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TWGDC - Sixth session, 6 June 2003 Bangkok Annex6

Annex 6

6 June 2003

TWGDC Sixth Session
TF Meeting on Self-help Organizations (SHO)
5 June 2003, 1100-1300 hrs
United Nations Conference Centre (UNCC), Meeting Room F

DRAFT MINUTES

OPENING OF THE MEETING

  1. The Coordinator for the TF Meeting on SHO, Mr Topong Kulkhanchit, Regional Development Officer of the Asia-Pacific Office, Disabled Peoples' International, introduced himself, and asked all the participants to introduce themselves. In the TF Meeting, 20 people participated. [See the ANNEX 1]

    ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA

  2. The TF Meeting adopted the following agenda:
    1)Introduction of Participants
    2)Background to the TF on SHO
    3)Input from the TF Meeting Participants
    4)Elaboration on BMF relating to SHO of PWD for Immediate Actions
    5)Recommendations to the TWGDC Sixth Session

    BACKGROUND TO THE TF ON SHO

  3. In order to review the background to the newly established TF on SHO as well as the TF on Women with Disabilities (WWD), SHO related parts of the following documents were handed out to the participants: [See the ANNEX 2]
    1)Targets and Recommendations for Implementation of the Agenda for Action (A/P Decade 1993-2002)
    2)Gender Dimensions of the Implementation of the Agenda for Action
    3)Summaries of the Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons (1993-2002) and the BIWAKO Millennium Framework (BMF) for Action (2003-2012)
    4)Graphic Presentation of the Priority Areas in BMF and Concept Chart of APCD
    5)Tentative List of Meeting and Activities for the Second Half Year of 2003 for PSIS Disability Program in ESID of UN ESCAP
  4. The Coordinator briefed the documents and stressed the following points: - SHO was one of the targeted areas in the previous A/P Decade's Agenda for Action.
    - A lot of efforts to establish and develop SHO of PWD at national as well as grass-root level were observed in the past Decade, and the national level SHO of PWD have been established in 26 countries in the Asia-Pacific region as member national assemblies of DPI. There may be some more countries among ESCAP members that self-help group already
    - In the new A/P Decade, "SHO of PWD and related Family and Parental Associations"and "WWD"are the core among the all 7 priority areas.
    -Capacity-building of SHO of PWD is also focused in the Asia-Pacific Development Center on Disability (APCD), which is a disability-concerned regional cooperation body endorsed by UN ESCAP through BMF.

    INPUT FROM THE PARTICIPANTS

  5. SHO related activities which had been carried out mainly in the Pacific for last 18 months by the Inclusive International (II) were introduced. Among those activities, there were a survey project to identify and categorize disabilities and training courses on mobilization/leadership for parents of PWD, mainly of persons with intellectual disabilities.
  6. Experiences in Fiji such as educating and sensitizing the Governments to the significance of the SHO of PWD and promoting a cross-disability approach were shared.
  7. Citing the comments from the participant from Fiji, the Coordinator stressed the challenges of SHO are 1) sustainable management of SHO, 2) SHO members' understanding on different needs of persons with different disabilities when they work as cross-disability organization, and 3) the advocacy role of SHO.
  8. A representative from Thailand addressed the significance of empowerment and independent living of PWD in society. While empowering an individual person with disability, Governments should develop and implement supportive measures for the formation of SHO.
  9. The formation process and current activities of Lao Disabled People's Association (LDPA) were briefed. A self-help group initiated by several persons with disabilities was developed to be LDPA with the Lao Government's recognition in 2001 after the Government had signed the Proclamation of the A/P Decade and the Prime-ministerial Decree had been enforced in 1995. Since 2001, LDPA with a motto of "assisting PWD to assist other PWD" has worked actively in recruiting members, finding their needs and so forth. 5-year Strategic Plan has been developed.
  10. It was reported that in the past 2 years the central Government of Viet Nam, especially the National Coordinating Council on Disability, had supported the formation of self-help groups and facilitated local authorities to permit the activities of those grass-root self-help groups. It is expected that formation of self-help organization at national level will be permitted soon.
  11. A representative from Malaysia briefed that the Malaysian Government has a policy to support the work of NGOs financially for both administration and their projects. SHOs should receive this support, as well. However, it is noted that there are few SHOs of PWDs in Malaysia.
  12. As for Governments' assistance to SHO and autonomy of SHO, some participants expressed their concern. The concern was that "advocacy" one of the most important roles of SHO should be prioritized while providing services to the members is necessary, as well. It would be weakened from certain intervention if SHO too much relied on the Government in financial or the other important aspects.

    ELABORATION ON BMF RELATING TO SHO OF PWD FOR IMMEDIATE ACTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE TWGDC SIXTH SESSION

  13. Citing a SHO-related target in the previous A/P Decade's Agenda for Action, a participant from APCD questioned if organizations of marginalized groups such as users of psychiatric services and persons with intellectual disabilities had been so far formulated/developed in developing counties in the Asia-Pacific region or not.
  14. Toward the above question, the Coordinator provided an example of Thailand that a small group of users of psychiatric services had been very recently initiated. As for the question, implying that a national SHO in developing countries often might lack of or have less understanding/sensitivity to such marginalized groups, a representative form LDPA pointed out that LDPA's constitution Article 7 said that LDPA members should not be "insane" for instance.
  15. A representative from Thailand stressed that available financial resources for supporting/strengthening SHO should be combined and shared. In this context, he suggested that it should be further considered to set up a regional/sub-regional fund for SHO or disability issues in general by utilizing financial sources from existing intergovernmental bodies such as ASEAN etc.
  16. The participants of the Meeting agreed that it would be necessary to further promote the participation of PWD in legislative decision-makings and to support formation of SHO of PWD since SHO of PWD could represent PWD in such decision-making meetings. "To increase participation", not only "to include"
  17. In conjunction with one of the SHO-related strategies of BMF, a participant from APCD suggested that new or existing development cooperation projects, focusing on poverty alleviation in rural areas, should have representatives from SHO of PWD.
  18. A representative from Pakistan mentioned that since some countries were far behind from latest regional news and movement on disability, information dissemination and networking among disability-concerned organizations should be further promoted.
  19. The participants of the Meeting agreed that discussion should be continued through e-mail since the time for this meeting was too short to bring more concrete recommendations.

ANNEX1

List of participants

No. Name Organization Address/E-mail
1. Topong Kulkanchit DPI Asia-Pacific Regional Office rdo@dpiap.org
2. Muniandy Vengidasalam Dept. of Social Welfare, Malaysia gkvmuniandy@yahoo.com
3. MD Rahid Ismail Dept. of Social Welfare, Malaysia Rashid@kempadu.gov.my
4. Mike Bodddington Lao Disabled People's Association copeldpa@laotel.com
5. Singkham Takounphak Lao Disabled People's Association ldpa@laotel.com
6. Sathapon Mongkolsrisawat Roiet Education and Rehabilitation for the Blind, Thailand sathapon@cscoms.com
7. Nghiem Xuan Tue National Coordinating Council on Disability, Viet Nam nccd@fpt.un
8. Ha Thanh Que Ministry of Labour, Invalid and Social Affairs, Viet Nam htque@netvillage.netnam.vn
9. Muhammad Shafi National Institute of Special Education, Pakistan mehrshafi@hotmail.com
10. Abdul Shakoor Al-Ghazali Special Education Center, Pakistan - do -
11. Graham Mckinstry Inclusion International g-b-mck@wave.co.nz
12. Setareki Macanawai Fiji Disabled People's Association macanawai@conect.fiji
14. Enam Hoque Jesh Foundation, Bangladesh enam@planet.net.au
info@jeshfoundation.org
15. Monthian Buntan Thailand Association of the Blind mbuntan@anet.net.th
16. Misako Nomura Japanese Society for Rehabilitation for Persons with Disabilities nomura@dint.ne.jp
17. Mayuri Hirata Embassy of Japan in Thailand mayurih@hotmail.com
18. Naoko Ito Asia-Pacific Development Center on Disability Project Itonaoko@aol.com
19 Graham Smith Disability Australia grasm@conexus.net.au
20. Mr Pat Wattanasin Office of Empowerment of Persons with Disability, Thailand Rehab_office@hotmail.com
21. Aiko Akiyama UNESCA Pakiyama@un.org

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