IDDC

Disability and Development at the European Development Days 2008

The EU Task Group and IDDC member, Leonard Cheshire Disability, cooperated to ensure the presence and visibility of disability and the rights of persons with disabilities as a theme in development cooperation. The focus of this third edition of the European Development Days, the European Commission's major annual event, was on Local Development. 

The third edition of the European Development Days took place in Strasbourg (France) from 15 - 17 November 2008. This gathering is the European Commission's major event and hosts some 3000 participants from every continent, representing over 1200 organisations in the development community.

The IDDC stand made general information about its work on disability and development available, making the MDGs inclusive of persons with disabilities; Leonard Cheshire showcased some work done by young disabled people in developing countries on the importance of their rights.

 
The theme of the third edition of the Development Days was Local Development. As part of the IDDC Make-Development-Inclusive project a guidance paper on inclusive local development was developed. Mayors and local officials from developing countries showed interest in this guidance paper and wanted to learn about examples of good cooperation with local Disabled Peoples' Organisations. 

The EU Task Group will build on the awareness raising done this year and hopes that next years organisers, the European Commission in collaboration with the Swedish EU Presidency, will show a willingness to make inclusive development a theme in discussions too.