IDPP Hosts Two Side Events, Conference Rapporteurs & Deaf Young Leaders at COSP-9

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IDPP has multifaceted active participation at this year’s 9th Conference of States Parties to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (COSP-9) from 14-16 June at United Nations headquarters in New York – the world’s largest gathering of the global disability community.

On Tuesday, 14 June, IDPP participated in the UN DESA Forum “Towards a Disability Inclusive and Accessible Urban Development Agenda.” This Forum is closely connected to IDPP’s latest project in partnership with DESA/Secretariat for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the DIAUD Network to develop a Disability Inclusive Development (DID) Policy Collaboratory that supports the global disability community’s participation in UN processes. This collaboratory is currently supporting Habitat III and the New Urban Agenda processes, as well as inclusive disaster risk reduction processes in preparation for the Fifth Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction.

On Wednesday, 15 June, IDPP organized the Side Event “How Can Digital Societies Contribute to Achieving the SDGs for Persons with Disabilities?” from 8:00am – 9:30am in Conference Room 11 co-sponsored by AXS Map, World Health Organization, The Nippon Foundation, Data-Pop Alliance, and Disabled People's International. This Side Event discussed ways in which new forms of evidence - including social media, crowdsourced information, and other large-scale digital information - can contribute to implementing the 2030 Agenda for persons with disabilities.

IDPP Executive Director Dr. Derrick Cogburn presented on “Social Media and Computational Text Analysis for Monitoring SDG Target 10.2” alongside a presentation from Mr. Toshiya Kakiuchi, President, Mirairo Inc., which created the crowdsourcing accessibility app Bmaps Barrier-Free Map Application in partnership with The Nippon Foundation.


Side Event: How Can Digital Societies Contribute to Achieving the SDGs
for Persons with Disabilities?

15 June 2016, 8:00am - 9:30am US Eastern Time
Conference Room 11

Captions Transcript File
Side Event Recording via UN TV


On Thursday, 16 June, IDPP is organizing the Side Event “Challenges and Opportunities for Accessible Global Governance: Enhancing Participation for Persons with Disabilities in UN Processes” from 6:15pm – 8:00pm in Conference Room 11 co-sponsored by the Permanent Mission of Ecuador to the UN in New York, The Nippon Foundation, World Enabled, G3ICT, International Disability Alliance, and Disabled People’s International.

This Side Event will focus on challenges and opportunities for persons with disabilities’ participation in UN and broader global governance processes. It will highlight findings from the IDPP global study Accessibility in Global Governance supported by The Nippon Foundation, and present a way forward to operationalize these findings: the model of an accessible Disability Inclusive Development Policy Collaboratory that can enable capacity building and the effective participation of persons with disabilities in wide-ranging UN processes.

Moderated by IDPP Joint Advisory Board Chairman Amb. Luis Gallegos, the Side Event will feature a keynote address by Dr. Cogburn on “Operationalizing Findings and Recommendations from Phase One of a Global Study” and include responses on “Coordinating Policy Engagement” by Mr. Vladimir Cuk, Executive Director of International Disability Alliance; “Integrating Local and International Voices in Global Disability Policy” by Mr. Mohammed Ali Loutfy of Disabled People’s International; “Knowledge Networks in Global Governance: Stimulating Substantive Disability-Inclusive Contributions to Habitat III by Dr. Victor Pineda, Founder and Executive Director of World Enabled; and “Making Information Accessible in the 3WCDRR” by Mr. Hiroshi Kawamura, Vice President of Assistive Technology Development Organization and Former Coordinator of WSIS Civil Society Caucus on Persons with Disabilities (TBC).


Side Event: Challenges and Opportunities for Accessible Global Governance:
Enhancing Participation for Persons with Disabilities in UN Processes

16 June 2016, 6:15pm - 8:00pm US Eastern Time
Conference Room 11

Captions Transcript File
Side Event Recording via UN TV


For the sixth year in a row, IDPP is offering a team of official conference rapporteurs for COSP-9 composed of current and incoming American University graduate students and IDPP senior research associates. IDPP is also welcoming 20 deaf young leaders as part of its COSP delegation who are part of the USA-Indonesia Deaf Youth Leadership Cultural Exchange Program, a partnership of the US Embassy in Jakarta and Dr. Mason Global.