IDDC

Report of IDDC event 'Celebrating Inclusive Development'

On 3 December 2010, IDDC and PHOS, one of its member organisations organized the event 'Celebrating Inclusive Development'. This event was part of the program known as "OFF" developed by the Belgian Presidency of the European Union, organized in the framework of the European Development Days on 6 and 7 December 2010.

The general aim of the European Development Days is to strengthen the effectiveness of the European Union’s development assistance with a view to the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals and the European Consensus on Development. It aims also to enhance public awareness of development cooperation issues.

The Celebrating Inclusive Development event was well attended by various participants involved and interested in development and disability work. Ms. Hélène Bourgade, representative of the European Commission was present at the event and gave an informal talk about the European Commission's policy of the disability issues.

The event consisted of two main parts. The first part was the debate "Keeping the promise: Mainstreaming disability in the Millennium Development Goals towards 2015 and beyond". The debate was moderated by Mr. Enrico Pupulin, Board member of AIFO and former head of the Disability and Rehabilitation Unit of the World Health Organization (1990-2003) and Ms. Nadia Hadad, Board member of Phos.

The discussion was organized in an interactive way, based on "provocatives". The audience was invited to answer a series of provocative questions related to the eight Millennium Development Goals. Following each question, the panel discussed the main issues, after which the audience's response was checked again. The keynote speakers taking part in the panel were Ms. Hellen Asamo, Deputy Executive Director of the National Union of Disabled Persons of Uganda; Mr. Jaynath Kumar, AIFO India; Mr. Giampiero Griffo, EDF Board member and Mr. Huib Cornielje, DCDD Board member. The speakers talked about the different perspectives of disability issues from their own experiences or from their own countries.

After the debate, the participants were invited to the "Shining sound of dance" performance by Saïd Gharbi. It was a performance by the blind dancer and actor Saïd Gharbi. He was able to move without relying on his vision. In his performance, he took the audience into his reality, a reality not surrounded by darkness but where imaginations were generated by sound.