By Pradeep Bagival, Regional Inclusive Governance Specialist, Humanity & Inclusion
OPD engagement with UN Country Teams builds on decades of United Nations action to advance the rights of persons with disabilities. Since the International Year of Disabled Persons in 1981, the UN has reached a series of important milestones in promoting and protecting disability rights. The challenge now is to turn that progress into more consistent, meaningful engagement with organizations of persons with disabilities at the country level.
Why Has UN Progress on Disability Inclusion Been Uneven?
The 2019 UN Disability Inclusion Strategy (UNDIS) is a result of an institutional assessment that was undertaken on the basis of the decision taken by the Executive Committee of the Secretary-General on the inclusion of persons with disabilities. One of the main elements of the strategy is ‘Inclusiveness’ and calls for consultation with organization of persons with disabilities.
The 2020 report of the UN Sec-Gen on the implementation of the UNDIS states that only 20% of UN entities have actually met/exceeded the requirements of inclusion and have reported progress against the indicators identified in the strategy. 80% of UN entities are yet to consult OPDs as required under the strategy. In this kind of scenario, it is important for the OPD networks at the national level to actively advocate for the implementation of the UNDIS and to be consulted by UN entities on issues that impact them.
How Can OPD Engagement with UN Country Teams Improve?
Responding to the question on the discussion forum on OPD engagement with UN Country Teams, there have been many valuable suggestions and comments on how OPDs could engage with UNCTs on disability inclusion. Building the knowledge and capacities of the UNCTs to engage with OPDs and sustained engagement with all types of representative organizations of persons with disabilities could be the first step. There are some good practices on OPD engagement by UNCTs in countries like Lao PDR which could be replicated by UNCTs in other developing countries. One of the suggestions for UNCTs is on hiring persons with disabilities and we already have entities such as UNDP, UNICEF and WFP having persons with disabilities within their organizations as disability advisors and specialists.
Engaging persons with disabilities from the very beginning rather than consulting them at a later stage is one of the key recommendations of the discussion forum. Joint advocacy is yet another brilliant suggestion that can cement partnership between UNCT and OPDs in influencing the government to take on the leadership of disability inclusion.
What Role Does Accountability Play?
Regarding the suggestion on accountability, the UNDIS has a built-inmechanism in the form of an accountability framework with 15 common system indicators and a UNCT Accountability Score Card on disability inclusion across all pillars of the work of the UN.
Last but not the least having periodic events to foster partnership between UNCTs and OPDs is one of the key suggestions made and once again the initiative of the OPDs in Lao PDR collaborating with the government in organizing annual disability policy dialogue in which UNCTs are invited to participate to discuss disability inclusive development could be cited as a good practice and to be emulated by OPDs in developing countries.
