the Niger Federation of DPOs in meeting with the World Health Organisation

To conclude the mission, the group had a technical meeting with IDA staff and established the structure of the report, which includes data collection, a workshop with DPOs to define priorities, a workshop with different stakeholders to create synergies and collect information from mainstream arena, and to provide recommendations to government and different actors on how to implement the SDG’s in line with the CRPD.

Siddo Mouhou, President of the Niger Federation of Persons with Disabilities After the intense technical workshop, Siddo Mouhou, President of the Niger Federation of Persons with Disabilities reinforced that “the mission represented an added value to our work”. He highlighted that “people, our members, count on us to access information. This kind of technical missions facilitate access to information in the source. It is relevant to us to understand and get exposure to these global processes, and then to bring that information back home. We are happy to be one of the first groups of DPOs engaging in this reporting process on the SDGs in line with the CRPD; and excited to better understand particular elements regarding indicators and attributes, including making links between these indicators and reality of the SDG and CRPD’s implementation at local, regional and national levels – it will make sense to lives of persons with disabilities”.

Idriss Maiga, President of the African Disability Forum (ADF)As part of a regional strategy, Idriss Maiga, President of the African Disability Forum (ADF), stressed that “this technical workshop brought us a two-fold strategic approach, the first one regarding our members. This workshop will support us to promote the reinforcement of their capacity, including the West African Federation of DPOs, in particular in states that will be reviewed by monitoring mechanisms, both human rights and development, and the second one on strengthening partnership with UN agencies and international NGOs at national, sub-regional and regional levels. It is critical that human rights and development actors become more inclusive of DPOs in their mandates; which means, making direct work with our representative organisations, instead of with other stakeholders. It is more than time for us to be seen as equal partners in the national, regional and global partnership for sustainable development.”

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Note: A first workshop on the Reporting on SDG’s Implementation in line with the CRPD was held early this year in Panama, to DPOs from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama; and a second is currently being held in Vietnam from the 10 to 15 December 2017. Further information at www.internationaldisabilityalliance.org/events/central-american-technical-workshop-monitoring-sdgs-light-crpd

 

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