A Task Force of representative members has been established in December 2004 to coordinate the work of the GPDD for the next two years.  See their biographies
FOUNDATION  Mr. Kalle Konkkola (Chair of the Task Force)
Chairman Abilis Foundation, Executive Director of the Threshold
Abilis Foundation
Finland GOVERNMENT Dr. Sundeep Khanna
Additional Secretary
Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment
India The Hon. James Mwandha
Former Member of Parliament
Parliament of Uganda
Uganda NGO Mr. Francois De Keersmaeker
Director
Handicap International
Germany Ms. Philippa Lei
Child Rights Policy Adviser
World Vision UK
UK Ms. Euphrasia Mbewe
African Deaf Union, and
IDA Interim President for Africa Deaf Union
Zambia Mr. Andreas Pruisken
Program Officer, Public Relations
Christoffel Blinden Mission
Germany Mr. Bob Ransom
Executive Director
Ethiopian Center for Disability and Development
Ethiopia Ms. Diane Richler
President
Inclusion International
Canada Mr. William Rowland
President
World Blind Union
South Africa Mr. Ronald Wiman
Development Manager
Socially Sustainable Development
National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health
Finland WORLD BANK Mr. Sándor Sipos (World Bank Representative)
Sector Manager
Social Protection & Labor
Human Development Network
World Bank
USA Ms. Jeanine Braithwaite (Participate on behalf of Mr. Sipos)
Senior Economist and Team Leader
Disability and Development, Social Protection & Labor
Human Development Network
World Bank
USA
Biography Kalle Konkolla, Chair of the GPDD Coordinating Task Force, Chairperson Abilis Foundation (Finland)
The ABILIS Foundation is a development fund, founded by people with disabilities in Finland in 1998. Its mandate is to support the activities empowerment of disabled persons in the Global South (developing countries), President of Threshold, the first Independent Living Center in Europe founded in 1972. Former member of Parliament and member of the Helsinki City Council. Sundeep Khanna, Additional Secretary Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry of Government of India (India)
Mr. Khanna is a member of the Indian Administrative Service since 1972 working as Additional Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, dealing amongst other subject with issues relating to persons with disabilities and older persons. Master of Arts from Delhi University. Bachelor of Law, Doctorate in Political Science, Published a number of research papers in Indian and International Journals, takes keen interest in Human Rights Issues especially in the context of Persons with Disabilities and their inclusion in the mainstream of the society for development. James Mwandha, Former Member of Parliament in Uganda, representing People with Disabilities. (Uganda)
Mr. Mwandha is a Polio Survivor. He has since 1989 served as a Member of Parliament in Uganda, representing People with Disabilities. He is Uganda's delegate to the UN Ad Hoc Committee on the Convention on the Rights and Dignity of People with Disabilities and he is the Chairman of the National Steering Committee for Uganda on the implementation of the African Decade for People with Disabilities 2000-2009. Mr. Mwandha is furthermore the Chairman of the National Disabled Peoples Organization (DPO) and actively engaged in disability rights advocacy in Uganda and Africa. Francois de Keersmaeker, Handicap International, Germany, MA in Law (Belgium)
Mr. Keersmaeker worked 5 Years (1989-1994) as country manager for Handicap International in Mozambique, Pakistan/Afghanistan and Madagascar, in the field of Disability. He also worked free-lance as advisor for UNDP, UNICEF and German Agro-Action between 1995 and 1997, in the field of Vulnerable Groups and Internally Displaced Persons. Since 1998 Director of the German section of Handicap International (Disability NGO). Philippa Lei, Child Rights Policy Adviser, World Vision (United Kingdom)
Ms. Lei holds a Masters degree in the Management of Non-Governmental Organizations from the London School of Economics. Prior to working for WVUK, she spent 3 years working with a local Romanian NGO on its programme development and advocacy on behalf of children in especially difficult circumstances, with a special focus on abandoned children suffering from HIV/AIDS and those living on the streets. Currently, her main focus of work is on the right of disabled children to education in developing countries. Euphrasia Mbewe, African Deaf Union, IDA Interim President for Africa Deaf Union (Zambia)
She is currently Project Coordinator for Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Sign Language Project ESARSLAP from 1997 2006. A project under the auspices of the Finnish Association of the Deaf (FAD) Ms. Mbewe is also Chairperson for women committee on Southern Africa Federation of the Disabled (SAFOD). SAFOD co-ordinate 10 member countries in Southern Africa. She was Coordinator for women Programme in SAFOD from 1994 to 1997 in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. SAFOD is a sub region for Pan Africa Federation of the Disabled (PAFOD) affiliated to Disabled People’s International (DPI). Long advocator for Deaf issues at grassroot, national, regional and international level. In Zambia Has been the first female Deaf woman to be chairperson for Zambia Federation of the Disabled (ZAFOD). ZAFOD is affiliated to SAFOD. She was former Chairperson for Zambia National Association of the Disabled Women (ZNADWO). Ms. Mbewe has also worked as Organisation Advisor in Association of the Deaf in Maputo Mozambique. Andreas Pruisken, Christian Blind Mission (Germany)
Master of Divinity from Yale, New Haven in 1984. Mr. Pruisken worked in an Outreach Program, supported by the Episcopal Church in the South End of Stamford, Connecticut serving the poor population by for example providing housing for the homeless and refugees and running a summer camp for under privileged children. In 1986 Mr. Pruisken started working for CBM, an international Christian NGO with fundraising offices in 10 countries and long term development projects for people with disabilities in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Bob Ransom, Executive Director of the Ethiopian Center for Disability and Development, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (USA)
Mr. Ransom was formerly the UN representative to the Task Force as being Senior Specialist on Disability for the Training and Employment Department, International Labour Office (ILO), based in Geneva, Switzerland and responsible for ILO activities promoting training and employment opportunities for persons with disabilities in Africa. Prior to that he was Director of International Programs for Goodwill Industries of America, the world's largest employer of persons with disabilities. He has been asked to continue as a co-opted member of the Task Force. Diane Richler, President, Inclusion International (Canada)
Inclusion International is a grassroots human rights organization dedicated to promoting the full inclusion of persons with an intellectual disability and their families. It is one of the seven international disability organizations recognized by the United Nations. Ms. Richler was awarded the Order of Canada in recognition to her contributions to improving the lives of Canadians. Ronald Wiman, Donor representative to the Task Force reporting to the current donors Finland, Italy, Norway and to Germany and Sweden (Finland)
Mr. Wiman is Head of the Group on Socially Sustainable Development at STAKES, National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health, Finland. He is also External Advisor on Social Development for the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs Sándor Sipos, Sector Manager for Social Protection and Labor at Human Development Network, World Bank (Hungary)
Mr. Sipos is responsible for overseeing strategy development, business incubation, capacity development and knowledge management in social protection worldwide in the Bank’s core competency areas: pensions, labor markets, social insurance and social risk management, social safety nets, family benefits, disability and social funds/community driven development (CDD), as well as professional development of the Bank’s 135 social protection staff through the Bank’s Social Protection Sector Board of which he is a member. Previously, he worked on supporting governments during the transition in Central and Eastern Europe, in World Bank’s operations, including serving as Head of the World Bank Group’s Office in Zagreb, Croatia (1997-2001). Prior to joining the Bank in 1992, he advised UNICEF on its engagement in operations in Central and Eastern Europe (1990-92) at UNICEF’s Innocenti Center in Florence, Italy. He was a Leverhulme Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Sussex, UK (1988-89) and worked for the Institute for World Economics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1981-90) in Budapest. He has published mainly on social policy and international economics. He holds a doctorate in international economics from the Budapest University of Economics (1984), where he graduated in 1981. Back to Top |
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