Risnawati Utami

Risnawati Utami is founder OHANA Indonesia, a disability-rights organization in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, focus on disability rights and policy advocacy. She is a wheelchair user  because of Polio when she was 4 years old.

She has been active in various activities related to disability issues, human rights, wheelchair provision system, urban development, and policy advocacy in Indonesia and international level. In 1998, she graduated from Law School, University of Sebelas Maret, Solo, Central Java, Indonesia. In 2006, she was awarded a Ford Foundation International Fellowship Program to accomplish Master Degree in International Health Policy and Management at Brandeis University, Massachusetts, USA. She also received the International Advocate Award from the United States International Council on Disabilities (USCID) on December 3, 2017 in Washington DC, USA. Her experience with research and policy development positions her amongst the most knowledgeable and articulate individuals working at the intersection of public health, community development, policy and disability.

She actively promotes “disability inclusive development” in the Agenda 2030/Sustainable Development Goals and New Urban Agenda to be compliance with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at the local, national and global level. She has been an activists in advocating the rights of persons with disabilities and development in the United Nations Conference of State Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and UN High Level Forum in the United Nations. She is elected by the United Nations on June 2018, as the first Indonesian’s UN CRPD Committee and being nominated by the Government of Republic of Indonesia for 4 years term: 2019 – 2022.