Organisations of persons with disabilities have been routinely excluded from international development and humanitarian action. This needs to change.
Progress on inclusion has been made, but it’s not enough. More needs to be done.
The Global Disability Summit with its vision of promoting equality is a timely reminder that meaningful engagement of persons with disabilities through their representative organisations is not an optional extra but a prerequisite to ensuring an inclusive world.
For CBM Global, authentic partnership with and accountability to the disability movement underpins all we do. We’re deeply committed to working alongside people with disabilities and their representative organisations, and to the principle of “nothing about us without us”. We believe that our mission of fighting to end the cycle of poverty and disability can only be achieved through partnership.
What is the Global Disability Summit?
The 2022 Global Disability Summit is hosted by the International Disability Alliance (IDA), the Government of Norway and the Government of Ghana. It will take place on 16th and 17th February 2022. Held mainly online, the summit will bring together governments to mobilise efforts for the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and to ensure no one is left behind in development and humanitarian efforts. It will also place an emphasis on the efforts that are needed to build back better due to the impact of COVID-19 and the resulting inequalities faced by persons with disabilities around the world.
Organisations of Persons with Disabilities at the heart of the summit
A range of different stakeholders joined the event, all committed to advancing inclusion within development and humanitarian policies and programmes. We welcome the fact that organisations representing persons with disabilities (OPDs) were at the heart of the summit. Governments, the private sector, civil society, and other stakeholders have made progress on developing these partnerships but more needs to be done. We need concrete steps to ensure equal participation of OPDs in decision making, policy development, and programme implementation for lasting systemic change to happen.
Perspectives from OPD partners
Here are reflections from some of the partners who participated in the listening exercise:
Our Global Disability Summit Commitments
Participants of the Global Disability Summit have been invited to register commitments that will bring about genuine change for persons with disabilities. The commitments are drawn from a menu provided by the Summit organisers and CBM Global has made commitments to the Global Disability Summit in the following areas:
- Meaningful engagement of Organisations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs)
- Situations of Conflict and Crisis, Including a focus on Climate Change
- Inclusive Health
CBM Global at the summit
We shared our expertise and learning from our work on disability inclusive data, inclusive humanitarian response, and partnerships in a number of side events during the Global Disability Summit:
- Progressing on inclusive disability data is a key priority for our advocacy. We co-led two data advocacy side events with partners.
- As a dual mandate organisation engaged in both development and humanitarian action, inclusive humanitarian response is important to us. We co-organised a side event that highlighted the need for strengthened promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities affected by humanitarian emergencies.
- CBM Global Member CBM Switzerland led a side event on 17th February titled “Economic Policy – A Final Frontier in International Support for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities?”
February 16 Side Events
"We have a key role now” What CBM Global has learnt from partnering with organisations of persons with disabilities
9-10 AM CET
Organised by: CBM Global
Looking Forward to Strengthened Promotion of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Affected by Humanitarian Emergencies
1 PM CET
Organised by: Reference Group on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities, co-chaired by UNICEF, the International Disability Alliance and CBM Global
Accelerating Progress on Inclusive Disability Data
5-6:15 PM CET
In partnership with Inclusive Data Charter, Stakeholder Group for Persons with Disabilities, Sightsavers, and a number of Governments
February 17 Side Events
Economic Policy - A Final Frontier in International Support for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities?
11 AM CET
Organised by: CBM Switzerland
Towards a Global Data System Inclusive of Persons with Disabilities
5:30-6:45 PM CET
Organised by: CBM Global Disability Inclusion and Fordham University
Global Disability Summit News & Blogs
The Global Disability Summit: Our expectations and our commitments
The pursuit of authentic partnership: a personal journey
Lessons learned from partnerships with organisations of persons with disabilities
Check out these resources
AccessibilityGo: A Guide to Action
Accessibility GO! A Guide to Action aims to provide practical support on how to deliver a whole-of-organisation approach towards accessibility. It describes how to progressively achieve 7 core accessibility commitments across built environments, information and communications, procurement of goods and services, training and capacity development, programmes, meetings and events, recruitment and human resource (HR) management.
Climate change, mental health and wellbeing
The negative impacts on mental health and wellbeing of climate change.
Disability Data Advocacy Toolkit
The aim of this toolkit is to contribute to the growing global dialogue on the importance of data on people with disabilities, specifically to provide some basic knowledge on data collection, analysis and use of data for evidence-based advocacy.