From 5-11 March 2016 in Bangkok, the International Disability and Development Consortium (IDDC) and the International Disability Alliance (IDA) piloted the second module of the BRIDGE training on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability (CRPD) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Six months after the first module of BRIDGE CRPD-SDG training was piloted in Bangkok, and with the support of the ASEAN Disability Forum, 32 representatives of disabled peoples’ organisations (DPOs) from ten Southeast Asian countries reconvened to develop a CRPD perspective on development including the SDGs, and learn skills to engage in advocacy for change.
BRIDGE CRPD-SDG training programme is a joint initiative by IDA and IDDC, it is aimed at supporting DPO activists to develop an inclusive (all persons with disabilities) and comprehensive (all human rights) CRPD perspective on development, including the post-2015 agenda and the SDGs to reinforce their advocacy for inclusion and realisation of right of persons of persons with disabilities. The BRIDGE training is composed of 2 core modules and 2 optional modules with a set of assignments to complete between the modules.
Key aspects of the CRPD were revisited in the second module of BRIDGE, and participants explored how to enforce them through inclusive development programming, budget advocacy, using data and evidence, or legal harmonisation.
Participants were given the chance to practice inclusion and build a cross-disability understanding of human rights through inclusive facilitation methods and by interaction in group work. In module 2 of BRIDGE, this was also reinforced through dedicated sessions on gender and women empowerment, self-advocacy with a session run by David Corner, a self-advocate from Inclusion International, and with a presentation by Geir Jensen, President of the World Federation of the Deafblind.
Practice is at the core of module 2 of BRIDGE, and to celebrate International Women’s Day the trainees prepared recommendations and advocated for the rights of women and girls with disabilities with the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). A small delegation of participants also met with Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) to share their views on inclusive development programming.
BRIDGE South East Asia was supported financially by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, DFAT, Handicap International, CBM, Light for the World, and ADD International.
BRIDGE training module 1 has already been piloted in Southeast Asia (with participants from Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam), in Indonesia (with participants from Indonesia and East Timor), in Rwanda (with participants from Rwanda, Burundi, Madagascar and the Democratic Republic of Congo), and in Latin America (with participants from Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Panama, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Venezuela and El Salvador).
IDA and IDDC are now discussing the next steps to promote and expand the BRIDGE training initiative in different regions of the world, and to build a pool of skilled trainers to facilitate the roll-out of the BRIDGE modules.
Source Article from IDDC
