Bridging the Gap holds the conference ‘The European way forward’ within the framework of the European Development and Disability Week
On December 5th Bridging the Gap held at the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) in Brussels the second edition of the Stakeholder Conference on disability mainstreaming in development cooperation “The European way forward” to strengthen the project development practitioner’s partners in defining a stronger and more effective approach to disability mainstreaming.
The meeting, celebrated within the framework of the European Development and Disability Week, contributed to the current debate on disability-inclusive development by reinforcing the role of the European international cooperation and the external dimension of the European Disability Strategy. The well-balanced audience mixed with international experts on disability mainstreaming, development practitioners and civil society organisations shaped a real learning space in which concrete opportunities were identified and discussed.
Leveraging on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) Article 32’s provisions, as well as on the European Union’s commitment to disability mainstreaming claimed in the 2017 European Consensus on Development, Bridging the Gap works to support the EU’s and its member states’ efforts to make their international cooperation’s policies and initiatives more inclusive of and accessible to persons with disabilities.
So far, Bridging the Gap conducted three studies on disability, organised numerous trainings and seminars, and worked along with existing programmes and initiatives, EU Delegations and other key international development practitioners in the five participating countries.
Among the activities carried out, it is worth highlighting the preliminary study “Inclusion of persons with disabilities in European Union development cooperation mechanisms”; the study on the meaningful participation of organisations of persons with disabilities in the project countries; the evaluation of the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the post-2016 earthquake reconstruction in Ecuador; some recommendations on the inclusion of migrants with disabilities; the organisation of 5 Disability Equality Trainings at headquarters’ level for the project partners; the 12-session webinar on disability and development conducted in three languages, the organisation of 4 workshops on disability mainstreaming, including a first Stakeholder seminar on disability mainstreaming in development cooperation in Brussels in April 2019; and a successfully engaged in the mainstreaming of the disability component in existing initiatives of the United Nations, the EU cooperation, the Spanish, Austrian and Italian Cooperation.
Speaker’s presentations available to download hereunder: