Understanding Disability Inclusion at All Levels!

International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD)

3 December 2021, Islamabad – The United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy (UNDIS) aims at promoting a culture of disability inclusion at every level. To implement this at the organizational level, UNDIS collaborates with organizations actively working for the Persons with Disabilities (PWD). To ensure equal rights for all especially the PWD, the UNODC Pakistan in collaboration with National University of Science and Technology (NUST), held a virtual session “Staff Capacity Building Session on Disability Inclusion” on 25th November 2021.

The online session was dedicated to imparting knowledge to staff members on their understanding of disability inclusion at all levels.  The training session was attended by senior management and staff members of Country Office Pakistan (CoPAK) and the Regional Programme for Afghanistan and Neighboring Countries.

“The main objective of this online session was to gain an understanding of the meaning of disability and who are the persons with disabilities, disability inclusion in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, UN Disability Inclusion Strategy, and the relevance of disability inclusion to different departments”.

Prof. Dr. Nabeel Anwar, from the department of biomedical engineering, NUST, who works for persons with disabilities, led the session on the introduction to core elements of the UNDIS. The training session comprised case studies on promoting disability inclusion programmes at the leadership level, when hiring staff, and for the provision of common services. In the end, the session set the following targets for the organization:

 

  • To embed disability inclusion in strategic plans adopted wholeheartedly by all,
  • To establish, implement, and periodically review the roadmap on disability inclusion at the local level,
  • To conduct a baseline assessment on the suitability of UNODC premises and services.