GPDD Collaboration with MERCOSUR and Argentine Government

Argentina, March 22-27, 2010

Mercosur Activity, Federal Council on Disability,
Trelew, Argentina

Purpose

To facilitate the crystallization of the Government Network (GN) in South America, built on an ongoing collaboration around Disability and Development within MERCOSUR, the GPDD organized a series of capacity building events in Argentina from March 22nd to March 27th, 2010. This activity was done in partnership with MERCOSUR, CONADIS (Argentine Disability Focal Point), the UN Secretariat for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the World Bank. Leonard Cheshire International and the Government of Finland also contributed by providing expertise and presenting before selected audiences.

The events fulfilled the following objectives:

• To contribute to the capacity building of high level officers of MERCOSUR-Working Group on the Promotion and Protection on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in relation to Disability Inclusive Development
• To promote the GPDD and GN among MERCOSUR officers
• To contribute to the capacity building of Argentinean Disability Governmental and Non-Governmental agents regarding Data Collection and Statistics for Program Monitoring and Evaluation
• To contribute to the capacity building of Federal Disability Council in relationship to implementation of disability programs in the context of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and the Millennium Development Goals
• To establish and/or reinforce linkages with regional and national players within the Latin American Region, and particularly MERCOSUR and its current and next President pro Tempore (Argentina and Brazil, respectively) as part of the GN broader strategy
• To explore further cooperation with MERCOSUR and the Argentinean CONADIS
  

  The activities performed were the following:

  1. MERCOSUR Seminar of the WG on Promotion and protection of the rights of persons with disabilities: "Inclusive Development": the Seminar was attended by around 100 participants, members of the MERCOSUR WG on the promotion and protection of the rights of persons with disabilities of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, Chile, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, and officers of the Argentine government, as well as some invitees from civil society from the Region. Main topics covered by the Seminar were: MDGs, public policy and disability; mainstreamed and targeted policies and programs and empowerment of people with disabilities; the role of statistic and data collection in the implementation of disability and development programs; and tools for program monitoring and evaluation. As a result of the Seminar, MERCOSUR WG adopted the following resolutions:
     • To organize a MERCOSUR capacity building event focused on disability data collection towards regional data comparability in Brazil in September/October 2010
     • To foster the use of EDAMAT tool (currently used within the framework of the European Union) in the assessment of the implementation of the Program of the Americas Decade among country members
     • To present a report at on indicators that would progressively advance disability for inclusion in the MDGs
     • In addition, MERCOSUR officers requested GPDD:
     • Long term: to facilitate an informal forum with the purpose of coordinating the different disability instances within the Region (Americas Disability Decade; OAS Disability Convention implementation; CRPD implementation)
     • Short term: to facilitate a Working Group or Community of Practice focusing on disability program monitoring and evaluation
  2. Conference on Dissemination and Monitoring of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: the audience for this Conference included members of CONADIS, NGOs, and officers of legislative, administrative and judicial branches of National, Provincial and Municipal Governments of Argentina. The focus of the Conference was the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its monitoring mechanisms, including the role of civil society and the importance of accurate data collection. An afternoon workshop moderated by DESA provided an opportunity to consolidate local partnerships towards the implementation of CRPD Articles 33 and 34. Participants appreciated the opportunity of learning and exchanging experience and ideas as well as the promises of new cooperation around CRPD monitoring.
  3. XLV Ordinary Assembly of the Federal Council on Disability: The audience for the capacity building session was the Disability Federal Council congregated in Assembly, which is formed by those officials exercising the maximum disability authority at the highest level in each of the 24 jurisdictions and their civil society counter partners within this participatory structure. The focus on the capacity building exercise was implementing MDGs and CRPD at provincial level. Federal Council members took the opportunity to share challenges and diverse experiences and took advantage of the presence of international visitors to weight their programs in light of international standards. Particularly, the Federal Council requested the GPDD to facilitate a regional Working Group on Community Based Rehabilitation.