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NOWPDP Stakeholders Workshop on the needs of the disability community

NOWPDP partnered with Gallup Pakistan and organized the “Stakeholders Workshop: Needs of the Disability Community” on Thursday July 21, 2011 with 70 participants from all over Pakistan. The event was aimed at increasing collaboration and coordination between the organizations working for people with disabilities in Pakistan, companies, donor agencies, government representatives and the media. The event was also a platform for the stakeholders to discuss the pressing issues of the disability community. Apart from the representation from over 45 member organizations of NOWPDP, the event was also attended by representatives of British Council, Unilever Pakistan, Telenor Pakistan, Habib Bank Ltd, P@SHA, Aman Foundation, Handicap International and by the French commercial and economic counsellor. Furthermore, Social Welfare Department Government of Sindh’s Deputy Director PCRDP and Assistant Deputy Director PCRDP also participated in the event.

During the first half of the event the participants discussed the following topics:

  1. Role of people with disabilities in society
  2. Accessibility
  3. Standard of Education
  4. Vocational Training and Employment
  5. Concentration of Services and Resources in Urban Areas.
  6. Identification and appropriate care for children with disabilities
  7. Incidence of disability

The discussions by the organizations were aimed at finding practical action points, taking ownership of the solutions, forming partnerships with each other to implement these and implementing these solutions independently and as a group.

Some of the output from the group discussions is:

  • Helpline for Accessibility should be established comprised from different stakeholders where they submit concerns about physical and environmental accessibility.
  • Teacher Training and parents awareness on disability. NOWPDP should design a standardized curriculum by coordination of experts on different disabilities.
  • Street theatres for awareness and changing mindsets on disability. Lack of awareness leads to incorrect reporting of disabilities and, hence, incorrect data.
  • Capabilities and vocational skills should be market competitive that companies want to employ PWDs.
  • Disability certificates and Special CNIC should be made easily available. NOWPDP will publish a brochure with details of the procedure to obtain the Special CNIC
  • Should have one central directory with information about organizations working for PWDs and services on PWDs. This event also launched the NOWPDP Disability Services Directory, which provides centralised information and can be edited by users.

Following this, a panel of representatives of the companies, donor agencies and government department put forward possible collaboration opportunities and answered various questions from the organizations working with PWDs, moderated by Shadab Fariduddin of Four Corners Group.

The event successfully exemplified the unity of the disability community and showcased the works of the organizations working with PWDs.

The event was covered by Aaj TV, GEO, DAWN Paper, The News, Express News, DAWN News, Express Tribune, and the Business Recorder. NOWPDP would like to acknowledge the support of the following organizations for their contributions in bringing the stakeholders on one platform:

Platinum Sponsor: Telenor Pakistan

Sponsors:
Pak-Oman Investments
Liberty Mills
Safety Solutions
Standard Chartered Bank
Gilani Research Foundation
TCS
JS Bank

And special thanks to: Four Corners Group

Participating Member Organizations:

  1. Al-Umeed Rehabilitation Association (AURA)
  2. Abbas Developement Foundation
  3. Aga Khan Social Welfare Board for Pakistan
  4. Ahmer Social & Human Development Society
  5. Al - Shifa Trust Special School and Center of Rehabilitation
  6. Al- Batul Educational School
  7. All Special Persons Welfare Association Khairpur Mirs
  8. Awareness Voluntary Organization
  9. Aziz Begum Memorial School
  10. Bhitai Developement Organization Johi
  11. Child Development Organization
  12. Confident Disable Welfare Association
  13. Disabled Welfare Association Karachi
  14. Fakhr-e-Imdad Foundation
  15. Family Educational Services Foundation
  16. Federal Urdu University of Arts, Sciences & Technology
  17. Government Shadab training Institute of special education
  18. Ham Qadam Foundation
  19. Handicap International
  20. Hayat-e-Nau Rehabiltation Centre for disabled Children
  21. Ida Rieu Welfare Association- School & College for Deaf and Blind
  22. Inclusive Society Pakistan
  23. Institute of Behavioral Psychology
  24. International School of studies
  25. Karachi Association for the Welfare of the Special Persons
  26. Kiran Vocational Centre, Karachi
  27. Madadgar Organisation Dadu
  28. Mehran Special Education Centre for VHC, HIC, Mirpurkhas
  29. Muscular Dystrophy Patient Welfare Association
  30. Naya Jeevan
  31. NGOs for the Development of Special Person (NDSP) Khairpur
  32. Organization for Social Development Initiatives
  33. PAF School of education for special Children, Base Korangi
  34. PAF School of education for special Children , Base Faisal
  35. Pakistan Association for Inclusive Education
  36. Roshni (For special Children)
  37. School for Special Education PAF Base Masroor
  38. SCINOSA Day Home
  39. Sindh Development Society (SDS)
  40. Sindh Disabled Development Society Mehrabpur
  41. Sindh Disabled Welfare Association
  42. Special Education Complex, Govt Of Pakistan
  43. Special Olympics Pakistan
  44. The C.A.S. School
  45. Umeed Special Academy



Date: August 09th, 2011