ALLIANCES FOR INCLUSIVE DEVELOPM

ALLIANCES FOR INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT

training series for Latin America and the Caribbean Region

World Bank, Washington, DC

March 16-18, 2005

Mr. Leslie A. Emanuel, the Regional Development Officer (RDO) of the Disabled Peoples' International North America and the Caribbean Region (DPI NACR) accepted the invitation to attend the training series entitled "Alliances for Inclusive Development" to be held from March 16-18, 2005 at the World Bank in Washington, DC. The aim of the training is to bring stakeholders from the disability and development communities together to help mainstream disabilities into country development projects and programs. The workshop is a Partnership of the Disability and Inclusive Development Team of the Latin American and Caribbean Region of the World Bank with partners such as UNDP, Light of the World (Austria), Inclusion International (Canada) and it he Participation and the Civil Society Team of the World Bank.

The workshop's vision is to build new bridges and encourage collaboration between governments, civil society, funding agencies and international organizations so that programs and strategies aimed at addressing the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) that will reach and involve people with disabilities who are among the poorest of the poor and often excluded from development actions.

The program will introduce technical tools such as economic analysis and strategic planning for poverty reduction and equitable development that can enrich the dialogue of the disability sector and strengthen its capacity to participate in the decision-making process. It also aims at emphasizing the need for a positive and proactive involvement of all actors mentioned, as important members in the development sector, in order to identify existing opportunities and generate new ones towards an inclusive developing society.

All the contents to include technical presentations, additional readings, and materials used for the seminar will be part of a resource package that participants can use for replicating this approach within their organizations and/or countries. The package is also conceived as an open resource that shall be adjusted to specific audiences, opportunities and interests, as well as enriched with the contributions by its users.

The training series further aims to help participants develop skills for later becoming trainers within their own countries. This will foster the inclusive approach of development by creating strategies and alliances with the main actors of the development agenda of their locality. They will also be able to identify opportunities to bring the issues presented by excluded social sectors into the mainstream social, political and economical development agendas.

The working team for the training included:

Rosangela Berman-Bieler, Disability & Inclusive Development Specialist

Human Development Department, Latin-America and the Caribbean, World Bank

Ricardo Silveira

Education Specialist, Human Development Department, Latin-America and the Caribbean Region, World Bank

Luis Fernando Astorga

Journalist, Disability and Human Rights Specialist

Sergio Meresman

Consultant, Health and Education Specialist

Marcelo Medeiros

Researcher, UNDP

The training will focus on groups from Nicaragua in Latin America and St. Lucia in the English-speaking Caribbean. The Disabled Peoples’ International and interests in the private sector sponsored Mr. Emanuel.