APCD Mission Report
Mission to Santo & Port Villa
Republic of Vanuatu
13 - 19 March 2005
The Asia-Pacific Development Center on Disability (APCD) sent a mission to the Republic of Vanuatu from 13-19 March 2005 to attend and support the National Workshop "Towards an Inclusive, Barrier-free, and Rights-based Society for Persons with Disabilities" held at Chief Nakamal in Luganville, Santo, Vanuatu from 14-17 March 2005. It was organized by the Disability Promotion and Advocacy Association (DPA) and co-supported by APCD. Twenty-nine participants from Torba, Sanma, Luganville, Malampa, and Shefa joined the workshop.
Mr. John Suran, Chairman of the Disability Promotion & Advocacy Association stated in his welcome address at of the opening ceremony: "Our Government and people should be aware of the move to have people with disabilities recognized and included in mainstream development. Bringing disabled people from our six provinces out of closed doors, back alleys and corners of rural and urban areas to empower them to be able to succeed in the active center of national life, will greatly improve the lives of many who are living in a deprived society and conditions today. Disabled people have the skills, knowledge and ability; they are capable of playing a more important and effective role in society if they are given the chance to prove themselves in the future. So lets look forward to hearing how we can work together towards promoting the well being of people with disabilities".
His Excellency, President Kalkot Mataskelekele, who presided over the opening of the workshop emphasized that "a significant number of persons with disabilities are still living in poverty, unemployed, uneducated and excluded from mainstream society." He also mentioned that "the Government has played a significant role in promoting and supporting persons with disabilities in Vanuatu and the region and must therefore be congratulated for adopting the National Disability Policy as a direct result of its commitment for implementing the action plans in the Biwako Millennium Framework (BMF) Plan of Action".
The workshop emphasized the following issues:
- Awareness Raising March & Activities at Unity Park.
- Disability Issues from Global to Local; Exchange of Experiences in Activities in Promoting Empowerment for PWDs Between the Delegates and Stakeholders.
- Disability & the UN
- Disability & Advocacy
- Regional Actions to Promote the Rights of PWDs
- Seven Priority Areas of the BMF: Delegates were divided into groups by provinces to brainstorm ideas for implementation plans towards the 7 priority areas.
- Implementation Strategies made by National, Provincial, and Local Governments, NGOs, Vanuatu Society for Disabled People, VANDISPORTS, and DPA.
- APCD Recommendations for BMF Priority 6: Access to Information and Communication including information, communication, and assistive technologies
- Presentation on Special Education
- SANTO Statement: Recommendations from the National Training Workshop toward an Inclusive, Barrier-free & Rights-based Society for Persons with Disabilities.
Apart from attending the workshop, the mission met with the Secretary to the 1st Advisor of the Prime Minister, to follow-up with the network and collaboration on disability issues in Vanuatu.
Mission to the Philippines
27 March to 2 April 2005
Non-Handicapping Environment Promoting Social Impact and Outcome in the Philippines
Mr. Jaime G. Silva and Mr. Armand Michael R. Eustaquio, APCD's ex-trainees of the Non-Handicapping Environment Workshop for National Trainers and Policy Makers, initiated the Training of Trainers on the Promotion of a Non-Handicapping Environment (NHE) for Persons with Disabilities, which was organized by the National Council for the Welfare of Disabled Persons (NCWDP)/Department of Social Welfare and Development, in collaboration with JICA-Philippines Office, from 1 to 4 March 2005, in Manila, the Philippines. It was organized in cooperation with organizations of persons with disabilities, local government units from 17 regions of the Philippines, and the Union of Architects. Each region sent officials from the Building and Transportation Authorities, and representatives of persons with disabilities.
APCD invited Mr. Joseph Kwan, a Non-Handicapping Environment Resource Person from Hong Kong, as well as Mr. Jaime G. Silva and Mr. Armand Michael R. Eustaquio, to be Speakers/Facilitators.
Hon. Luwalhati F. Pablo, Undersecretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and Mr. Shozo Matsuura, Resident Representative of JICA Philippines, presided over the opening ceremony.
One of the participants, Ms. Mary Anthony G. Subia, President of the Provincial Federation of PWD of Nueva Vizcaya, Inc., organized the provincial Workshop on Accessibility Law on 29 March 2005, in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya. Fifteen representatives of persons with disabilities from 15 municipalities in Nueva Vizcaya participated in the Workshop, along with government agencies/local government units, building officials, architects, private sectors and religious sectors, totaling 61 participants.
Hon. Jose V. Gambito, the Acting Governor, opened the Workshop with words of Challenge. Hon. Hipolito Mamuric III, Chairman of the Committee on the Elderly and Persons with Special Abilities and Ms. Lita D. Tabudlo, Representative of the Provincial Social Welfare Development Office gave warm welcome remarks.
APCD's ex-trainees, Mr. Jaime G. Silva and Mr. Armand M.R. Eustaquio gave lectures and the APCD Chief Adviser introduced the APCD Project and non-handicapping environment strategy.
During the Workshop, a monitoring of existing buildings by two groups found that the toilet of the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office building was not accessible for wheelchair users. Hon. Hipolito Mamuric promised to make it accessible with Ms. Lita D. Tabudlo, the Provincial Social Welfare Development Officer also agreeing.
The National Council for the Welfare of Disabled Persons drafted a project on the "Creation of a Non-Handicapping Environment for Filipinos in Rural Areas" under the program: Towards a Barrier-free and Rights-based Philippines, which was endorsed by the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Government of the Philippines and proposed that JICA Philippines' collaborate in promoting and establishing an accessible environment to provide persons with disabilities equal opportunities towards full participation in all aspects of life and to become partners in nation-building.
The project has four specific objectives:
- To conduct data gathering activities (environmental scanning) to determine existing resources and needs relative to the non-handicapping environment for persons with disabilities in rural areas.
- To formulate a Manual on the promotion/creation of a non-handicapping environment as a guide for stakeholder(s), persons with disabilities and other concerned sectors.
- To conduct capability-building activities at the national, regional, provincial, and city/municipal levels using the Manual.
- To conduct advocacy and promotional activities on accessibility.
The project has four major components:
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Research which involves:
- environmental scanning
- development of a Manual/Guidelines
- accessibility mapping
- development of prototype access facility/equipment using local/indigenous materials
- consultation with pwds, professional groups, etc.
- Capacity-Building
- Conduct training for trainers using the developed Manual to equip concerned sectors with the appropriate attitude, knowledge, and skills on accessibility/access to the built environment
- Training shall be done at the national, regional, provincial, and city/municipal levels
- Participants shall be representatives from DSWD Field offices (regional level) PSWDOs, PWD and professionals (architects, engineers)
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- IEC/Advocacy
- Development/distribution of IEC/Advocacy materials such as access signages, other information materials appropriate to the areas like comics, posters depicting the local situation and using the local dialect.
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- Monitoring/Evaluation
- Built-in monitoring activities shall be instituted to assess programs, and identify issues/problems that need to be addressed immediately to ensure success.
APCD ex-trainees will design the prototype access facility/ equipment to use local and indigenous materials such as bamboo or rattan for rural buildings. In fact, most of the buildings will be made from bamboo and wood. Therefore, this rural accessibility equipment will be locally affordable since 75-80% of the people with disabilities live in rural areas in the Philippines, and will focus on non-handicapping environment training in the rural population.This project will have self-help organizations of persons with disabilities as major stakeholders, as well as the local government agencies/units and the Architect Union of the Philippines. A National Workshop for Promotion of Non-Handicapping Environment will be held, then 17 regional workshops will be conducted followed by 79 provincial workshops to promote and implement the non-handicapping environment throughout the Philippines.
The Philippines are home to 8.5 million Filipinos with disabilities, who are still isolated from the community due to the lack of accessibility. The Government of the Philippines developed The National Plan of Action Philippines Decade of Persons with Disabilities (2003-2012), which is in line with the Biwako Millennium Framework for Action, with 7 priority areas and 4 strategies. In the Philippines, accessibility is the lowest ranked priority of the Framework for Action. This project will, therefore, focus on the least developed area of the National Plan of Action. APCD will continue to collaborate and support this promotion and movement for a non-handicapping environment.
Seminar on Web Accessibility and the Launching of the Model of Accessible Web
Jakarta, Indonesia
31 March 2005
APCD staff and Mr. Monthian Buntan, APCD Resource Person, joined the Seminar on Web Accessibility and the Launching of the Model of an Accessible Web on 31 March 2005 at the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology. It was organized by Mitra Netra in close collaboration with the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, Indonesia. Since the Minister of Communication and Information Technology presided it made a great impact, attracting more than 150 participants and 20 journalists.
ICT and ICT accessibility in Indonesia has gained popularity among the government and private companies. This could be seen in the presentations about e-government, Telecenter, e-library, and access technology, etc. All presenters acknowledged that ICT can be a very powerful tool in many areas such as social participation, rural development and knowledge sharing.
Mr. Monthian Buntan, APCD Resource Person, made a presentation on "Web Accessibility Development: a Prerequisite for an Inclusive, Barrier-free, and Rights-based Society".
APCD also introduced its activities by distributing pamphlets, newsletters, and videos, etc. A number of participants are interested in APCD activities, especially information support.
This seminar succeeded in two aspects;
- raising public awareness on information accessibility for all including PWDs and
- empowering disabled people's organizations, like Mitra Netra, in strengthening their activities, knowledge, and network.
In additional, outcome was that APCD's ex-trainees could develop more local activities for persons with disabilities in collaboration with other local organizations.
