In February this year Norway, Ghana and the International Disability Alliance (IDA) arranged the second Global Disability Summit in history. A multitude of governments, organisations and individuals participated, and together they delivered more than 1400 commitments to how they will make their respective societies more inclusive and accessible for persons with disabilitiees.
In this connection, the Atlas Alliance arranges two side events during the COSP15. These are held digitally, so you do not need to travel to New York to take part! Everyone is welcome to participate - please join us via the links below!
The first event, Strengthening youth with disabilities’ meaningful participation in society, is arranged jointly by the Atlas Alliansen, IDA and Youth Mental Health Norway. The time is 14 June at 17.30-18.45 CET (11.30-12.45 Eastern Time). Please regsiter here!
You can find more information about the event below.
The second event, The Global Disability Summit 2022 – promoting inclusive and participatory societies in the Global South is arranged by the Atlas Alliance and takes place on Thursday 16 June at 14.30-15.45 CET (08.30-09.45 Eastern Time). No registration needed - just join us here! Now you can also download our hot-off-the-press backgrounder "Nothing without us"!
You can find more information about the event below.
Welcome to all!
Strengthening youth with disabilities’ meaningful participation in society
Background
There are an estimated 180 to 220 million youth with disabilities worldwide, with over 80% living in developing countries. Even prior to the pandemic young persons with disabilities have been reported to be disproportionately isolated within their own communities and are far less likely to achieve the same educational, employment and personal outcomes as is seen with their non-disabled peers, especially in the Global South. The movement of youth with disabilities has been mobilizing in recent times, and one of the watershed moments of this activism was the Global Disability Youth Summit 202, organized by the International Disability Alliance (IDA), Atlas Alliance represented by Youth Mental Health Norway and UNICEF. This event was a 24-hour virtual journey through the time zones, packed with youth-led panel debates about topics identified by youth with disabilities representing their own geographical regions. More than 3000 people participated in the online event from all corners of the world. The discussions focused on neglected and important areas, showcasing best practices and evidence from across the world, among others.
The event culminated in a Youth Charter / Call for Action: “Youth with disabilities: From holding rights to exercising them”. The Youth Call for Action occasioned a new paradigm shift in addressing disability inclusion. Youth with disabilities and their organizations got involved in expressing the ideas and concerns experienced by themselves. This was then conceptualized into topics that were vital to youth with disabilities, such as access to employment and livelihoods, engagement in OPDs and mainstream organizations, inclusive education, participation and representation of youth with disabilities, health among others.
The Call recognizes that youth with disabilities and their representative organizations bring critical experiences from local to global, across multiple areas and languages. Youth with disabilities, therefore, have an important role to play in all aspects of policy making and society. The Call presents several opportunities for the engagement of youth with disabilities, including those underrepresented, at the local and global level.
Rationale and objectives
The side event “Strengthening youth with disabilities’ meaningful participation in society” organized by IDA, Atlas Alliance and Youth Mental Health Norway, is meant to build on the Youth GDS and Call for Action and highlight the importance of the effective and meaningful participation of youth with disabilities in society. It seeks to highlight examples of and opportunities for engagement of youth with disabilities, including underrepresented groups of youth with disabilities, both around the Youth Call for Action and beyond. It also seeks to recap the Youth GDS process and outcomes towards ensuring adoption by a wider range of stakeholders. Specific objectives include:
- Identifying key stakeholders’ signatories and important areas of synergies with youth with disabilities movement to foster commitment to implement the charter
- Presenting the vision of the Youth Call for Action and emphasize the significance for youth with disabilities, including from underrepresented groups in the disability movement
- Showcasing good practices and experiences on inclusion and empowerment of youth with disabilities.
Event details
The event will be held as an online side event to the Conference of States Parties on Tuesday June 14th, 2022 at 11.30 to 12.45 (Eastern Time). It will be held on the Zoom platform as a Webinar. The event will be held with simultaneous interpretation in English, French and Spanish as well as in International Sign and real-time captioning. The event will be available for those who register at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcqde-rrTgrEtJtqUWUWnPo8w-0zyiPXpqH. This event will be recorded.
For more details, please contact Rosario Galarza (rgalarza@ida-secretariat.org)
The Global Disability Summit 2022 – promoting inclusive and participatory societies in the Global South
Join via this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82466663577
Background
The Global Disability Summit (GDS) 2022, the second GDS in history, was arranged by the Governments of Norway and Ghana and the International Disability Alliance in February 2022. The GDS is a global summit on disability inclusion in development and humanitarian action, and promotes the implementation of the CRPD in the Global South and worldwide. The 2022 summit was digital to secure broad participation during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The GDS 2022 brought about more than 1400 individual commitments by governments, multilateral donors, civil society organisations and others, under five thematic headings. These were: Meaningful engagement of organisations of persons with disabilities (OPDs), Inclusive Education, Inclusive Livelihoods and Employment, Inclusive Health and Situations of Conflict and Crisis. There were more than 11 000 individual registrations for the overall GDS 2022, including for the Youth Summit and the Civil Society Forum, which all took place under the general GDS heading.
There was a notable increase in commitments from 968 at the first GDS in 2018 to 1412 in 2022, of which 459 are from national governments (including 14 from local authorities). The commitments are given by a wide range of stakeholders including civil society, multilateral organisations, national governments and the private sector.
This side-event will focus on the commitments given in the Summit and the way forward towards the next Global Summit in 2025. There will be a specific presentation on the topic of tracking inclusion in multilateral development efforts.
Content
- Welcome and opening, Marit Sørheim, CEO of the Atlas Alliance
Discrimination and Stigma, Gagan Chhabra, Atlas Alliance, Inclusion Project Manager
- Part 1: GDS 2022 as Gamechanger: What are the most significant results and where do we need to see improvements?
- Anne Beathe Tvinnereim, Norwegian Minister of International Development
- Jose Viera, Director of Policy, International Disability Alliance, IDA
- Lykke Stavnes, Advisor, the Atlas Alliance (on the Youth Summit: Challenges and results)
Part 2: «Tracking Inclusion – what do we know about disability inclusive development in selected multilateral organisations»:
- Mona Christoffersen, Researcher, Presentation the new report from ‘The Fafo Institute for Labour and Social Research’
Questions and comments
- Part 3: Meaningful inclusion of DPOs in development and humanitarian response – how we secure real/genuine inclusion?
Conversation between
- Rita Kusi Kyeremaa, Executive Director, Ghana Federation of Disability organisations (GFD)
- Esther Kyozira, Executive Director NUDIPU, Uganda
- Part 4: What will it take to make GDS 2025 a real Gamechanger?
- Morten Eriksen, Policy Advisor, the Atlas Alliance, on:
- report from the Atlas Alliance,
- the focus and outcomes from DGS 2022-commitments,
- meaningful participation and Tracking Inclusion: The starting point for “Nothing without us”
- Discussion on the way forward: The main challenges, seen from the DPO perspective:
- IDA, GFD from Ghana, NUDIPU from Uganda, the Atlas Alliance
- Concluding remarks