- Background
In May 2019, in the margins of the sixth session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GP2019) in Geneva, members of tg-drr appointed the following individuals as the regional focal points of the group:
- Africa: Patrick Gift Egessa (International Federation of Hard of Hearing, Uganda);
- Americas: Carlos Kaiser (ONG Inclusiva) [main focal point] and German Parodi (Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies) [alternate focal point];
- Asia: Birendra Pokharel (South Asian Disability Forum) [main focal point], and Mohammed Atif Sheikh (STEP) [alternate focal point].;
- Pacific region: a representative from the Pacific Disability Forum main focal point, and Dr Alex Robinson of Nossal Institute, University of Melbourne, Australia alternate focal point;
- Europe: representative of the European Disability Forum;
- Arab region: representative of the Arab Organization of Persons with Disabilities.
With regard to choosing the global focal points, the group decided that the main regional focal points would fulfil this role based on the alphabetical order of the region name. Since the focal point from Africa did not
accept the role, the group agreed that Carlos Kaiser, the main focal point from the America will serve as the global focal point. The group
from America then appointed Marcie Roth from World Institute on Disability to serve as the alternate focal point for that region.
2. Development of the TOR of the group and establishing the Steering Committee
On July 24 2020, the group endorsed its TOR articulating the mandate, mechanisms and objectives of the group extending its mandate to include Climate Action and renaming it to TG-DRRCA. According to paragraphs 15 and 18 of the TOR, the Steering Committee is responsible for coordinating the TG-DRRCA to provide inputs on the promotion, implementation and monitoring—including of voluntary stakeholder commitments—on the Sendai Framework and UNFCCC. Members of the Steering Committee include the global and regional focal points, representative of the Stakeholders Group, and the representative of the International Disability Alliance as the organizing partner.
Since the mandate of current focal points will end in May 2021, the Stakeholders Group of Persons With Disabilities as the creator of the TG-DRRCA, in consultation with IDA as the organizing partner and current focal points agreed to establish the Steering Committee with the members below:
Jose Viera, (chair of the SGPWD), Elham Youssefian, (IDA DRR adviser as the organizing partner), Carlos Kaiser (global focal point), Birendra Pokharel and Mohammed Atif Sheikh (focal points from Asia), German Parodi and Marci Roth (focal points from the Americas), Patrick Gift Egessa (focal point from Africa), Gordon Rattray (focal point from Europe), Setareki Macanawai and Alex Robinson (focal points from the Pacific) and Jahda Abou Khalil (focal point from the Arab region).
The Steering Committee will fulfil its mandate with this membership until May 2021. One of the main mandates of the Steering Committee is to draft the rules and mechanism to elect the next global and regional focal points for the group in May 2021. According to paragraph 20 of the TOR:" The criteria and process for electing global and regional focal points will be adopted by the group in a separate document. In the regions where regional representative organizations of persons with disabilities exist, the respective regional focal points will be
selected in coordination with such organization."
