Please note, this page is a constant work in progress and we are experimenting with its organisation
AUSTRALIAN NETWORKING SITES
Disability in Developing Countries Special Interest Group
If you would like regular email updates on disability in developing countries, you can subscribe to the Disability in Developing Countries Special Interest Group by contacting Joni Law at jycl@unimelb.edu.au.
Australian Disability and Development Consortium (ADDC).
The ADDC is a national network focusing attention, expertise and action on disability issues in developing countries and building a national platform for disability advocacy. It's mission is to promote the rights and inclusion of persons with disabilities in development activities, advocating that disability be fully integrated into all Australian development programs and policies. Further information about ADDC plus news and resources relating to disability and development can be found on their website: www.addc.org.au
Our Consumer Place
A great resource for people with mental health issues When people experience mental health problems, they may have to reclaim aspects of their lives they have lost - their confidence, power over their own circumstances, the freedom to live by their own decisions, taking responsibility for their own part in the community and the workplace. Our Consumer Place is an exciting and unique initiative that is designed to help mental health consumers to achieve those goals. This consumer-developed and consumer-run resource provides online and offline information and advice to individuals and groups who are involved with 'consumer-developed initiatives' - i.e. consumer-driven activities or organisations. It's anchored by a powerful new website - www.ourconsumerplace.com.au ,
Key features of the site include:
- Starter Kit: Help sheets for people getting started in the mental health consumer movement and working to establish a 'Consumer Developed Initiative' (CDI) - i.e. consumer-driven activities;
- Next Steps: Dozens of free, tailored help sheets for CDIs wishing to become more formalised and build their capacity, covering the areas of membership; financial management; governance; planning; people management; marketing; networking; and more;
- Clearinghouse: Annotated links to useful websites, consumer/survivor stories, consumer support sites, resource centres, journal articles, books, newsletters, reports, audio/radio programs, etc.;
- Training/Events: Training opportunities for members of Our Consumer Place - training will be provided by Our Community and tailored to the needs of Consumer Developed Initiatives and organisations;
- Directories: Listing of Consumer Developed Initiatives in Victoria, as well as mental health partner and peak organisations. Listings include the name of the organisation or CDI, its location, and contact details;
- Message Board/Chat: Moderated chat groups which can be viewed and contributed to by all members of Our Consumer Place. Log on to http://www.ourconsumerplace.com.au/
Our Community http://www.ourcommunity.com.au/
A great site that supports community groups. One of their services is a monthly bulletin, Our Community Matters.
To sign up to receive your own copy become a member at www.ourcommunity.com.au/signup - it's free!
THE AUSTRALIAN DEVELOPMENT GATEWAY (ADG)
www.developmentgateway.com.au
ADG is an AusAID funded knowledge sharing website for people working in aid and development in the Asia Pacific region.
AUSTRALIAN DPOs
Australian Federation of Disability Organisations (AFDO) http://www.afdo.org.au/
The Australian Federation of Disability Organisations (AFDO) has been established as the primary national voice to Government that fully represents the interests of all people with disability across Australia. The mission of AFDO is to champion the rights of people with disability in Australia and help them participate fully in Australian life.
People with Disability Australia Incorporated http://www.pwd.org.au/index.html
People with Disability Australia Incorporated is a national peak disability rights and advocacy organisation. Its primary membership is made up of people with disability and organisations primarily constituted by people with disability. PWD also has a large associate membership of other individuals and organisations committed to the disability rights movement. PWD has a fortnightly E-Bulletin to which any interested person can subscribe.
OTHER AUSTRALIAN ORGANISATIONS FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
Women with Disabilities Australia http://www.wwda.org.au/
Women with Disabilities Australia has great resources on issues relating to women with disabilities. You will find excellent reports and documents on many issues, including Advocacy; Ageing; Human Rights; Education; Employment; Eugenics; Health; Housing; Telecommunications; Leadership; Legal; Motherhood; Sexuality; Sterilisation; Transport; Violence. WWDA produces regular news bulletins.
WWDA has a policy paper on advocacy. Click here to download this file
AUSTRALIAN DEVELOPMENT ORGANISATIONS
The Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) http://www.acfid.asn.au/
The Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) is an independent national association of Australian non-government organisations (NGOs) working in the field of international aid and development.
ACFID has some 80 members. It administers a Code of Conduct committing members to high standards of integrity and accountability.
Of interest to APIDS are two of ACFIDs working groups:
1) PNG-Pacific-Solomon Islands Working Group The 57 ACFID members that undertake work in Papua New Guinea and other parts of the Pacific link together in a network called the PNG-Pacific-Solomon Islands Working Group. These agencies work on a wide range of development assistance activities including: health, education, water and sanitation, literacy, community development, natural resource management, youth support, and HIV awareness. Capacity-building of Pacific Island partners is the major focus of the working group members and singley and collectively they provide a depth of knowledge and experience about development assistance to Pacific Island countries.
2) Disability and Development Working Group ACFID's Disability and Development Working Group comprises 40 member agencies that work on disability issues (which include physical, mental and sensory impairments) mostly in Asia and the Pacific but also in Africa. The group liaises closely with a range of Australian domestic disability groups who are members of the National Disability Services (NDS). Together ACFID and NDS members come together to provide state-of-the-art assistance on disability in developing countries through the Australian Disability and Development Consortium (ADDC).
Australian Aid Resource and Training Guide (AARTG) www.torqaid.com
This is a window into which the community development (CD) or overseas aid practitioner can plug into the humanitarian/development world. It consists of four sections:
1) Finding work overseas or in Outback Australia
2) Useful Australian contacts in the aid sector
3) Useful Overseas or International contacts in the aid sector
4) A summary of known Australia aid-related training courses
The AARTG is produced by TorqAid, an Australian overseas aid consultancy specialising in Disaster Risk Management (DRM), Project Management (PM), and DRM/PM Facilitation. For more information contact the AARTG Editor, Mr Chris Piper, on pipercm@iprimus.com.au.
The information in the AARTG is designed for a number of people:
• Practitioners involved in Australian or overseas Community Development
(CD) or overseas aid projects
• The volunteer, student or other interested person wanting to explore CD or
overseas aid work, this including plugging into appropriate training courses.
MOTIVATION www.motivation.org.au
AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT
AUSAID http://www.ausaid.gov.au/
A video of the launch of AusAID's disability strategy is available on the AusAID website at: http://www.ausaid.gov.au/keyaid/disability.cfm.
Development for All: Towards a disability-inclusive Australian Aid Program 2009-2014 was launched by Mr. Bob McMullan MP, Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance, in Canberra on 25 November 2008.
The video also features presentations by Professor Ronald McCallum AO, member of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Ms Savina Nongebatu, President of People with Disability Solomon Islands, and Mr. Paul O'Callaghan, Executive Director of the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID).
Copies of the Development for All strategy are also available for download from the AusAID website, including in large print and audio formats.
Read Bill Shorten's speech on the UN Convention and the direction that Australia needs to take in respect of people with a disability, if you haven't already read it. http://www.fahcsia.gov.au/internet/billshorten.nsf/content/crpd_20aug08.htm
INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS
United Nations http://www.un.org/disabilities/
The United Nations has many resources relating to disability on its website. One of the most recent is a fact sheet on disability which includes facts such as:
• Around 10 per cent of the world's population, or 650 million people, live with a disability. They are the world's largest minority. This figure is increasing through population growth, medical advances and the ageing process, says the World Health Organization (WHO).
• In countries with life expectancies over 70 years, individuals spend on average about 8 years, or 11.5 per cent of their life span, living with disabilities.
• Eighty per cent of persons with disabilities live in developing countries, according to the UN Development Programme (UNDP).
• Disability rates are significantly higher among groups with lower educational attainment in the countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), says the OECD Secretariat. On average, 19 per cent of less educated people have disabilities, compared to 11 per cent among the better educated.
• In most OECD countries, women report higher incidents of disability than men.
• The World Bank estimates that 20 per cent of the world's poorest people have some kind of disability, and tend to be regarded in their own communities as the most disadvantaged.
• Women with disabilities are recognized to be multiply disadvantaged, experiencing exclusion on account of their gender and their disability.
• Women and girls with disabilities are particularly vulnerable to abuse. A small 2004 survey in Orissa, India, found that virtually all of the women and girls with disabilities were beaten at home, 25 per cent of women with intellectual disabilities had been raped and 6 per cent of women with disabilities had been forcibly sterilized.
• According to UNICEF, 30 per cent of street youths have some kind of disability.
• Mortality for children with disabilities may be as high as 80 per cent in countries where under-five mortality as a whole has decreased below 20 per cent, says the United Kingdom's Department for International Development, adding that in some cases it seems as if children are being "weeded out".
• Comparative studies on disability legislation shows that only 45 countries have anti-discrimination and other disability-specific laws.
• In the United Kingdom, 75 per cent of the companies of the FTSE 100 Index on the London Stock Exchange do not meet basic levels of web accessibility, thus missing out on more than $147 million in revenue.
Disability Fact Sheet Click here to download this file
UNICEF - A HUMAN RIGHTS APPROACH TO EDUCATION
The following PDF publication is a joint UNESCO and UNICEF framework for the realisation of children's right to education and rights within education. The publication brings together the current thinking and practice on human rights-based approach in the education sector. It presents key issues and challenges in rights-based approaches and provides a framework for policy and programme development from the level of the school up to the national and international levels.Click here to download this file
UNESCAP
Click on the link below to read the report "Disability at a Glance: a Profile of 28 Countries and Areas in Asia and the Pacific"
http://www.unescap.org/esid/psis/publications/index.asp
Gallaudet University Center for International Programs and Services (CIPS) launched the World Deaf Information Resource Project in October 2009. It has contact information for deaf organizations around the world. Its website location is at http://cips.gallaudet.edu/wdi.xml
The Disability Knowledge and Research programme http://www.disabilitykar.net/
A British site, which presents the findings of The Disability Knowledge and Research programme, which sought to examine the issue of disability and poverty, and supported opportunities for disabled people's organisations to research issues on mainstreaming disability in development.
The main objectives of the programme were to:
• Generate research on international disability issues to influence policy and practice
• Improve access to knowledge and information
• Promote discussion between disabled people, service providers, researchers, and policy makers
• Develop and support sustainable technologies to combat the effects of disability
RI is a global and diverse organization bringing together expertise from different sectors in the disability field, advancing and implementing the rights and inclusion of persons with disabilities.
HESPERIAN FOUNDATION
http://www.hesperian.org/publications_download.php
Some great books for free download including A Health Handbook for Women with Disabilities, Disabled Village Children
SOURCE http://www.asksource.info/
For a listing of over 140 resources on the practice, management and communication of health and disability in development, with references and abstracts
Aid Workers Network (AWN) http://www.aidworkers.net/
Aid Workers Network (AWN) is an online platform for aid, relief and development workers to ask and answer questions of each other, and to exchange resources and information. AWN is registered in the United Kingdom as a charity.
The Aid Workers Network is an all-volunteer-lead initiative. The people who contribute to the forum, read and respond to emails sent to AWN, create new pages for the Advice section, and handle administrative and technical tasks that keep AWN running are all volunteers -- many are professional aid workers who donate their time and expertise to keep AWN operating do so while they are working in a developing country under contract with an aid agency.
BAREFOOT GUIDE www.barefootguide.org
A resource for supporting sovereign autonomous organisations working for social change is available on this website.
CENTER ON DISABILITY STUDIES, University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Latest issue of Review of Disability Studies an International Journal RDS now available free online at www.rds.hawaii.
REGIONAL DISABILITY ORGANISATIONS
Pacific Disability Forum http://www.pacificdisability.org/
PDF was established in 2002 and officially inaugurated in 2004, to work towards inclusive, barrier-free, socially just, and gender equitable societies that recognize the human rights, citizenship, contribution and potential of people with disabilities in Pacific Countries and territories. PDF promotes and facilitates Pacific regional cooperation on disability-related concerns for the benefit of people with disabilities.
Pacific Forum Secretariat http://www.forumsec.org/pages.cfm/sustainable-development/social-policy/disability/country-profiles
If you are interested in finding out more about the situation for people with disabilities in Pacific countries, the Forum Secretariat has interesting information contained in individual country profiles. It also has regional information.
Disabled People´s International http://www.dpiap.org/
Disabled People´s International (DPI) is a world cross-disability, self-help, human rights organizations of persons with disabilities established in 1981.The Asia Pacific Region (DPI-AP)has useful resources and links.
For example this press release from DPI-AP has a link to a training resource for the Convention. Click here to download this file
Information on water and sanitation Click here to download this file
Asia Pacific Center on Disability
"Empowerment" the newletter of the Asia Pacific Center on Disability available; http://www.apcdproject.org/publications/2008/newsletter24/
PACIFIC NEWSPAPERS
You can learn plenty about day to day life in Pacific countries by reading newspapers on line. Kidon media Link has up to date listings of more than 500 newspapers in Oceania (including Australia and New Zealand) http://www.kidon.com/media-link/oceania.php
COOK ISLANDS
Cook Islands Herald http://www.ciherald.co.ck/
Cook Islands News http://www.cinews.co.ck/
FIJI
Fiji Sun http://www.sun.com.fj/
Fiji_newspaper/Index/index.htm
Fiji Times http://www.fijitimes.com.fj/
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
The National http://www.thenational.com.pg/
Post Courier http://www.postcourier.com.pg/
SOLOMON ISLANDS
Solomon Star News http://www.solomonstarnews.com/ 
RESOURCES
UNITED NATIONS
The United Nations adopted in 2007 a Convention on the rights of people with a disability. Governments around the world are being encouraged to sign up to this Convention.
Convention on the rights of people with a disability Click here to download this file
Fact sheet Click here to download this file
Backgrounder Click here to download this file
SOUTH AFRICA NETHERLANDS RESEARCH PROGRAMME ON ALTERNATIVES IN DEVELOPMENT
This program has produced an interesting report on Including Disability Within the Context of Development. It has relevance to the Pacific also. Click here to download this file
HUMAN RIGHTS LINKS
These links were compiled by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights International Service for Human Rights http://www.ishr.ch/
Council monitor http://www.ishr.ch/hrm/council/
The Council Monitor is an ISHR publication reporting on all the key developments at the Human Rights Council. It is part of ISHR's Human Rights Monitor Series.
NGO Information and Cooperation (NGOIC) http://www.ngoic.org/
NGOIC is a web-based forum that facilitates information sharing, discussions and cooperation among. It includes various protected on line collaborative tools (Thematic Discussion Forum, compilation of written questions to Special Procedures Mandate Holders, Events and Documents sections), applicable for the regular sessions of the Council and for the UPR process. NGOIC is an initiative of the Geneva NGO Special Committee of Human Rights.
CONGO website http://www.ngocongo.org/
CONGO Resources on the Human Rights Council: http://www.ngocongo.org/index.php?what=resources&id=10136
CONGO provides regularly updated information on the Human Rights Council's proceedings and up coming events, during and between the sessions.
Human Rights Council Orientation Page http://www.hrgoweb.org/
The Go Web! information page on the Human Rights Council offers a wide range of links pertaining to the Human Rights Council, providing easy access to information published by the UN, NGOs and the media.
Child Rights Information Network www.crin.org/
HRC Human Rights Tools www.humanrightstools.org
Human Rights Index www.universalhumanrightsindex.org
Welcome Desk - Mandat International www.welcomedesk.org
Tribune des Droits Humains(Human Rights Tribune) www.humanrights-geneva.info
All of the above information from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is available in this PDF document Click here to download this file
USAID REVIEW OF DISABILITY POLICY
You can download the review at http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PDACM100.pdf
MONITORING CHILD DISABILITY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: RESULTS FROM THE MULTIPLE INDICATOR CLUSTER SURVEYS
The report is available in English and can be found
at:
http://www.childinfo.org/files/Monitoring_Child_Disability_in_Developing_Countries.pdf
ADVOCACY RESOURCE FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
Attached in WORD format, please find "Change Your Life With Human Rights." Click here to download this file
This is an easy to read explanation of how to advocate for your human rights. Learn what human rights can do, what advocacy is, and how to take action to help yourself and other people with disabilities. This publication is designed for anyone wanting a clear explanation of human rights advocacy including people with intellectual disabilities, their families, friends, and organizations.
ISSUES FROM THE PACIFIC
SEASONAL GUEST WORKERS
The Australian Government has a scheme for seasonal guest workers. New Zealand has such a scheme and Nic Maclellan has prepared an interesting report, which you can read here.
Workers for All Seasons? Issues from New Zealand's Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) program Click here to download this file
Participants in an three week advocacy course in Suva
Mr Setareki Macanawai speaking at a White Cane Day gathering for United Blind Persons of Fiji
You can donate using your credit card at http://www.ourcommunity.com.au/apids