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Agents
of Change: Workshop on Self-help Organizations of Persons with Disabilities
(SHOs), Related Family and Parents Associations and Women with Disabilities
towards Biwako Plus five |
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Materials :
Country Papers :Nepal - Actions towards Biwako Plus FiveBirendra Raj Pokharel |
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Introduction of Presenter: Mr. Birendra Raj Pokharel, as a Blind Person, started career in Disability through Nepal Association of the Blind (NAB). As a chairman of NAB Kathmandu branch, he ensured so many improvements within organization. At the same time, he joined advance level computer course in the International human Resource Center for Disabled (IHRDC), India, from where, he was nominated for participating the 11th World Conference of ‘International Council for the Education of Visually Impaired People’ (ICEVI) in the Netherlands in 2002. He could learn so many practices in the global context during the entire conference, which he tried to adopt in Nepal in different forums. He was nominated by the government for participating 8 weeks training on ‘Technical Aid for Visually Disabled People’ in Japan in early 2003. After getting back, he was involved in ‘Nepal Blind Support Association’ and worked for betterment of blind community as a consultant. At the same time, he got closer in the cross-disabilities network and involved in ‘National Federation of the Disabled-Nepal’ (NFD-N) and successfully accomplished the ‘Capacity Building Training/seminar for PWDs in Asia Pacific region’ convened in Kathmandu, Nepal in February 2004 as principal secretariat, where he came more closer with the Disabled Peoples’ International and many Disabled leaders of Asia-Pacific Region. From 2004 April, he has been working as President of NFDN. Consequently, he joined 1st leadership training conducted by DPI-Korea in South Korea. As a president of Member National Assembly of DPIAP, he participated in the 9th Regional Assembly in Thailand and got elected as Regional Council Member in April 2004. In September 2005, the Ministry of Special Education and social welfare of Pakistan and APCD jointly conducted the Capacity Building Training Seminar for Self-Help Organization (CBSHOD) in Pakistan where he was invited as a Resource person. In January 2006, he presented the paper in the 2nd Asian Deaf-Blind Conference convened in Dhaka, Bangladesh. In March 2006, he successfully participated in the regional workshop on Legal Advocacy for the Defense of Disabled People in Bangkok. He has recently participated in the Advance International training Program on Human Rights and Disability as an "Agent of Change" convened by The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) in Stockholm, Sweden from 8th May to 19th May, 2006. While working in the Disabled community as a professional, he determined to conduct Ph. D. Research in Tribhuwan University and enrolled in Department of Rural Development in the topic "Roles of Self-Help Organizations/groups of Disabilities for the inclusion in development process for ensuring Human Rights". He is well known for his incredible work on promoting Disability movement and for adopting DAISY in Nepal. The National Federation of the Disabled – Nepal (NFD-N), (also known as DPI-Nepal) has emerged as a key strategic player within Nepal's disability field representing 168 disabled people's Organizations (DPOs) working to advance the rights, dignity and lives of disabled people in Nepal. Starting from 8 member organisations, NFDN formally established in 1993 and registered in the District Administration Office of Kathmandu as a Non-governmental, non-profit oriented, self-help cross disability Umbrella Organisation under the Institution registration Act-1977 and affiliated with social welfare council. From it inception, NFDN has been taking responsibilities of coordinating, and building the capacities of its member Organisations through the financial and technical support of international development partners and the government. NFD-N’s works is to ensure the principles and strategies underlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other internationally recognized legal instruments that protect and promote the rights of PWDs. This organization is fighting for the right and dignity of people with disabilities through advocacy, awareness/sensitization and capacity building from central to grassroots level. At present, NFDN has expanded its network through five regional offices and has been planning to strengthen district coordination committees countrywide. Since its commencement, NFDN has become instrumental in coordinating, advocating and elevating the status of PWDs in Nepal. NFDN with its strong policy advocacy has been able to bring out some important legal provisions and programmes at the national level. In 2004, a seventeen article agreement has been signed by NFDN with Ministry of Women Children and Social Welfare (MWCSW) to implement the program on the basis of provisions mentioned in UN standard rules on equalization of opportunity for PWDs and Biwako Millennium Framework of Action. NFDN has represented PWDs in Nepal in national and international arena. It has its representation in Special Education Council under Ministry of Education and Sports and Disabled service National Coordination Committee. NFDN represents PWDs in international forum as member National Assembly of Disabled People International (DPI). VISION: NFDN envisages an empowered person with disability who is educated, socially secure, economically productive, politically aware, and happily living with full realization of human right and dignity in an inclusive and a barrier free society MISSION: NFDN will play an effective leadership role to ensure that PWDs have a decisive role in the development process in an organized way. GOAL: To get a positive and fully sensitized state, needs based and inclusive program and activities, obligatory laws which will be reviewed when necessary, policies, rules, regulations and their effective implementation.
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Background of adoption of BMF in Nepal:By virtue of being member of United Nations, Nepal recognized the human rights of person with disability in the year 1981 when Nepal along with the world community celebrated the International Year of Disabled Persons with the theme of "Full Participation and Equality" to realize the goals of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Accordingly, it had come up with some major achievements like the commencement of a landmark Act namely "Disabled Protection and Welfare Act 1982", which expressly granted some rights and facilities to the Persons With Disabilities in Nepal. However, these laws came as legal instrument, the People with Disability couldn’t be benefited by the provisions covered within the framework. It was the first peoples’ movement which restored democracy in 1991 that allowed PWDs to begin establishing Self-Help Groups and to start to develop DPOs in Nepal. Though, these organizations put endeavor for the promotion of health, education and employment opportunity for the PWDs under the Government policy and plan of action, it is not found to be realistic and result orientated. The prominent lacking was realized the absence of the line Ministry for looking after issues of Disabilities. As a result of lobbying and sensitization of concerned stakeholders and SHOs and the direction of international convention and declaration, HMG/N has established Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare (MWCSW) in 1995 that looks after the welfare and rehabilitation programs for PWDs along with women and children. Since its establishment, MWCSW has been addressing the issues concerning policies and plans for the development of PWDs and has been instrumental in taking stock of commitments done by HMG/N on international forums and ensured by government through acts and regulations. As a focal Ministry MWCSW has been involved seriously in implementing existing National and International legal framework and ensuring the facilities to PWDs within the country. Within a very short period of its establishment, the MWCSW has tried to fulfill its obligations for ensuring rights of PWDs by formulating policy and plan of action on Disability delivered by World Program of Action Concerning Disabled Persons. The MWCSW in collaboration with National Federation of the Disabled-Nepal accomplished "Capacity Building Training Seminar "(CBTS) in 1994 February. 27 Asia-Pacific countries had participated in the CBTS which had covered the Priorities mentioned in BMF. This is the most outstanding event that morally obligated Nepal for implementation of the BMF. The opening remarks of Chief Guest at the event one way or another reflects the commitment made by the Government (see Annex 1) However the translation of BMF in Local language was made in Nepal first time in 2003 and disseminated to the concern stakeholders including Goes, NGOs and DPOs, It was the political instability that hindered the achievement and lay down every efforts made for implementation of the existing policy and action plan. When, the Peoples’ movement in 2006 reinstated full democracy in Nepal, The NFDN strongly advocated to the government for resuming the works accomplished previously that couldn’t be materialized during the direct regime of the King. The active role played by the PWDs during agitation was highly acknowledged by political parties, government and relevant stakeholders, the MWCSW developed consciences for collaborating with the SHOs for the promotion of PWDs in all concerned areas by formulating Rules to implement DPWA-1982, defining disabilities through social perspectives, developing Policy and Plan of Action (NPPA) to follow the guidelines of UN Standard Rules on Equalization of Opportunity for PWDs and Biwako Millennium Framework of Action. Some of the remarkable outcomes have observed that has been appreciated by the SHOs and stakeholders. Target One: Development of Self Help Organizations of PWDs (SHOs): The first NGO working in Disability, Nepal Disabled Blind Association (NDBA) which later named as Nepal Disabled Association (NDA) was established by a physically Disabled person, late Phaedra Abrader Basinet, was established in 1969 which started to provide shelter based vocational training, education, treatment and other services to PWDs. Awareness campaign is the regular activities of the NDA. It was the first NGO to receive support from Government to render rehabilitation, education and training with residential facilities to PWDs. After the observance of IYDP, several Welfare based NGOs begin, Nepal Association for the Welfare of the Blind (NAWB) Welfare Society for Hearing Impaired (WSHI) and Association for the Welfare of Mentally Retarded (AWMR) were established during this period. These four NGOs conducted the service delivery programs relating to education, vocational training and CBR. Hence, it is obvious that, Prior to 1990 welfare based NGOs were representing on behalf of PWDs. It was the democracy that allowed the concerned stakeholders to establish SHOsas per their nature for their development. Since 1990, PWDs have established many SHOs and mobilize for lobbying and pressure building activities for ensuring their rights. Activities like advocacy, leadership training and public awareness to safe guard their interest on rights based perspectives in all areas that are needed to lead normal lives as equal to non disabled persons have been carried out by SHOs as a regular feature. Kathmandu Association of Deaf (KAD), a first SHO formed by deaf persons in Nepal, National Federation of Deaf and Hard of Hearing (NFDH), Nepal Association of Deaf and Hard of Hearing (NADH), Nepal National Federation of Deaf (NNFD), Nepal Association of the Blind (NAB), National Association of Physical Disabled (NAPD) emerged as strong advocacy based SHOs. Many others SHOs were also established in different parts of the country and started raising their voice against discrimination and disparities they faced. Concerned government agencies, welfare based NGOs and SHOs themselves faced difficulties for the negotiation and settlement of disputes due to non-existence of an umbrella organization. Thus, NFDN was established in 1993 as an umbrella organization to fill the gap. Presently, 168 DPO/SHOs across the country have been working within network of NFDN. Government’s policy for Development of SHOs: The 10th five year plan (2003-2007) has slightly mentioned about development of SHOs however, Government seems to be sensitive and ready for encouragement to PWDs for their full participation at all level of decision-making bodies from center to grass root level. MWCSW extended its support to SHOs for counseling services to PWDs and participation of various SHOs and individuals throughout the country for service delivery since 2003. The SHOs can be established under the institutional enrollment act 1977 but in particular, there is not any specific law or policy available to encourage for establishing the SHOs. Recently, the Government has commenced the National Policy and Plan of Action 2006 which include provision for supporting the development the SHOs from central to community level. The government has shown its sincere commitment at the international and regional level by commencing NPPA 2006 with 17 priorities on the basis of priorities mentioned in the BMF. The NPPA has been prepared with the active involvement of concerned government agencies, NFDN, SHOs, representative of stakeholders, social workers, external development partners, experts and professionals. Different thematic groups were formed for detail discussion on different topics as assigned. NPPA is very comprehensive document that covers 17 major areas with details (global/national context, issues, states objective, policy, strategy and plan of action with indicators) of activities. The 17 areas as covered by NPPA are as follows;
Government Financial support for SHOs: One of the remarkable outcomes after observance of IYDP in Nepal is the establishment of Disabled Relief Fund (DRF) in 1982. However, the works of DRF primarily been driven by the charitable perspective, the PWDs are being supported by its inception. DRF is the only government supported agency that produces aids and appliances and distribute to PWDs free of cost. In addition, DRF is the first government agencies to start vocational training and support to disabled students with scholarship including girls and women. MWCSW has also started to allocate grants to DRF for that purpose. MWCSW has also initiated the distribution of Assistive devices, Aids and appliance Regional basis to facilitate the PWDs in their movement, independent living and facilitation in education and employment. DRF that started its activities with fund more than five hundred thousand Nepalese Rupees initially, now runs its activities, such as; training, production and distribution of orthopedic appliance, scholarship and other with fund more than ten million Rupees. The Government allocates some grant in the annual Budget for supporting National DPOs and SHOs including NFDN for awareness development, disability prevention and control, networking and capacity building. The MWCSW also supports the local level SHOs for conducting rehabilitation services in some district but the allocated resources are very thinly spread. The Social Welfare council has been supporting few SHOs working in rural community with a tokenistic grant for the skill development of the PWDs in rural area. The Government had also been providing Soft loan to the PWDs for the self-employment scheme but that has been stopped from last four years due to the faulty mechanism. Now, the new executive board has been exploring the best possible way for continuing the scheme. It is strongly recommended by the NFDN that, the SHOs must be involved for implementation of the soft loan scheme so that, the needy PWDs in the rural community can be benefited. The Ministry of Local Development has been circulated the direction order to the district and village level committees for allocating 1-5 Percent of the local resources for the service and development of PWDs. The SHOs in more than 15 districts have been utilizing the grant for benefiting PWDs. However, there is clear directions from the central level for allocating the local resources to the local Government agencies, the local level government authorities are not fulfilling the obligations. The Government under the Social Security scheme has been providing NPR 175 (Approx US$ 2.5) monthly to the helpless PWDs not exceeding 50 persons in each district. This pension scheme is very much inadequate for survival which is lower than even daily allowance of a lower level employed person. The Ministry of Education and Sports has been providing grant for the Sports, cultural and recreational activities of CWDs that are important components for physical, intellectual and social development of PWDs. Sports, Cultural/Recreational activities help PWDs in socializing and mainstreaming avoiding barriers, discrimination and exclusion. Extra curricular activities and sports are carried out by the Government in cooperation with AWMR (intellectual Disability) and Nepal Para Olympic Committee (SHOs). The department of education provides grant to SHOs for the development of Braille books of School level, teachers and sign language development. International agencies or NGOs policy for Development of SHOs: There are several external agencies working in the field of disability in Nepal. They are: i. International Non-governmental Organisations (INGOs), ii. Bilateral Agencies, iii. Multilateral Agencies. INGOs: There are 97 INGOs registered with Social Welfare Counciland are working in social welfare sectors. Out of this only 26 INGOs are working in the field of disability either in collaboration with NGOs or through concerned Ministries. Most of the INGOs have an established office in Nepal and some do not have offices in Nepal but provide support to NGOs in the field of disability. The support provided by these INGOs is not sufficiently outreached to the PWDs of rural community because the participation of the SHOs is massively overlooked. Bilateral Agencies: There are several bilateral agencies, which support the activities for the people with disability. They provide help by bilateral agreement between HMG/N and the donor countries. The agencies are JICA, USAID, NORAD, DANIDA, CIDA and others. JICA supported National SHOs (NFDN) for conducting CBTS in 2004. Multilateral Agencies: Thereare some multilateral agencies like UNDP, WHO, UNICEF, UNESCO, FAO, World Bank, ADB, etc. Because the working mechanism of these agencies is through Government, the support in activities in the field of disability is not sufficiently observed. Some of the International Agencies have played vital roles for the development of SHOs in the country. The policy undertaken by these agencies influence the promotion of the socio-economic status of PWDs. In the present context, several International Agencies follow twin-track approach for development of the vulnerable segment of the society. They adopt the disability as cross-cutting theme of the development. Some of the International Agencies supporting for the development of SHOs for outreaching the PWDs in Rural communities are as follows: Action Aid Nepal (AAN) has been working in Nepal since 1982. From the very beginning, ActionAid Nepal has been working with the poorest and most disadvantaged members of the society, which encompasses the marginalized and poor households, women, men, girls and boys. Disability has been undertaken as one of the themes of the engagement of the Action Aid Nepal that has been covered in the position paper on Disability prepared by this organisation in 2004. AAN believes that until and unless the people with disabilities are able to claim their rights and enjoyment, the major goal of poverty eradication cannot be achieved. AAN has been launching various activities through it long term partner NGOs along with different SHOs to support and promote rights and opportunities of the PWDs. Recently, AAN has supported more than 20 SHOs of rural community for awareness building, advocacy and capacity building of the PWDs. In 2005, the AAN has funded around 6 million NPR for supporting DPOs and SHOs. Plan Nepal is working with and for children to improve children's lives worldwide. The Key issue is the education for all. In the hundreds of communities Plan Nepal work in, often high percentages of people have difficulty accessing adequate healthcare, sanitation and poverty, sometimes leads to vulnerability. Plan Nepal aim to facilitate change that will improve access to basic needs, and provide equal opportunities. Plan Nepal is supporting the SHOs in central, regional and grassroots level for uplifting the lives of the children with Disabilities. However, Plan Nepal particularly has not prioritized the activities in Disability, have been supporting various NGOs for disability prevention and control, rehabilitation, education and accessibility. Recently Plan Nepal has developed partnership with several SHOs for delivering services to the CWDs. VSO is an international development charity that works through volunteers. Its vision is a world without poverty in which people work together to fulfill their potential. VSO Nepal volunteers are working in the areas of education, participation and governance and HIV & AIDS. VSO’s work supports many of the most disadvantaged groups in Nepal including women, dalits, ethnic groups, and disabled people. These groups are not often included in government development policies and decision-making processes, and may be denied access to basic public services. These groups often face discrimination and social exclusion from birth. Corruption and lack of accountability and transparency in the government are major obstacles to development in Nepal. This is often exacerbated by weak management structures in the civil society organisations which represent the interests of poor and marginalized groups such as Dalits, women and people with disabilities, leading to poor representation of the rights of these groups within government policy making. VSO volunteers are working with a range of organisations to improve planning, management, training and human resource skills in local organisations and helping to develop alliances and networks of like-minded organisations that are in a better position to advocate for the rights of these communities. VSO has been providing skilled volunteers for the development of SHOs rather than providing financial grant. Measures taken by the Government to support the formation of parents Association: The Disability movement gained momentum after the adoption of World Program of Action towards Disability which was adopted by the Government of Nepal and commence ‘Disabled Protection and Welfare Act 1982 (DPWA). However, the DPWA has been driven by the charitable perspectives, the parents of Intellectual Disabilities are encouraged to take care of their children. In the beginning of International Decade of Disabled Persons, the parents of different disabilities started to formulate their network and established the welfare based organisations under the institutional enrollment act 1977. The parents association of Deaf and hard of hearing, Intellectual disabilities, autism, muscular Dystrophy etc came in existence. Recently, the Government has elaborated the definition and classification of Disabilities in Nepal and has endorsed official representation of the Parents of Intellectual Disabilities and severe disabilities like Deaf-blind, muscular Dystrophy, CP etc. The Parents association in the slums and rural area are yet not encouraged by any of the authority. The government however providing small grant upon request and some times with strong advocacy, the Parents association in Nepal encounter many difficulties even running the organization due to the lack of financial resources. The government neither has clear policy for supporting the Parents associations nor any measures to support them with subsidy and tax exemption. Because, the parents must spend time for their CWDs, they have less time for income generating activities thus, these parents are not found encouraged establishing associations especially in slums and rural areas. Recommendation for measures to be taken for meeting this target: The government should make a policy for working in collaboration with the National and local level SHOs for providing soft loan, pension, scholarship and support services to PWDs in all parts of the country. The Social Welfare council (SWC) must include the provision of allocating budget for promotion and development of SHOs activities in the Terms of Reference that is to be followed by every INGOs and development agencies that are affiliated in SWC. Good Practice:
Target Two: Inclusion of persons with disabilities in decision-making processes: The government has clear obligation in accordance the several International laws for establishing the National Policy on Disability for the establishment of the National coordination committee which is also elaborated recently in the NPPA 2006. Disabled Service National Coordination Committee: DSNCC is a high-level 24 member’s coordination committee formed under the Chairmanship of Minister for MWCSW. The central level DSNCC has representation from the relevant ministries in 10 numbers, PWDs from cross disability and the representatives from the organizations working in Disability in 12 numbers, 2 experts working in the Disability. There is a provision of district level coordination committee within the similar mechanism as in central level. The DSNCC is high level committee which is responsible for policy formulation, implementation of the NPPA 2006, monitoring the activities under the plan of action and to support the SHOs for organizational strengthening, service delivery to PWDs and advocacy for ensuring their rights from central level to the Local level. The working committee under DSNCC can be formulated in order to ensure objectives of the committee. NFDN has been playing active role for establishing the DSNCC. NFDN started campaign for ensuring leadership role among PWDs in DRF which has recently been materialized. Beside these initiatives, the PWDs are being nominated in the following national committees; Special Education Council, Sports council and Social Welfare Council. The participation of PWDs in the following district and grass root level committee has also been observed; Education Committee and District Assessment Centers. However, the participation of PWDs in aforementioned mechanism has been ensured, they are left behind from the opportunity of equal participation in the Nation building process by overlooking them in decision making process. However, the representation of the PWDs in the policy formation in some related field has been observed, the symbolic participation is not the urge of the Disabled community. In the present context, the country is in the transitional phase of political transformation, the PWDs advocate for their participation in the state reformation process. The interim constitution is being drafted but the representation of the PWDs is not observed in the drafting committee. The prevalence rate of the Disability has been accelerated due to the arm conflict and the peace talks is under process, the participation of the PWDs in the peace talks monitoring team is not observed, that hinders the rehabilitation of the acquired PWDs that may store them in the stigma everlastingly. The meaningful participation of PWDs in the constitutional process is one of the most relevant urge of the Disabled community that ensures the inclusion of PWDs in state mechanism for mainstreaming them in development process. The ultimate goal in the present context is to ensure civil and political, economic, social and cultural rights of PWDs as equal as all and every marginalized communities in Nepal. Good Practice: The representation of PWDs has been increased in the present DSNCC rather than the past practices. The entire members of the 11 members DRF board has been covered only by the PWDs which was formulated in August 2006. The National Human Rights Commission has recently recruited three PWDs under the reservation policy for PWDs in the commission. The AAN, as an INGO, has recruited some PWDs in officer and assistant level. Measures to be taken for ensuring participation of PWDs in Policy making level: In the state reformation process, the representation of PWDs must be ensured in substitution parliament, National Government and Constitutional Assembly. Target 3: Anti-discrimination measures to safeguard the rights of women with disabilities: The women with disabilities face doubly discrimination being women and Disabled Person. The root cause of this discrimination is because of their inferior status prevailed them one of the most disadvantaged groups. They are stigmatized, rejected and excluded from family, community and from the government policy. Most of them are subject to oppressive discriminatory practices, myths and wrong belief by the ignorance of the people. As in many countries, there is still a considerable amount of social stigma for disabled women and their families in Nepal. They are discriminated in all spheres of life such as self decision, education, employment, economic participation, marriage and family, access to resources and mobility In the emerging trend of encouraging Women participation, the WWds also became sensitized and decided to organize themselves to safeguard their rights and interests. Realizing the need for self-empowerment, women with disabilities in Nepal started forming their own SHOs. The NFDN (DPI-Nepal) encouraged them to gain strength to challenge the existing discrimination by joining together and supporting each other. Consequently, several SHOs of WWDs have been established and affiliated in NFDN. Nepal Disabled Women Society (NDWS), Nepal Disabled Women Association (NDWA), National Association of Disabled Women (NADW) and Nepal Chelibeti Apang Samaj (NCAS) are the functional SHOS of WWDs in Nepal. However, they continued their strong advocacy for establishing anti-discrimination legislation for PWDs specially for protecting WWDs with this legal framework, the Government hasn’t formulated any anti-discrimination measures for PWDs. Measures to be taken for safeguard the WWDs: There are no legally binding acts to protect and promote the rights and interest of WWDs in Nepal. As a member state of the UN, Nepal must ratify the forthcoming UN Convention on Rights of PWDS which covers anti discriminative measures for WWDs. The WWDs should be given due attention from the Government for protecting their inherent dignity by formulating anti discrimination legislation. The WWDs should provided opportunity to participate fully in the policy making level. Good practices: The parliament in May 2006 has passed the compulsory provision of 1/3 participation of Women in all state mechanism. The Government has nominated WWd in the board of Social Welfare council, Children relief fund and Disabled Relief Fund. The NPPA 2006 has prioritize the issue of WWDs, their empowerment and participation in all decision making bodies from central to the local level. Target 4: Policy of SHOs of PWDs to promote participation of women with disabilities: The disability movement in Nepal gained momentum only after adoption of Asia-Pacific decade of Disabled Person 1993-2002. In the existing context that time, the PWDs were cast down, stigmatized, rejected and excluded from family, community and even from the government policies. In such vulnerable circumstances, it was very hard to find reasonable representation of the WWDs in Self-help groups. After establishment of National SHOs, the representation of the WWDs in the executive bodies, policy level was overlooked. However, the WWDs were encouraged to take active participation in the policy advocacy campaigns, the stigmatization prevailed most of the WWDs to take active participation in the movement from community level to the National level. There were very few WWDs were involved actively in the SHOs movement consequently, the capable women came in the leadership role of (NFDN) DPI-Nepal. It was strongly realized that, without policy and quota system, the participation of WWDs might not be ensured in the decision making level of the organization, Hence NFDN elaborated its constitution in 2004 including the provision of reservation for WWDs of four different disabled categories (Blind, Deaf, Physical, Intellectual Disability) in the central board, regional board and district coordination councils. The bi-laws of the NFDN also has mentioned that, the representation of WWDs in each and every committees, sub-committees, regional committees and monitoring team including implementation level must be ensured. The strategic paper of NFDN has clearly mentioned that, the activities for empowering WWDs shall be undertaken from local level to the National level. The advocacy training and capacity building training for WWDs are being conducted in regional level under the partnership of Government and DSI. The resource persons are also developed among WWDs for conducting such training. It is also observed that, the National level SHOs of different disabled categories have adopted constitutional provisions for ensuring representation of WWDs. As a result, the representation of WWDs in the central board of NFDN, NAB, NFDH, NAPD etc has been materialized. In recent years it is observed that, the enrollment rate of girls with disabilities in the school has been remarkably increased. The WWDs are being gradually visualized in the community and taking part in various women groups. However the participation of some WWDs is ensured in the decision making level of the National SHOs, lots yet to do for their equal representation. Good practice: The DPI-Nepal has constitutional provision of prioritizing WWDs during selection of representatives in the National assembly. The similar practice is also observed in National SHOs of cross-disabilities organisations. The National SHOs have given priority to WWDs for training opportunity in the international level. The Leaders among WWDs are empowered by attending training in Japan, Denmark, South Korea, Pakistan, India, Bangkok, USA and other countries. Target 5: Women with disabilities in women’s associations or organizations The Women with Disabilities are seen inferior among women participation in Nepal. This results in their isolation and marginalization. They become the poorest of the poor in terms of money, power and participation. A glaring example of their marginalization and neglect is that there is no reliable data available with regard to Persons with Disabilities. Disabled women often remain invisible citizens in the mainstream policy, often unconsidered in women affairs In the present Nepalese context of women representation in different sphere of social, political, economical and cultural life, the WWDs however not restricted to take part, are not found to be encouraged from the mainstream Women movement. Some of the Women’s campaigns for participation has tried to collaborate with the SHOs of WWDs, the concept is only driven with their symbolic participation. Presently, one organization of Women movement, WORAC has been conducting peace campaign including WWDs. The membership for the WWDS however not restricted, the encouragement has also not been observed. The participation of WWDs in the policy making level is overlooked however, one scheduled cast WWD has been employed in the Women Commission in Nepal. Thanking you all for your attention. 18 October, 2006 |
Appendix 1: Opening remarks of Chief Guest of Capacity Building Training Seminar for PWDs (CBTS); Right Honorable Mr. Parashu Narayan ChoudhariMr. .Chairman of the Inaugural Session, His Excellency Ambassador of Japan, High-ranking officials of Nepal government, Distinguished delegates Ladies and Gentleman It is my great pleasure to be here with you this morning. It has been obvious, in the past two decades, that persons with disabilities (PWDs) and disability movement have involved significantly in development process at different level. Especially, when United Nations proclaimed 1981 the International Year of Disabled Persons (IYDP). That proclamation aroused disabled people to get together and form their self-help organizations at all level. Disability movement contributed in formulation the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons which was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1982. Following with UN Decade of Disabled Persons 1983-1992, most of the government around the world continued their support in rehabilitation and services for disabled people. In order to maintain the momentum of work, the governments in ESCAP region announced Asia and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons from 1993-2002. Working side-by-side among the governments, NGOs and disabled people organization (DPO), makes substantive development of people with disabilities and their families. However, much more things have to be done, especially alleviation of poverty. With strong advocate from NGOs and INGOs, ESCAP, including the Government of Nepal, announced another decade of disabled persons from 2003-2012 and adopted the Biwako Millennium Framework for Action (BMF) towards an Inclusive, Barrier-free and Rights-based Society for Persons with Disabilities in Asian and the Pacific. The BMF encourages Governments to actively implement the paradigm shift from a charity-based approach to a rights-based approach to the development of persons with disabilities and to move towards the human rights perspective, especially the perspective of the right to development for persons with disabilities. The framework also identifies seven priority areas for action of which one among these is to promote self-help organizations of persons with disabilities and related family and parent associations. Giving importance to the BMF, Nepal is one of the first countries that has translated the BMF into Nepalese language. It is exactly right to say that having Capacity Building Training Seminar for Persons with Disabilities here in Nepal is timely. Firstly, this training seminar is the forum for all of you to elaborately discuss the content of the BMF. Secondly, it is important for the current leaders to familiarize with the right-based approach including drafting process of international convention on the rights of disabled persons. Thirdly, This training seminar will develop new young leaders to maintain disability movement at regional and international level, as your senior leaders become older and older. And finally, this is an opportunity for all of you to strengthen network of disability movement, linking together from local to national and to international level. I congratulate all of you to be here timely at the beginning of our second decade of disabled persons. I wish all overseas participants a pleasant stay in Kathmandu. And wish this training seminar the fruitful and successful one. May I mark the opening of Capacity Building Training Seminar for Persons with Disabilities in Asia and Pacific Region. THANK YOU. |
