FEATUREGPDD Welcomes Maria Reina as the 1st Executive DirectorGlobal disability and poverty efforts get key boost from agreement between SU’s Burton Blatt Institute and World BankMs. Maria Reina has been selected to serve as the Executive Director of the Secretariat of GPDD. The Secretariat will be hosted by the Burton Blatt Institute(BBI) of the Syracuse University, who will receive the World Bank’s Development Grant Facility in order to support the growth and organizational development of the GPDD. The 1st membership meeting is planned to take place in Germany in late April. Press Release[MS Word - 23KB]
Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2008  Poverty alleviation in developing countries and genuine progress toward achievement of the Millennium Development Goals requires that disabled people be explicitly taken into account in national and international economic development efforts. The social and environmental obstacles that marginalize and impoverish disabled people cannot be dissolved by any one kind of entity or organization, but only through the collaborative efforts of diverse stakeholders, including developing countries, bilateral and multilateral donors, UN agencies, national and international NGOs, foundations, and other stakeholders. Yet the idea of mainstreaming disability into the economic development agenda is a novel concept to many foreign assistance providers, developing country governments, and even NGOs. There is sometimes a disconnect between the people who are knowledgeable about international economic development and foreign assistance on the one hand and disability on the other. The objective of the Global Partnership for Disability and Development is to encourage the developing country governments and international cooperation agencies to integrate disabled people into their poverty alleviation efforts. What is the GPDD?The Global Partnership for Disability and Development (GPDD) is a dynamic new initiative to accelerate inclusion of people with disabilities and their families into development policies and practices. The GPDD was formed to increase collaboration among development agencies and organizations to reduce the extreme poverty and exclusion of a substantial number of children, women and men with disabilities living in poor countries. This population includes those born with disabilities and people who become disabled through wars and other violence, traffic or work injuries, diseases, disasters and other causes. Why is the GPDD needed?Few development programs in any country, although designed to benefit poor and disadvantaged people, reach the more than 10% of the population with physical, psycho-social, intellectual or sensory disabilities. In most developing or poor countries, disabled children are not in school, and disabled youth and adults are excluded from training and employment. All over the world, poverty reduction strategies are being launched, providing new opportunities to incorporate people with disabilities as an integral dimension in development plans, covering education, access to health and employment policies. How to be involved?GPDD MaterialsBack to Top |
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