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About GPDD
The Global Partnership for Disability and Development (GPDD) is a dynamic initiative to accelerate inclusion of people with disabilities and their families into development policies and practices in developing countries.
The GPDD is an unprecedented alliance of Disabled People's Organizations (DPOs), developing and developed country governments, bilateral and multilateral donors, United Nations (UN) agencies, national and international development and many others with the principal goal of reducing the extreme poverty and exclusion of a substantial number of children, women and men with disabilities living in poor countries.
The GPDD’s founding was based on the recognition that poverty alleviation in developing countries and genuine progress towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) requires the explicit inclusion of people with disabilities in national and international economic development efforts. Its chief goals are:
- combating the social and economic exclusion and impoverishment of people with disabilities and their families in developing countries by increasing awareness and understanding; and
- strengthening cooperation among the partners listed above in promoting the well-being of disabled people in the area of disability and social development.
Most poverty reduction schemes in low-income countries do not consider disability issues or address them in any systematic manner. Existing national disability policies and programs in these countries often fail to meet the needs of citizens with disabilities and provide only mainstreamed services. The causes of this failure include the lack of enforcement, stakeholder capacity, disability awareness, and collaboration between international economic development and foreign assistance specialists and disability specialists.
Mainstreaming disability concerns into economic development agendas and projects requires knowledge and awareness raising, an effective collaboration between varied stakeholders, and robust information exchange across regions. GPDD is strongly committed to creating a reliable and effective platform to accelerate change within and outside of government that targets development activities to include and benefit individuals with disabilities.
Vision
The Vision of the Global Partnership for Disability and Development (GPDD) is of a world of inclusive communities, where children, youth and adults with disabilities, regardless of gender, age, or type of disability, as well as their parents and families, enjoy the same individual rights and have access to the same opportunities enjoyed by other citizens. In such inclusive communities people with disabilities are accepted, have a voice, are free from poverty and participate actively in all aspects of the community and the nation.
Objective
The Objective of the Global Partnership for Disability and Development (GPDD) is to combat the social and economic exclusion and impoverishment of people with disabilities and their families in developing countries. To achieve this Objective, GPDD partners work jointly and individually to:
- improve the quality and effectiveness of public policy-making and implementation,
- increase the resources devoted to disability and development, and
- improve the efficiency with which public and private resources are used to improve the quality of lives of, and increase opportunities for, people with disabilities.
Global Partnership for Disability and Development (GPDD)
Phone: (202) 296-5392 [voice]
E-mail: gpdd-info@law.syr.edu
Last Website Update: March 11, 2010
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