The Bangkok Conference on Disability-Inclusive MDGs and Aid Effectiveness takes place 14-16 March 2012.

The Bangkok Conference on Disability-Inclusive MDGs and Aid Effectiveness takes place 14-16 March 2012.

The time is now for development partners to strengthen the disability-inclusiveness of their policies and programmes in
Asia-Pacific. Making a difference in the lives of 650 million persons with disabilities in Asia-Pacific will mean that the MDGs can be met globally.

Nanda Krairkish, Director, Social Development Division, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific

In almost every country surveyed, unemployment rates for persons with disabilities are higher than for those without disabilities

(1) Of the 67 million children now out of school worldwide, a third have disabilities

(2). Despite these shocking statistics, there was no mention of persons with disabilities in the UN’s blueprint for international development, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), when they were launched in 2000. This omission was only rectified ten years later.

(3). The Bangkok Conference on Disability-Inclusive MDGs and Aid Effectiveness (14-16 March), co-organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) and Leonard Cheshire Disability, sets out the case that persons with disabilities must be central to international development programmes for the MDGs to be achieved.

The Bangkok Conference will bring together stakeholders at all levels in the development process – from grassroots activists in disabled people’s organizations to high-level officials of multilateral organizations – to help put disability at the heart of international development.

Over three days, people from across the development spectrum, including key players from the World Bank, UN and EU, will come together at workshops and in panel discussions to explore best practices and learn from each other. This extremely rare forum opportunity will enable delegates to develop innovative ways to bring disability into the mainstream of international development.

Ultimately, the Conference will feed into the final review of the Second Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons

4), As well as formation of the post-2015 development framework. This will directly help to launch a truly inclusive development model.

Speakers will include:

Maria Veronica Reina, Executive Director of the Global partnership on Disability and Development, a World Bank initiative.

Aleksandra Posarac, Lead Economist, World Bank

Rosemary McKay, Director of Disability and Inclusive Development, AusAid

Javed Abidi, Chair, Disabled Peoples’ International

The Conference will be inaugurated by a senior official of the Royal Thai Government.

Asia-Pacific is moving towards a new decade to 'make the right real' for persons with disabilities. Through its normative and analytical work, the ESCAP secretariat is supporting member States in the preparation of an outcome document to be considered by the High-level Intergovernmental Meeting to review the second Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons (Incheon, Republic of Korea, 29 October-2 November 2012). Its adoption will give Asia-Pacific MDG-style goals, targets and indicators for expediting the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the development process.

Nanda Krairkish, Director, Social Development Division, UNESCAP
Tanya Barron, International Director at Leonard Cheshire Disability, whose programmes reach persons with disabilities in 24 countries in Africa and Asia, comments: "The MDGs will not be met unless persons with disabilities are included in all international development programmes

This conference gives people from across the development sector the rare opportunity to teach, and to learn from, each other, as well as the tools they need to achieve full inclusion."

Internationally renowned speakers
•       Thirty ‘best practice’ and lesson sharing workshops
•       Panel discussions with key field experts and officials
•       Entertainment from the Young Voices music group
•       Launch of the world’s first online disability and development database, with, among others, information on government development projects in Africa and Asia that include persons with disabilities and are funded by the World Bank
•       Contributing to the post-2015 international development framework
•       A post-conference report, with worldwide UN distribution to all relevant offices, and a fully searchable online edition
Cnference activities will include: