Strengthening the Implementation of the World Bank's Disability Inclusion and Accountability Framework (Global Disability Summit 2022 Side Session)

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00:00 And to everyone who has joined us today

00:02 for this event

00:03 titled Strengthening the Implementation of the World

00:07 Bank's Disability Inclusion and Accountability framework.

00:11 My name is Charlotte McLean and Nhlapo.

00:13 I'm the global disability advisor at the World Bank.

00:17 I'm a brown woman with long brown hair.

00:19 I have green eyes,

00:20 and today I'm wearing a black sweater with a white collar,

00:24 large hoop earrings,

00:25 and black reading glasses.

00:28 Before we begin today's discussion,

00:30 I want to point out some accessibility features that we have today.

00:37 First of all,

00:38 we have international sign interpretation

00:41 that will be spotlighted throughout the discussion.

00:45 Secondly,

00:46 we have closed captioning.

00:48 If you would like to access this feature,

00:51 please go to the bottom of your screen

00:53 and select the CC icon

00:56 and select

00:57 show subtitles.

00:59 Alternatively,

01:01 we're placing the streaming link in the chat box

01:04 as I speak.

01:06 We would encourage you.

01:09 To post questions

01:11 and use the chat box to introduce yourselves,

01:14 and let us know which organization

01:16 you represent.

01:19 Again,

01:19 please post questions that you have about

01:21 the updated disability inclusion and accountability framework,

01:25 and we'll try to get to those during the course of our discussion today.

01:29 Finally,

01:30 we will be recording today's discussion.

01:33 And the reason for that is that we would like to share this widely

01:37 with those who are not able to attend.

01:40 We know that there are many side events happening,

01:43 happening simultaneously

01:45 around the Global Disability summit,

01:47 making it difficult

01:49 for people to decide

01:51 which event to attend.

01:53 For that,

01:53 we're honored that you have selected to join us today.

01:58 Before I hand over to an amazing panel of speakers that we have.

02:03 I want to give a little bit of

02:05 background on the first disability inclusion and accountability framework.

02:11 So the first

02:13 disability inclusion accountability framework

02:15 was launched in 2018

02:18 at

02:19 the first Global Disability summit.

02:22 The disability framework

02:24 supports the mainstreaming of disability

02:26 in World Bank activities,

02:28 and it does so

02:30 by laying a roadmap for including disability

02:33 in banks policies,

02:35 operations,

02:36 and analytical work.

02:39 As well as very importantly,

02:42 building internal capacity

02:44 that supports clients in implementing

02:46 disability inclusive development programs.

02:50 Since its launch in 2018,

02:53 and along with the World Bank's 10 commitments

02:55 that were announced at the last Global Disability

02:59 summit,

02:59 we have seen a lot of progress at the World Bank

03:02 towards making sure that projects and programs

03:05 are more disability inclusive.

03:09 From the onset of this framework,

03:11 we saw it as a living document.

03:14 And so we have constantly we have been revising

03:17 revising it and ensuring that it takes into account

03:21 a lot of the new developments made at the bank in the last 3 years or so.

03:27 And so we found the timing of the 2nd Global Disability summit,

03:30 an ideal one

03:32 to present a refreshed version

03:34 of

03:35 many of many of the projects and some of our work over the past couple of years.

03:41 In addition to that,

03:43 we have also identified new thematic areas

03:46 to highlight where the bank can make significant impact

03:50 on persons with disabilities.

03:52 And so without further ado,

03:54 I'd like to introduce my colleague Janet Lord,

03:58 who's been working diligently on this updated version,

04:02 to tell us a bit more about the process of updating the disability framework

04:06 and some of the things that you will be able to find in this new version

04:10 that were

04:11 not captured in the first version.

04:15 Janet is a senior fellow at the Harvard Law School Project on Disability,

04:20 and we've been really fortunate to have her lead on this work.

04:24 Janet,

04:25 over to you.

04:26 Please provide us with an overview of

04:27 the Disability Inclusion and Accountability framework.

04:31 Thank you so much,

04:32 Charlotte.

04:33 Good morning,

04:34 afternoon,

04:34 and evening to all of you.

04:37 As Charlotte said,

04:37 I'm

04:38 Janet Lord,

04:39 and I had the great honor of working with,

04:41 with her whole team

04:43 and many others throughout the bank

04:45 and beyond on this project.

04:47 I am,

04:48 uh,

04:48 coming to you today from Baltimore,

04:50 Maryland,

04:51 Mid-Atlantic East Coast of the United States.

04:54 Um,

04:54 I'm a white woman of Northern European descent.

04:58 I have short blonde hair.

05:00 I'm wearing glasses,

05:01 I have green eyes,

05:03 and I'm wearing today a purple blouse and a

05:07 purple

05:08 vest,

05:09 and I have a necklace that I got in Egypt,

05:12 one of my favorite countries.

05:15 So,

05:15 let's get started and take a look at uh

05:18 this project and what it was all about.

05:21 If you could switch to the next slide,

05:23 please.

05:27 Great.

05:27 So what was the rationale for updating the World Bank's disability framework,

05:33 which,

05:33 uh,

05:34 you know,

05:34 was launched just a few years ago.

05:36 Well,

05:36 there was a sense that we wanted to uh reflect ongoing developments,

05:42 capture

05:43 really the proliferation of,

05:45 of new guidance and,

05:46 and also new commitments being undertaken both internationally and by the bank

05:51 to identify some new focal areas where the bank

05:54 is starting to have and can continue to have significant impact

05:59 on the inclusion of people with disabilities and

06:02 develop a theory of change for disability inclusion in the World Bank.

06:06 And there was also the sense uh of a

06:08 need to highlight regional advancements on disability inclusion,

06:13 uh,

06:13 and specifically for bank staff to identify

06:17 disability-inclusive country framework partnerships and systematic country

06:22 diagnostics.

06:23 Now,

06:23 to put it another way and maybe more interestingly,

06:26 we were really trying to capture,

06:27 I think,

06:28 the dynamism.

06:30 Or the rhizomatic change,

06:32 think ginger or bamboo,

06:35 that the CRPD,

06:36 the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,

06:39 and Article 32,

06:41 is really helping to bring about.

06:43 And to first do that,

06:45 uh,

06:45 having a look at deeply at the World Bank's work,

06:48 but also,

06:49 um,

06:50 where possible,

06:51 uh,

06:51 to certainly highlight some of the other

06:54 Uh,

06:54 work that's being done,

06:56 uh,

06:56 by other donors,

06:57 by other organizations

06:59 around the world to advance disability-inclusive development.

07:03 Next slide,

07:04 please.

07:08 So,

07:08 the process was consisted of two phases,

07:11 and during the first phase,

07:13 uh,

07:13 there were sector reviews of World Bank projects,

07:17 uh,

07:17 across many different thematic areas,

07:19 looking at the not only projects,

07:22 but the analytics and practices,

07:25 looking at disability inclusion,

07:27 uh,

07:28 across the many sectors within which the bank works.

07:32 Uh,

07:32 there was the opportunity to review.

07:35 A range of new guidance that's been issued by the World Bank

07:38 and by other stakeholders,

07:41 uh,

07:41 and,

07:41 uh,

07:42 guidance that really tries to,

07:44 uh,

07:45 help

07:46 operationalize what disability inclusion means in specific thematic areas.

07:52 We consulted with World Bank teams across

07:54 various sectors and global practices,

07:57 accounted for commitments that have been undertaken

08:00 since 2018,

08:02 and ident

08:09 Going on,

08:10 not,

08:10 not a revisit revision as such.

08:13 Next slide.

08:18 Uh,

08:19 in the phase two,

08:20 we,

08:20 uh,

08:21 took a deeper dive,

08:22 reviewing topic areas to see,

08:25 uh,

08:25 what new

08:27 projects and commitments were undertaken.

08:29 We identified new areas that really weren't covered or covered

08:33 in detail in the first iteration of the framework.

08:36 We did internal outreach within the bank,

08:39 meeting with teams,

08:41 individual experts,

08:42 and others.

08:43 We shared drafts of updates for inputs

08:46 and feedback

08:47 externally as well with uh partners of the World Bank,

08:50 with

08:51 organizations of personal,

08:52 uh,

08:53 persons with disabilities,

08:54 with other donors.

08:56 Uh,

08:56 and in those consultations,

08:58 we received both oral feedback and we,

09:00 we received as well,

09:02 uh,

09:02 a range of different written feedback which,

09:05 uh,

09:05 we worked to reflect in the revision process,

09:08 and that took place this past autumn.

09:10 Next slide.

09:16 So in the new,

09:17 uh,

09:17 revision of the framework,

09:20 we identified 4 cross-cutting themes that,

09:22 uh,

09:23 wanted to

09:24 address.

09:24 The first was

09:25 social inclusion

09:27 and really trying to capture intersectionality,

09:30 uh,

09:30 in a way that wasn't done in detail in the,

09:32 in the first iteration.

09:34 Uh,

09:35 we have a,

09:35 a section on gender and disability inclusion,

09:38 and that reflects some of the new work that the bank's team is doing.

09:42 the Women Law and Development team and,

09:44 and others across uh the bank.

09:47 We,

09:48 uh,

09:48 incorporated a section on citizen engagement,

09:51 which of course is a cross-cutting issue that needs to be reflected in

09:55 all of the bank's work,

09:56 and finally,

09:57 we introduced a section on fragility,

10:01 conflict,

10:01 and violence environments,

10:03 um,

10:04 and that really gives a nod to some

10:05 of the dynamic work that's happened internationally to

10:09 refocus efforts as a result of Security Council Resolution

10:13 2475.

10:15 Next slide.

10:19 So,

10:20 in the thematic sections that are covered,

10:22 uh,

10:23 we've added some,

10:24 and that reflects some of the exciting work

10:26 that either the bank has undertaken since 2018

10:29 or uh work projects that are in the pipeline.

10:33 Uh,

10:33 so we certainly amplified the,

10:35 uh,

10:35 coverage of disability inclusive data.

10:38 A lot of that reflects the work that's been

10:40 done by the Washington Group on Disability Statistics,

10:43 UNICEF and others.

10:44 Added a section on food security and agriculture,

10:47 as well as GovTech,

10:49 and finally added a section on identification for development,

10:54 uh,

10:54 and that,

10:55 uh,

10:55 captures the work that the World Bank is doing

10:58 in

10:59 Developing countries,

11:00 uh,

11:00 to ensure that,

11:01 uh,

11:02 persons with disabilities have access to legal proof of identity,

11:06 which is critical.

11:07 Uh,

11:07 and then the other,

11:08 uh,

11:09 sectors,

11:09 uh,

11:10 were simply updated healthcare,

11:12 ICT,

11:14 education,

11:15 jobs,

11:15 resilience and disaster management,

11:17 social protection,

11:19 transport,

11:20 urban development,

11:21 and water sector operations.

11:23 New slide,

11:23 next slide,

11:24 please.

11:26 We also tried hard to reflect,

11:28 uh,

11:29 new developments since 2019

11:31 or 2018,

11:32 and there's quite a few of them,

11:33 uh,

11:34 uh,

11:34 some of them are captured here on this slide.

11:36 Obviously,

11:37 we had the launch of the UN Disability strategy,

11:40 the adoption of Security Council Resolution 2475 on the

11:45 protection of persons with disabilities in armed conflict,

11:48 uh,

11:48 the promulgation of guidelines on the inclusion

11:51 of persons with disabilities in humanitarian action.

11:55 Uh,

11:55 new module and the,

11:56 uh,

11:57 disarmament,

11:57 demobilization and reintegration standards,

12:00 uh,

12:01 and,

12:01 and work and good practices reflected in the UN flagship report on disability

12:07 and development.

12:09 Next slide.

12:11 I think that's it.

12:13 Right,

12:13 so that

12:15 gives you a snapshot and an overview of the work that we tried to,

12:19 uh,

12:19 to capture and the many dynamic developments happening in this field.

12:24 I'll pass it over to you,

12:25 Charlotte.

12:25 Thank you.

12:27 Thank you,

12:27 Janet,

12:28 for setting the stage,

12:29 um,

12:29 today.

12:30 And please,

12:31 um,

12:32 to colleagues who are joining,

12:33 please introduce yourself in the chat.

12:35 Let us know which organization you come from and where you are.

12:38 That would be great just to know who's here.

12:40 Um,

12:41 but Janet,

12:42 thank you for talking about the importance of,

12:44 um,

12:45 a framework like this and the importance of having a range of stakeholders.

12:51 I think what has been very important about

12:54 the first framework as well as the refresh to,

12:57 to um this particular framework

13:00 is that

13:01 the process has been important.

13:03 Ensuring that we have consultations,

13:05 ensuring that we consult with persons with disabilities

13:08 and organizations of persons with disabilities has been

13:12 an important aspect of,

13:13 um,

13:14 you know,

13:14 making sure that we have a good framework.

13:17 I want to now introduce

13:18 my World Bank colleague Sannaid Assefa.

13:22 Uh,

13:22 Sunai is a practice manager in social sustainability and the inclusion practice,

13:28 and she is responsible for West and Central Africa.

13:33 I want to highlight

13:35 that while Sn is currently managing projects in Western Central Africa,

13:40 She also spent time leading the World Bank,

13:42 the World Bank's work in other regions of Africa,

13:46 so she's very well placed to speak to us about the disability

13:49 framework and how it's framed the work um in her region,

13:53 but across the continent.

13:55 And also Sirnight was the manager

13:57 that worked very closely with us,

13:59 uh,

13:59 to finalize the,

14:00 the first strategy,

14:01 so we're really excited to have Sir Knight with us,

14:04 and over to you,

14:04 Senna.

14:07 Thank you,

14:08 Charlotte.

14:09 It's great to be here.

14:10 Uh,

14:11 good morning,

14:12 good afternoon,

14:13 good evening,

14:14 everyone.

14:14 I,

14:14 I hope you can hear me?

14:15 Yes?

14:16 OK.

14:18 Um,

14:18 I know we have,

14:19 uh,

14:19 several people joining from all over the world.

14:21 So this is,

14:22 this is a very exciting,

14:23 uh,

14:24 uh,

14:24 session for me to,

14:25 to attend.

14:26 My name is Sannai Assefa.

14:27 Uh,

14:28 I am a practice manager in the Social sustainability and inclusion

14:32 global practice,

14:33 um,

14:34 as Charles said,

14:35 currently covering several countries in West and Central Africa.

14:39 Uh,

14:39 and,

14:40 of course,

14:40 I had also worked in other parts of Africa.

14:43 Uh,

14:43 a little bit about myself.

14:44 I am connected from my home office in Maryland,

14:47 uh,

14:48 United States.

14:49 I am medium,

14:50 medium height,

14:51 although some would say I'm short.

14:54 Um,

14:54 I'm an African woman from Ethiopia,

14:57 Eritrea.

14:58 I have black hair,

14:59 brown eyes,

15:01 uh,

15:01 and today I'm wearing a black and white shirt and orange scarf.

15:05 So,

15:06 to the framework,

15:07 so as,

15:08 as,

15:08 as has been mentioned,

15:10 over the last few years,

15:11 uh,

15:11 the World Bank has ramped up its efforts to,

15:15 uh,

15:16 more effectively address disability inclusion

15:18 in

15:19 all its operations and engagements.

15:22 And this is very much,

15:23 this has been a very important agenda for Africa.

15:27 Um,

15:27 there are many contributing factors,

15:29 uh,

15:30 to this positive change,

15:31 including,

15:32 of course,

15:32 uh,

15:32 the disability inclusion and accountability framework,

15:36 uh,

15:36 the 10 commitments on disabled inclusive development,

15:39 and the new environmental and social framework,

15:42 uh,

15:42 that was,

15:43 uh,

15:43 adopted in 2018,

15:45 and,

15:46 uh,

15:46 the IDA 19 disabled inclusion commitments.

15:49 Uh,

15:50 focusing on the disability inclusion,

15:52 uh,

15:52 accountability framework,

15:54 uh,

15:54 this framework has been very instrumental

15:58 in laying out a roadmap for including

16:01 disability

16:03 and the World Bank policies,

16:05 operations,

16:06 analytical work.

16:08 Uh,

16:08 and building internal capacity for supporting clients,

16:12 uh,

16:12 and,

16:13 uh,

16:13 also our own internal capacity,

16:16 uh,

16:16 in terms of what

16:17 staff and teams should,

16:18 should focus on and how they should,

16:20 uh,

16:21 design,

16:22 uh,

16:22 disabled inclusive,

16:23 uh,

16:24 operations projects.

16:26 Uh,

16:26 if I was,

16:27 let me just give you a few examples.

16:29 Uh,

16:29 one of the 10 commitments,

16:31 uh,

16:31 focuses on inclusive education.

16:34 Uh,

16:34 stating that all World Bank finance projects,

16:37 uh,

16:38 should,

16:38 uh,

16:39 include or should be disability inclusive by 2025.

16:42 This is a

16:43 very ambitious,

16:44 uh,

16:44 commitment,

16:45 and,

16:46 uh,

16:46 I think we're making good progress.

16:47 We're not there yet,

16:48 but we're,

16:48 we're making good progress.

16:50 Uh,

16:51 for example,

16:51 In Ghana,

16:52 the Ghana Accountability for Learning Outcome Project

16:56 supports the transformation of existing

17:00 special schools and regional assessment centers

17:03 into inclusive education resource centers and a pilot,

17:06 pilot training for staff

17:08 in their new capacities.

17:10 Uh,

17:10 it supports the strengthening of civil society networks,

17:14 uh,

17:15 organizational capacity in engaging with communities on inclusive education.

17:19 Uh,

17:19 and similarly in Sierra Leone,

17:21 Nigeria,

17:22 and other countries,

17:23 we're seeing

17:24 most of our education projects,

17:26 World Bank financed education projects

17:29 are increasingly integrating disability inclusion

17:32 in their design and implementation.

17:35 Uh,

17:35 I'm happy to share that in addition to

17:37 these encouraging developments in the education sector,

17:40 we're seeing this in other sectors as well.

17:42 For example,

17:43 in Nigeria,

17:44 the Nigeria Agro-processing Productivity Enhancement

17:48 and Livelihood Improvement Support Project,

17:51 for example.

17:52 is being implemented across 6 states.

17:55 Um,

17:55 under one of the project components,

17:58 uh,

17:58 the,

17:59 the aim is to target at least 5 to 10% of the beneficiaries of the project should be

18:05 persons with disability.

18:07 Uh,

18:08 and the activities financed by this project include

18:11 support for,

18:11 uh,

18:12 skill training,

18:13 grant provision,

18:14 uh,

18:14 business development,

18:16 and mentorship opportunities.

18:18 Uh,

18:18 we see encouraging trends across several sectors,

18:21 transport,

18:22 health,

18:23 uh,

18:23 social protection and jobs,

18:25 uh,

18:26 so on and so forth.

18:27 I think,

18:27 um,

18:28 uh,

18:29 the,

18:29 the foundation is there and,

18:30 and,

18:31 and that has been,

18:32 uh,

18:32 sort of the success,

18:33 I would say,

18:34 of this,

18:34 this framework over the last couple of years.

18:37 Uh,

18:38 one of the innovations I would say,

18:40 and this,

18:40 I'm very proud of this,

18:42 uh,

18:42 because this is mainly has been led from,

18:44 from my unit.

18:46 Uh,

18:46 that we've put in place also is in

18:49 a lot of our countries,

18:50 at least in the countries that I cover,

18:53 we have established what we call

18:55 country engagement platforms for social inclusion.

18:58 Uh,

18:59 what

18:59 these platforms do is they allow us the technical,

19:03 to,

19:03 to bring in the technical support that is needed to make sure

19:06 every single project

19:08 or engagement that the bank supports,

19:11 uh,

19:11 is,

19:12 uh,

19:13 sort of,

19:13 there's a

19:15 A deliberate effort to make sure

19:17 we have thought about disability inclusion.

19:20 Sometimes it might make sense and sometimes

19:21 it wouldn't make sense to include those,

19:23 but at least the thought process

19:25 has been built into that.

19:26 So these platforms have been very helpful

19:29 in allowing us to bring in technical support across the bank,

19:32 but mostly led by the social development teams,

19:35 uh,

19:35 but also engaging internally with bank task teams

19:39 as As well as externally with clients,

19:41 with stakeholders,

19:43 with organizations uh for persons with disabilities and other stakeholders.

19:48 And,

19:48 and I think,

19:49 um,

19:50 when we think about

19:51 disability inclusion mainstreaming,

19:54 uh,

19:54 these kinds of instruments will be very,

19:55 very critical,

19:56 uh,

19:57 to make sure that we're really,

19:58 uh,

19:59 doing this at scale and across,

20:01 uh,

20:01 the bank's engagement portfolio.

20:04 So,

20:05 the disability inclusion and accountability framework

20:07 has provided important framework for,

20:10 for this process.

20:12 Uh,

20:12 I think we've made good progress,

20:14 and I think going forward and looking into IA 20

20:17 we see further opportunities for deepening

20:20 our work,

20:21 uh,

20:21 and,

20:21 and also scaling up,

20:23 um,

20:23 under the human capital special.

20:25 Theme

20:26 under IDA 20,

20:27 uh,

20:28 there are several,

20:28 uh,

20:29 policy commitments,

20:29 but one of the,

20:30 the important one is on universal access.

20:33 Uh,

20:33 the aim is to promote inclusive societies

20:37 supporting at least 18

20:39 IDA countries to be disability inclusive

20:42 by implementing them.

20:43 Let me just shut off this call here one sec.

20:47 By promoting the principles of non-discrimination,

20:51 inclusion,

20:51 and universal access,

20:53 I'm

20:54 as laid out in the environmental and social framework.

20:58 Uh,

20:58 and,

20:59 and prioritizing sectors such as education,

21:01 health,

21:02 social protection,

21:03 water,

21:04 urban development,

21:05 digital development,

21:06 and transport.

21:07 So,

21:08 we have,

21:09 uh,

21:09 I think we have a strong momentum.

21:11 The foundation is there,

21:12 the momentum is good,

21:13 and huge opportunities to significantly scale up our work in

21:17 Africa and other regions of the World Bank going forward.

21:20 This,

21:20 of course,

21:21 would require not only ramping up of the bank's own,

21:24 the World Bank's financial and technical resources,

21:28 but also deepening our partnership with organizations of

21:32 for persons with disabilities,

21:34 with governments,

21:35 with private sector,

21:36 uh,

21:37 and other development partners.

21:39 So let me stop here.

21:40 Uh,

21:41 thank you,

21:41 Charlotte over to you.

21:43 So thank you very much,

21:44 Senna,

21:44 and thank you for underscoring the value added of the framework

21:48 as a roadmap and sharing with us some exciting examples.

21:52 And I did just want to make a point made or underscore a point made by Snight that

21:58 the,

21:58 the projects that she's talking about are projects that are

22:02 bank mainstream projects.

22:04 And so it's really important for us to,

22:06 to recognize that

22:08 the framework has begun to impact on much larger bank projects.

22:13 So these are not necessarily small pilots,

22:16 they are indeed big um lending projects.

22:19 I want to now bring in Shitai

22:22 Asatawi.

22:24 Shitai is the director for advocacy and

22:26 communications with the Africa Disability Forum.

22:30 And she will speak to us about the importance of a framework

22:33 like this as it relates to organizations of persons with disabilities.

22:37 Over to you,

22:38 Shitai.

22:40 Thank you,

22:40 Charlotte.

22:41 Uh,

22:42 uh,

22:42 good morning.

22:44 Good afternoon,

22:45 and,

22:45 uh,

22:46 uh,

22:46 good evening,

22:47 uh,

22:48 good evening

22:49 to all the participants and the organizers of this important,

22:54 uh,

22:54 side event.

22:56 But uh

22:57 yeah,

22:58 sunlight makes my life difficult.

23:00 I don't know what to talk after

23:02 that clear and um you know,

23:05 um

23:07 uh very clear,

23:08 like,

23:08 I mean,

23:09 uh,

23:11 a speech and um

23:12 presentation of

23:14 uh the World Bank and the

23:17 usability of

23:18 uh the disability inclusion and accountability framework.

23:21 In any case,

23:23 let me add something

23:24 uh to that as well.

23:26 Yes,

23:26 I'm Stataus,

23:27 uh,

23:28 from Ethiopia.

23:29 Uh,

23:29 I'm working for the regional umbrella

23:33 organizations of,

23:34 uh,

23:34 uh

23:36 Uh,

23:37 persons with disabilities,

23:38 the African Disability Forum or ADF,

23:41 uh,

23:42 in short.

23:43 Uh,

23:43 I'm the new incoming

23:46 advocacy and communication,

23:47 uh,

23:48 director.

23:49 The African Disability Forum,

23:52 uh,

23:52 is striving to,

23:55 uh,

23:56 toward this strong voice of national

24:00 federations across Africa.

24:02 Presently,

24:03 it has,

24:04 uh,

24:05 as a member of 44

24:08 national federations,

24:10 8 sub-regional.

24:12 Uh,

24:13 organizations of,

24:14 uh,

24:15 persons

24:17 with disabilities

24:18 and also another four sub-regional

24:23 organizations.

24:24 Uh,

24:24 so,

24:24 uh,

24:25 saying this,

24:26 uh,

24:26 just to reflect my,

24:28 uh,

24:28 uh,

24:29 my opinion of the framework.

24:32 Uh,

24:33 yes,

24:34 this is very much important

24:36 and crucial,

24:37 and I think it's the right time

24:40 for the World Bank to undertake such,

24:43 uh,

24:45 uh,

24:46 such a step.

24:47 Uh,

24:48 it makes like the framework could make inclusion,

24:51 uh,

24:51 possible

24:52 and practical.

24:54 In the World Bank itself.

24:56 And also it could have ways

24:59 for the bank's partners

25:01 to follow track,

25:02 to really follow on that and adopt

25:05 such kinds of framework.

25:08 That's one

25:09 very uh big essential importance of the,

25:13 the framework.

25:14 And it could also

25:15 the new door

25:17 as a new door for collaboration.

25:20 And could enable to make dialogue and negotiation

25:23 easier for partners,

25:25 uh,

25:26 especially for those partners

25:28 who are working on the field of disability.

25:32 Uh,

25:33 and the others,

25:34 uh,

25:35 as well.

25:36 It could also,

25:37 um,

25:38 serve as a model.

25:40 Uh,

25:41 World Bank is such,

25:43 uh,

25:45 Great entity and so for this commitment,

25:49 for this step,

25:50 we are sure within the coming few years,

25:52 others also would follow

25:55 uh that model

25:56 and it will add on the,

25:58 the effort of

26:00 uh disability inclusion and towards also

26:04 the our ambition to achieve

26:07 the SDGs

26:08 17 goals.

26:11 And uh my,

26:12 uh,

26:13 so,

26:13 um,

26:14 the framework will be

26:16 uh crucial

26:17 for the,

26:18 for the World Bank

26:19 uh to get down also

26:21 in a very meaningful

26:23 manner

26:24 uh to

26:26 organizations of persons with

26:27 disabilities

26:28 and their

26:29 uh beneficiaries and

26:31 partners.

26:32 It could give us a good,

26:33 a good chance,

26:35 uh,

26:36 a good way in such

26:37 like this partnership with OPDs at the grassroots level.

26:41 Uh,

26:42 could be started,

26:43 for instance,

26:44 with,

26:45 uh,

26:45 with such

26:47 like global big issues like climate change.

26:50 Or for that matter,

26:52 uh,

26:52 gender inequality.

26:54 Uh,

26:54 so this is a good,

26:56 uh,

26:56 and a very nice achievement,

26:58 and I would like to congratulate you guys who are really working within the bank

27:04 to achieve

27:05 and manage this part.

27:06 So,

27:07 uh,

27:08 yeah,

27:09 uh,

27:09 let me stop here.

27:11 And thank you.

27:12 Thank you very much,

27:13 Shitai,

27:14 and I have to say we really value

27:16 the engagement of organizations of persons with disabilities.

27:19 It's now,

27:20 it's uh considered,

27:21 it's a part of our stakeholder engagement,

27:24 and you raised some very important points.

27:27 We're so glad to have been able to have you with us today and for you to

27:31 share our perspectives and a huge congratulations on

27:34 your new position within the Africa Disability Forum,

27:37 and we look,

27:38 we look forward to continuing to work with you.

27:41 Now I want to shift our,

27:42 thank you.

27:43 Now I want to shift our focus to a more sectoral perspective.

27:47 I'm bringing my colleague Samira E

27:49 Tarji.

27:51 And Samira is the lead,

27:52 a global lead on

27:54 the population and development,

27:55 health,

27:56 nutrition and population global practice at the World Bank.

27:59 Samira,

28:00 welcome.

28:00 We've been collaborating over the last

28:03 year or so,

28:03 and it's just fabulous that we're able to have you join us today.

28:06 So over to you,

28:07 Samira.

28:09 Thank you,

28:10 Charlotte,

28:10 and um good morning,

28:12 good evening,

28:12 afternoon,

28:13 everyone.

28:13 I come from um

28:16 Northern Virginia,

28:17 the Washington metropolitan area from my home office.

28:21 Uh

28:21 I am uh from Saudi Arabia,

28:24 so I am a brown woman.

28:25 Um,

28:26 I have a medium length,

28:27 um,

28:28 almost black hair and brown eyes,

28:30 and I'm wearing a red top this morning.

28:33 Um,

28:35 As Charlotte had indicated,

28:36 we've been really working very diligently with

28:39 the um social sustainability and inclusion,

28:42 global practice and specifically with Charlotte's team on looking out.

28:46 How can we actually place

28:48 inclusive health,

28:49 which also

28:50 by default um uh includes uh persons with disabilities.

28:55 So,

28:55 um,

28:56 within,

28:56 within the health and nutrition and population,

28:58 uh,

28:58 next slide,

28:59 please.

29:00 Global practice,

29:01 uh,

29:01 we really work on two goals.

29:03 Um,

29:03 the first one is to support universal

29:06 health coverage,

29:07 uh,

29:08 which is a right on its own,

29:10 and also to,

29:11 uh,

29:12 help.

29:13 Uh,

29:13 countries and individuals within countries,

29:15 um,

29:16 accumulate,

29:17 uh,

29:17 uh,

29:17 human capital.

29:19 So,

29:19 um,

29:20 if we just look at the semantics of the,

29:22 the situation,

29:23 we know that,

29:24 uh,

29:24 15% of the world's population actually living with disabilities,

29:28 hence the 1 billion

29:29 persons,

29:30 and 80% of those,

29:32 um,

29:32 live actually in developing countries which are

29:35 the focus of the World Bank,

29:36 especially within the IDAL International Development Association.

29:41 Typically,

29:41 also,

29:42 um,

29:42 these disabled person,

29:44 persons with disabilities usually have,

29:46 um,

29:47 a poor,

29:47 uh,

29:48 they come from poor,

29:49 poor background and they have a lot of

29:52 barriers to face in,

29:53 in health,

29:54 uh,

29:54 in healthcare,

29:56 um,

29:56 whether it's in,

29:57 in accessible facilities,

29:59 limited availability,

30:00 or high cost of healthcare,

30:02 the things we usually face within the uh universal health coverage domain.

30:07 Um,

30:08 as,

30:09 as indicated by,

30:10 by my colleagues who spoke before me,

30:12 there is also this,

30:13 this,

30:14 um,

30:15 a feature of,

30:16 of,

30:16 uh,

30:16 of low-income

30:18 countries,

30:19 uh,

30:19 that cannot afford quality healthcare,

30:21 uh,

30:22 is,

30:22 is usually host to,

30:24 to persons with

30:25 with uh disabilities.

30:27 Uh,

30:27 which leads to more,

30:28 uh,

30:29 worse health outcomes.

30:30 Uh,

30:31 they are,

30:32 for example,

30:33 3 times more likely to be diabetic,

30:36 probably based on the poor diet,

30:38 2 times more likely to be HIV positive because of lack of access

30:43 to healthcare and to testing and diagnostics,

30:46 and also 2 to 3 times more likely to die from COVID-19

30:50 because of the same access issues

30:52 and because of the same um inaccessibility to healthcare.

30:56 Children,

30:57 uh,

30:58 unfortunately,

30:59 uh,

30:59 with disabilities are actually 10 more times likely to be seriously ill

31:04 and 2 times more likely to be,

31:06 uh,

31:06 suffering from malnutrition and,

31:08 and stunting.

31:09 Next,

31:10 please.

31:15 So in a,

31:15 in a,

31:16 in a nutshell,

31:17 uh,

31:18 we,

31:18 we know that the uh

31:19 inclusive healthcare is important because it supports the fundamental,

31:24 the fundamental right

31:26 to help for persons with disability

31:28 and it also helps create a robust health system

31:31 that,

31:32 that is a building block towards a universal health coverage

31:35 and also contributing to a better health outcomes for persons with disability,

31:40 which is actually an underpinning for their

31:42 human capital formation because we know that.

31:45 Um,

31:46 uh,

31:46 young and educated and healthy adults make a better workforce and

31:51 less dependency ratio as they age.

31:53 Next,

31:54 please.

31:57 So,

31:57 I am not going to dwell a lot on the framework.

32:01 This is a busy slide and it's been adopted from the missing billion

32:04 Health Systems framework and the WHO's Health System framework as well,

32:09 the building blocks.

32:10 It just talks about how,

32:11 where we start uh from the system,

32:14 uh,

32:14 thinking and the system engagement

32:16 on leadership and governance,

32:18 we need to think

32:19 about the inclusivity of all of these people with

32:22 disabilities into the framework of the health system.

32:25 We also need to find financing and sustainable financing for that reason.

32:30 Health information system is extremely important because without it,

32:34 we really cannot

32:35 trace and follow

32:36 the needs of,

32:37 of persons with disabilities.

32:39 Service delivery also is another building block because we

32:43 need to look at the traditional demand and supply

32:45 dimensions of the service delivery system,

32:49 uh,

32:49 including autonomy and awareness and affordability

32:52 when it comes to health services,

32:54 some of which are

32:55 truly expensive.

32:57 And on the supply side,

32:58 we need to look at health facilities that have not just the infrastructure,

33:01 physical infrastructure,

33:03 but also the orientation,

33:05 the understanding,

33:06 and

33:07 the mix of skills for those people who are,

33:09 uh,

33:10 rendering these services

33:12 and access to essential medicines,

33:14 and specialized services,

33:15 uh,

33:16 and,

33:16 and,

33:16 and,

33:16 and other aspects.

33:18 We've touched upon the health workforce and how they,

33:21 they need to be responsive and aware.

33:23 And that would contribute to outputs which are characterized by

33:28 good access and good coverage and quality services

33:32 and also safe services.

33:34 On the outcomes,

33:35 um,

33:35 we,

33:36 we,

33:36 we aim within this framework to have um

33:39 healthy outcomes,

33:40 um,

33:41 responsiveness,

33:42 social and financial risk mitigation,

33:44 and protection and also efficiency of the health system response

33:48 to persons with disabilities.

33:50 Next,

33:50 please.

33:55 So,

33:55 um,

33:56 3,

33:58 key simple but not so simple steps actually starts by,

34:02 uh,

34:02 consulting,

34:03 and that would be the learning curve because,

34:05 and,

34:06 and the,

34:07 the,

34:07 the work with stakeholders,

34:09 uh,

34:09 had been touched upon by the previous speakers.

34:11 I,

34:11 I think it cannot be

34:13 stressed enough that the,

34:15 that,

34:15 that kind of learning curve.

34:17 Especially

34:18 educating the policymakers and the middle management in a,

34:22 in a,

34:22 in a certain setting um

34:24 is extremely important and it should

34:26 include persons with disabilities or their representatives

34:29 and also technical experts on disability and inclusion.

34:33 That would lead to the learning,

34:35 um,

34:36 experience which actually reflects

34:39 on the projects,

34:40 uh,

34:40 to ensure that the analysis adopts

34:43 a disability-inclusive lens that actually

34:45 would yield,

34:47 uh,

34:47 a mapping of the current situation,

34:49 the priority issues,

34:51 uh,

34:52 the priority key gaps,

34:54 and identifies the process that would lead to,

34:56 um,

34:57 to,

34:57 to,

34:58 um,

34:59 rendering these gaps and,

35:01 and working on them.

35:02 And all of these consultations and learning

35:04 curves and the information that that collection would

35:07 actually contribute to the change that you would want to see in the health system,

35:10 especially in a service delivery health system.

35:13 And if we start from

35:14 the macro level at the Country-level policy dialogue,

35:17 which really includes disability,

35:19 inclusive health and creates awareness among key stakeholders.

35:23 Uh,

35:23 at the level of the project or program design inclusive

35:27 health is also reflected in the analysis

35:30 with a dedicated budget which covers the financing

35:33 and also probably a consideration for targeted programs to address

35:38 many

35:38 but specific needs of people with disabilities.

35:42 Um,

35:42 training of the project staff and

35:44 implementation partners on disability inclusion,

35:47 and finally,

35:48 the,

35:48 the,

35:48 the monitoring and evaluation just to look at

35:51 the impacts of these policies and these shift and change,

35:55 uh,

35:55 shifts and changes in the,

35:57 in the policymaking and also at the project level.

36:00 Next,

36:00 please.

36:06 So,

36:06 um,

36:07 walking the talk within,

36:09 within,

36:09 within the,

36:09 the World Bank,

36:10 I think we

36:12 can,

36:12 can broadly say that we have a history of very good

36:16 anti repressional work

36:18 within the institution,

36:19 but um it's,

36:20 it's,

36:20 it's been focused mainly on middle-income countries.

36:23 And um

36:24 this is also a reaction by,

36:26 by,

36:26 by,

36:27 um,

36:27 Specific requests from the countries themselves.

36:30 The good news is that uh we've been working uh across the summer on the

36:35 new IDA-20 uh commitments,

36:37 the IDA-20 cycle,

36:38 and that is going to have um a dedicated commitment,

36:42 policy commitment to,

36:43 um,

36:44 to include

36:45 services for,

36:46 uh,

36:46 persons with disabilities,

36:47 specifically targeting

36:49 the low-income countries because that's,

36:51 that's how the IDA cycle works.

36:53 Um,

36:54 there is also an alignment with the Global Pledge for disability.

36:58 Uh,

36:58 the framework that's been discussed at the beginning of this session,

37:01 um,

37:02 that was developed by the,

37:04 the Missing Billion Initiative

37:06 also,

37:06 uh,

37:07 uh,

37:08 ensures that the bank supports,

37:09 uh,

37:10 The health and nutrition and population capacity building within,

37:13 within,

37:13 within,

37:14 um,

37:14 within the,

37:15 uh,

37:16 the,

37:16 the World Bank,

37:17 and that would include really uh guidance notes for task team leads and,

37:21 and other people,

37:22 other

37:23 staff who are working on designing projects and as we

37:25 indicated before,

37:26 there has to be some learning from consultations and from uh

37:31 talking to stakeholders.

37:33 The framework that,

37:34 that we've been talking about

37:36 is one of many several uh practical steps that are

37:39 being taken and adopted by the bank to actually enhance

37:43 the,

37:43 the system thinking about disability inclusion,

37:46 not just about a one-off uh

37:48 product whether it's analytical or operation.

37:52 And consequently,

37:52 the bank is taking these practical steps to show and,

37:57 and,

37:57 and

37:58 uh display its commitment to addressing this gap and

38:01 also bringing a much desired and much needed health services

38:06 to persons with disabilities.

38:08 Next,

38:08 please.

38:12 So on a word on the implementation,

38:15 um,

38:15 awareness raising is,

38:17 is extremely important in within,

38:19 within the,

38:20 within the bank and also

38:22 within external stakeholders,

38:23 and we have

38:25 many ongoing dialogues with governments,

38:27 um,

38:27 our traditional partners,

38:29 and this is also a very good opportunity.

38:31 To actually collect data and

38:33 provide evidence

38:35 and,

38:35 and,

38:35 and embark on awareness raising.

38:38 Training is also extremely important because

38:40 sometimes teams would want to include disability

38:43 into their outlook whether it's the country um

38:46 uh cooperation program or otherwise.

38:49 So I think we also need

38:51 to,

38:51 um,

38:52 to translate that awareness raising into some skills development within,

38:56 within the bank teams and within the external partners as well.

38:59 Technical assistance,

39:00 of course,

39:01 is extremely important.

39:02 Sometimes

39:03 the information is right there,

39:04 but no one actually um

39:06 can look at it.

39:07 Or if you look at it,

39:08 you cannot interpret it into something that can be

39:11 put into practice and,

39:12 and translated into,

39:13 uh,

39:14 into operations.

39:15 And,

39:16 and the last one,

39:16 but not the least,

39:17 is the technical notes that we have been uh producing.

39:21 And this was discussed before,

39:22 so I am not going

39:23 to stop at length at it.

39:25 Next,

39:26 please.

39:27 That was a part one

39:28 technical note on,

39:30 on,

39:30 on accessibility.

39:34 And the thematic fact sheets that were also mentioned,

39:38 there was one on WOS,

39:40 um,

39:40 sector of operations.

39:42 Next,

39:43 please,

39:44 and the one next.

39:46 Slide swipes.

39:48 Sorry,

39:49 that was your last slide.

39:51 OK.

39:51 OK,

39:52 I'll leave it there.

39:53 I'm back to you,

39:54 Charlotte.

39:55 Thank you.

39:56 Samira,

39:56 thank you very,

39:57 very much and for a very substantive presentation on promoting

40:01 inclusive health and I,

40:03 and identifying three key steps that I think are very

40:05 helpful in us thinking about how we actually operationalize this,

40:09 consult,

40:10 learn,

40:11 and change.

40:11 So thank you very much for that.

40:13 I now want to bring in my colleague Marie Kostini.

40:16 Uh,

40:17 Mari is going to share with us a bit more about some of the resources.

40:21 That we've developed to support our

40:23 staff in operationalizing disability inclusive development,

40:26 um,

40:27 and with that,

40:27 I'd like to hand over to you,

40:28 Mari.

40:36 I can't hear you,

40:36 Marie.

40:37 Marie,

40:38 I think you might be on mute.

40:40 Oh,

40:40 sorry.

40:41 All good.

40:43 OK.

40:44 Thank you,

40:44 Charlotte.

40:44 So good morning.

40:46 You try.

40:46 Good afternoon and good evening to everyone.

40:49 Uh,

40:49 I'm connecting from Washington DC this morning

40:52 and as Charlotte,

40:53 Charlotte mentioned,

40:54 uh,

40:55 my name is Marie Oystenen.

40:56 I'm a senior social

40:58 development specialist at the World Bank.

41:00 Uh,

41:01 I'm a white woman,

41:02 uh,

41:02 with,

41:02 uh,

41:03 brown short hair.

41:05 I have uh green eyes,

41:07 and uh today I'm wearing a black shirt.

41:11 So while the uh disability inclusion and

41:14 accountability framework supports the mainstreaming of disability

41:18 in World Bank activities,

41:20 we are very aware that more technical support and guidance is required as,

41:25 as mentioned by uh Z Samira.

41:29 Uh,

41:29 to support our teams further

41:31 in operationalizing disability-inclusive development,

41:34 we have developed a suite

41:36 of technical nodes,

41:38 uh,

41:39 in several sectors including health,

41:42 as mentioned by Samira,

41:44 education,

41:44 water,

41:45 data,

41:46 digital development,

41:48 disaster risk management,

41:50 and,

41:50 uh,

41:51 gender-based violence to mention a few.

41:54 Uh,

41:55 these various documents are being shared with you in the chatbox now,

42:00 and many are available

42:02 on our World Bank app page which is also being shared with you now.

42:06 Thank you,

42:06 Ana.

42:08 Uh,

42:08 we also do.

42:10 Uh,

42:11 regular awareness raising through internal blogs and events,

42:16 provide training,

42:17 uh,

42:17 sorry,

42:18 technical assistance to World Bank teams

42:21 and offer regular training sessions to our staff

42:24 to dive deeper

42:25 into these areas of focus,

42:28 and we have seen a lot of rich engagement

42:31 come from those trainings.

42:33 Next,

42:34 uh,

42:34 slide,

42:34 please,

42:34 Ana.

42:39 So the uh Internal

42:40 International Development Association,

42:43 IDA

42:44 uh assist low-income economies as mentioned by my colleagues,

42:48 Denait and Samira already.

42:50 Un IDA 20,

42:52 starting in July 2022,

42:56 support towards disability inclusion across sectors will further

43:01 scale up.

43:03 Through this,

43:03 we have deepened our commitment to universal access,

43:07 non-discrimination and inclusion.

43:10 To support the rolling out of the disability

43:12 framework and the commitment on universal access,

43:16 we are finalizing a technical note

43:18 focusing on accessibility.

43:21 Next slide,

43:22 please,

43:22 Anna.

43:27 So the note includes 5 thematic uh fact sheets

43:31 focusing on ICT,

43:34 urban sector,

43:35 infrastructure,

43:36 water,

43:37 sanitation,

43:37 and hygiene,

43:39 and transportation.

43:42 The idea is that other sectors can refer to a combination

43:46 of these five

43:48 sheets.

43:49 For example,

43:50 education

43:51 can use infra plus ICT,

43:54 perhaps also transportation and WAS in some cases,

43:57 and,

43:58 and so on.

43:59 So the accessibility note will be launched in March,

44:02 so please uh stay tuned.

44:04 Back to you,

44:05 uh Charlotte.

44:06 Thank you so much.

44:08 Thank you very much,

44:09 Murray,

44:09 and uh thank you very much,

44:11 Anna,

44:11 for posting

44:13 all of those resources in the chat box.

44:15 And as indicated,

44:17 Mary,

44:17 we do invite you to,

44:18 to our website to

44:20 further explore some other documents that we,

44:23 we might,

44:24 um,

44:25 we,

44:25 we have and that might be of interest to you.

44:27 So I think Marie has mentioned that we've developed a range of a suite of documents,

44:32 a suite of

44:33 support documents and resources um for our staff.

44:38 And

44:41 To,

44:41 um,

44:42 develop these pieces of,

44:44 of,

44:44 of work to ensure that

44:46 we are

44:47 gaining more education and capacity within the bank

44:51 teams about,

44:52 um,

44:53 developing

44:54 and ensuring that disability is included in,

44:56 in all of our projects.

44:58 I now want to bring in one of my colleagues from the UN.

45:02 To speak about another strategy document that has been developed,

45:06 and he will speak about its impact

45:09 that it's had across the UN agencies,

45:12 but also we've asked him to touch on some of the

45:14 challenges that um the UN has experienced in implementing the strategy.

45:19 And we're so fortunate to have Gopal Mitra with us today,

45:23 and Gopal is a senior social affairs officer with the disability

45:27 team at the at the United Nations and has been very

45:31 Uh,

45:31 central in the,

45:32 in,

45:33 in the Andes.

45:34 Um,

45:35 so,

45:35 Gopal,

45:36 welcome.

45:37 Thank you for joining us and over to you.

45:41 Uh,

45:41 thank you,

45:41 uh,

45:42 so much,

45:42 Charlotte.

45:43 Uh,

45:43 uh,

45:44 it's a pleasure to join the event today,

45:46 and it is amazing to hear,

45:48 uh,

45:48 the wealth of experience that stems out of practice,

45:52 uh,

45:52 from your colleagues in the World Bank.

45:54 Uh,

45:55 good evening,

45:56 uh,

45:56 good morning,

45:57 good afternoon,

45:57 uh,

45:58 uh,

45:58 friends.

45:59 Uh,

45:59 my name is Gopal Mitra,

46:01 and I'm connecting,

46:02 uh,

46:02 from the UN headquarters in New York today.

46:05 Um,

46:05 I am from South Asia,

46:07 so I'm a brown man.

46:08 I have

46:09 a mixture of gray and black hair,

46:12 mostly more gray,

46:13 I must say.

46:14 Uh,

46:14 I'm wearing a gray suit and a white shirt,

46:16 and I wear,

46:17 I'm wearing dark

46:19 glasses.

46:19 I identify as a person with disability.

46:22 So first of all,

46:23 uh,

46:24 my congratulations to you,

46:25 Charlotte,

46:26 and to all colleagues in the World Bank for updating

46:30 the Disability Inclusion Accountability framework.

46:32 We know it's,

46:33 it's never easy,

46:34 uh,

46:35 uh,

46:35 to take into account all the,

46:37 uh,

46:37 developments that have

46:38 happened

46:39 over the last few years and,

46:41 and meaningfully incorporated in a,

46:43 in a,

46:43 in a,

46:44 in a framework.

46:45 So,

46:45 amazing work.

46:47 Uh,

46:48 so I,

46:48 over the next few minutes,

46:49 I will tell you about,

46:50 uh,

46:50 give you a flavor of the UN disability inclusion strategy,

46:54 uh,

46:55 and,

46:55 and some of the some reflections,

46:57 uh,

46:57 from the last 2.5,

46:58 3 years of implementation.

47:01 Uh,

47:02 so,

47:02 Friends launched in June 2019,

47:04 the UN Disability Inclusion strategy.

47:08 Uh,

47:08 uh,

47:09 provides a clear framework and a roadmap.

47:13 To the United Nations system

47:15 to really advance its work

47:18 on disability inclusion

47:20 both in programs and in operations,

47:22 internal operations,

47:24 while launching the strategy,

47:25 the Secretary General observed

47:28 that he would like to see

47:30 the

47:30 UN lead by example on disability inclusion,

47:34 and the strategy really provides us a blueprint,

47:36 a framework to do so.

47:39 As I said,

47:39 the strategy covers both programs and internal operations.

47:44 Uh,

47:44 it is wide ranging in scope.

47:46 It covers all the three pillars of the UN's work,

47:50 development,

47:50 human rights,

47:51 and peace and security,

47:53 and it applies to both headquarters

47:55 and

47:56 uh work in the countries,

47:58 the country teams.

47:59 So the policy has an,

48:01 uh,

48:01 the strategy has a policy and an accountability framework.

48:06 The accountability framework is where the teeth of the policy lies,

48:10 and it consists of two components.

48:12 One is an entity accountability framework which applies to UN agencies,

48:17 and the second

48:18 is a UN country team scorecard,

48:21 which applies to

48:23 the joint delivering as one,

48:25 the UN delivering as one

48:27 at the country level.

48:29 So,

48:29 these,

48:30 uh,

48:30 the both the accountability,

48:32 uh,

48:32 framework components,

48:34 it has very concrete indicators,

48:36 15 indicators

48:38 in the entity accountability framework and 14

48:40 indicators in the country team scorecard.

48:43 And they are clustered

48:45 around 4 core areas

48:48 leadership,

48:48 strategic planning,

48:49 and management.

48:51 Inclusiveness,

48:52 programming,

48:53 and organizational culture.

48:55 Now,

48:56 consulting organizations of persons with disabilities and accessibility,

49:00 there are specific indicators on that,

49:03 and these are foundational and cross-cutting in nature.

49:08 Uh,

49:10 so,

49:10 the UN agencies and country teams have

49:12 been implementing the strategy since June 2019.

49:16 And have been reporting annually on it.

49:19 From nearly 3 years of implementation.

49:23 What we have seen is the strategy has

49:26 clearly triggered positive action across the UN system.

49:31 The reporting has shown,

49:33 the annual reporting

49:34 that more and more.

49:36 UN agencies

49:38 at headquarters as well as the country level are in are better integrating

49:44 disability inclusion in the strategic plans.

49:47 There have been

49:48 concrete steps to enhance

49:52 accessibility,

49:52 both physical and digital.

49:54 A lot of policies,

49:57 existing policies and strategies

49:59 are being

50:01 are being updated

50:03 to better address disability inclusion,

50:05 and I'm talking about mainstream policies and strategies,

50:08 and a lot of uh uh specific policies have also been uh developed,

50:13 developed,

50:14 uh,

50:14 uh,

50:15 to uh

50:16 better

50:17 uh promote disability inclusion across the UN system.

50:20 The implementation has also enabled us

50:24 to identify significant areas where significant gaps exist.

50:29 For example,

50:30 after the first year of implementation,

50:32 we noticed

50:34 that

50:34 disability inclusive procurement is one area where there is very huge gap.

50:40 So we have worked with the UN procurement network.

50:43 Uh,

50:43 of which World Bank is a part

50:45 and have

50:46 come up with system-wide,

50:48 very practical guidelines on

50:50 promoting disability inclusive procurement.

50:53 Now,

50:53 2 or 3 key lessons that we have learned is,

50:56 first,

50:57 leadership commitment

50:58 is key

51:00 to

51:00 maintaining momentum

51:02 and achieving results.

51:04 Second,

51:05 we have seen that.

51:07 Disability inclusion,

51:08 where

51:09 different

51:10 parts of the organization come together,

51:12 as was evident from the presentations today.

51:15 To

51:15 work on disability inclusion,

51:17 results are achieved.

51:18 It's not only the disability team or the disability focal point.

51:22 And thirdly,

51:24 strong coordination

51:26 always plays a great role in large organizations like

51:29 the UN and applies to the World Bank.

51:30 Also,

51:31 I feel.

51:32 Uh,

51:32 for,

51:33 for colleagues to be able to share good practices,

51:35 to share information,

51:37 and also encourage each other with the work they're doing.

51:40 So I'll conclude by saying

51:42 that,

51:42 uh,

51:43 the UN disability inclusion strategy has not only helped us

51:47 to accelerate our progress on disability inclusion,

51:51 but it has also.

51:52 Enhance the accountability,

51:54 internal accountability of the UN on disability inclusion,

51:57 as well as external accountability

52:00 to the Secretary-General's report to the General Assembly on

52:03 the progress that is being made on the strategy.

52:06 Uh,

52:06 uh,

52:06 my colleague Anna will share,

52:08 uh,

52:08 the link to the strategy's website where you can know more about the strategy,

52:12 and also,

52:13 uh,

52:13 you can get a,

52:14 a,

52:15 a glimpse of where the UN system stands with results to its performance,

52:19 uh,

52:20 on,

52:20 with regards to the accountability framework.

52:22 So I'll stop there and,

52:23 uh,

52:24 we'll be happy to respond to any questions.

52:26 Over to you,

52:26 Charlotte.

52:27 Thank you very much,

52:28 Gopal,

52:29 and thank you for highlighting the importance of uh the,

52:33 the strategy

52:34 and the fact that it's triggered positive action within the UN.

52:38 But also I think a really important point you

52:40 mentioned was that it's assisted in identifying gaps,

52:43 and,

52:43 and that's a really important point to take forward.

52:46 And then I think your point around it's also made,

52:49 um,

52:50 it's also,

52:51 it's also addressed disability

52:53 beyond just the focal points working on disability,

52:56 but it's now very much part of everybody's agenda.

52:59 So that is indeed very exciting and thank you very much for joining us.

53:04 Last but certainly not least,

53:06 I'm

53:07 excited to invite the UN Special Rapporteur

53:09 on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,

53:11 Mr.

53:12 Gerard Quinn.

53:13 Um,

53:14 Gerard will help us to understand the

53:16 importance of a document like the Disability inclusive

53:19 inclusion and Accountability framework.

53:22 At an international level.

53:23 We've heard about how it's worked

53:25 um at a regional level from SAA,

53:28 uh,

53:28 we've heard how it's worked from a sectoral level from

53:31 Samira,

53:32 uh,

53:32 we've heard from Shitai how it's worked

53:34 for organizations of persons with disabilities,

53:37 um,

53:37 we've heard from

53:39 From Gopal,

53:40 how the strategy has worked,

53:42 or a different strategy,

53:43 but a strategy all the same has worked within the UN.

53:47 So Gerard,

53:47 if you could talk to us a bit about what this means at an international level,

53:52 uh,

53:52 that would be fantastic.

53:54 Please take it away,

53:54 Gerard.

53:56 Thank you,

53:56 Charlotte,

53:57 and I apologize for joining late.

53:59 We were

54:00 on a spotlight uh event in the GDS and unfortunately,

54:04 we had a lot of

54:05 technical problems,

54:07 um,

54:07 but,

54:08 but here I am.

54:09 So,

54:09 it's always an honor and a pleasure to be with you,

54:12 Charlotte,

54:13 and the World Bank.

54:14 As the World Bank continue your journey

54:17 in making development assistance more open to and inclusive of

54:22 persons with disabilities.

54:24 I see this as a bigger mission

54:26 of the World Bank

54:27 to lead by example

54:29 in showing how development assistance can be harnessed

54:32 to expand opportunities for all

54:35 in a circular economy and society,

54:38 a vision shared between the UN SDGs

54:41 and the UNCRPD.

54:43 Let me remind you,

54:45 and I'm sure you need no reminding,

54:47 that the vast majority of persons with disabilities

54:50 live in the global South.

54:52 Arcane debates that tend to transfix us in the North

54:57 about,

54:57 for example,

54:58 progressive realization

55:00 of existing social protection programs

55:03 make little or no sense

55:05 in contexts where economic development

55:07 is uneven,

55:09 extractive,

55:10 and exploitative.

55:12 A rising tide

55:13 does not necessarily raise all ships.

55:16 Even when economic development is taking root,

55:19 the cumulative effect

55:21 of a historical lack of educational opportunity

55:25 means that many talented persons with disabilities

55:28 will be left behind.

55:30 Worse,

55:31 endemic conflicts and political instability

55:35 challenge the task

55:36 of building inclusive economic and social systems

55:40 for the benefit of all.

55:42 Nothing is inevitable.

55:44 All of these Gordian knots can be undone,

55:47 and a dynamic for change

55:49 and for inclusiveness

55:50 can be inserted

55:52 even in the most unpromising of circumstances.

55:55 Indeed,

55:56 to me,

55:56 this is the World Bank at its very best.

55:59 On platforms like this,

56:01 I,

56:01 I often point out the fact

56:03 that any new treaty regime

56:06 means that existing treaty regimes

56:08 have to respond and adjust.

56:11 Even if the UNCRPD did not have Article 32

56:15 on international cooperation,

56:17 then the logic of the treaty alone

56:20 would point to more intentional efforts

56:22 on development assistance.

56:25 Uh,

56:25 of course,

56:25 the World Bank is not a state,

56:28 much less a state party

56:30 to a treaty,

56:31 but would be anomalous in the extreme if the world leader

56:34 on development assistance

56:36 were not taken,

56:37 were not to take a lead in guiding others.

56:40 And that is exactly what the UN disability inclusion strategy

56:44 requires in any event.

56:46 Allow me to focus,

56:47 Charlotte on two parts

56:49 of the updated accountability framework

56:52 that overlap directly with my concerns as UN Special Rapporteur.

56:57 The first has to do with fragility,

57:00 conflict and violence.

57:02 I greatly welcome this focus,

57:04 both as a way of avoiding conflicts

57:07 or at least making them less likely.

57:10 And as a way of building out from conflicts

57:13 to lay the groundwork for a more sustainable

57:16 and conflict-free future.

57:18 When we inserted Article 11 into the treaty

57:22 on situations of risk and humanitarian crises,

57:25 I,

57:26 for one,

57:27 did not anticipate

57:29 that hot conflicts would still be with us

57:31 and indeed proliferate.

57:33 Their character may have changed,

57:35 but their impact

57:37 is doubly devastating on population groups

57:40 such as persons with disabilities.

57:43 Furthermore,

57:43 their impact can be

57:45 and most assuredly are intergenerational

57:49 with long-term effects

57:51 on the challenges of making more inclusive societies and economies.

57:56 We as UN Special Rapporteur,

57:58 are doing our best

58:00 to place focus on what inclusion means

58:03 in avoiding conflicts,

58:05 in dealing with the conduct of hostilities,

58:08 in peacekeeping,

58:09 and most crucially for my.

58:11 Point of view

58:12 in peacebuilding operations.

58:15 It's exceptionally gratifying to me

58:17 to see the World Bank play its part

58:20 in mitigating the effects of conflicts

58:22 to ensure a smoother path to inclusive development.

58:26 Without this,

58:27 the considerable losses

58:29 generated by conflicts will just lie where they fall,

58:33 and they fall extremely heavily on persons with disabilities.

58:38 The second point of overlap with our work

58:40 has to do with your focus

58:42 on digital development.

58:44 Let me suggest three very brief reasons why I think this is important.

58:50 First of all,

58:50 we have become very accustomed

58:53 to many obstacles to development

58:56 in the North.

58:57 We have tended to underplay

58:59 the role of technology

59:01 in helping us surmount these obstacles.

59:04 In many respects,

59:05 the developing South

59:07 will be able to avoid many mistakes we've made

59:10 in the developed North,

59:12 so we can actually learn from them

59:14 and they can show us the way.

59:16 I'm thinking in particular

59:18 about the impact of new technology

59:21 in making community living a reality.

59:25 Second,

59:25 building the digital divide is crucial

59:28 in spreading the benefits to all.

59:31 So I very much welcome the intention to focus on this

59:34 in the revised framework.

59:36 Last but not least,

59:38 one of the key drivers of our digital future

59:41 is artificial intelligence.

59:44 which can be both a help

59:45 as well as a hindrance in driving development

59:49 and inclusive development.

59:51 In our recent thematic report

59:53 on this,

59:54 we draw specific attention

59:56 to the balance of risks and opportunities

59:59 presented by artificial intelligence.

1:00:02 We all need to do more

1:00:04 to get the very best of these advances

1:00:07 whilst avoiding some predictable problems.

1:00:11 AI gives us incredibly powerful tools

1:00:15 to personalize services,

1:00:17 even to advance peer support

1:00:19 in the mental health field

1:00:21 and avoid

1:00:22 coercion.

1:00:23 Can I point to the sterling work

1:00:25 of the Center for Democracy and Technology

1:00:28 and indeed.

1:00:29 Face Equality International,

1:00:31 who provide powerful accounts of some of the downsides of the technology.

1:00:37 For example,

1:00:38 face recognition technology,

1:00:40 which is becoming rampant even on smartphones,

1:00:44 directly discriminates against persons with disabilities,

1:00:47 with facial disfigurement.

1:00:49 The very people who need the technology to drive

1:00:53 a much more inclusive future.

1:00:56 So great care will be needed to ensure

1:00:59 that the new technologies do not embed ableism

1:01:03 and indeed ageism.

1:01:05 If they do,

1:01:06 persons with disabilities will not just be left behind,

1:01:10 they will have no chance to catch up.

1:01:13 In sum,

1:01:13 I warmly welcome the revised draft framework

1:01:17 and for our part,

1:01:18 pledge our direct assistance,

1:01:21 particularly when it comes to conflicts

1:01:23 as well as digital development.

1:01:25 Thank you so much,

1:01:26 Charlotte.

1:01:27 Congratulations and back to you.

1:01:31 Thank you very much,

1:01:32 Gerard.

1:01:32 It really,

1:01:33 it's truly an honor to have you join us today.

1:01:36 And,

1:01:36 and I,

1:01:36 I think,

1:01:37 you know,

1:01:37 we will certainly take you up on your offer of

1:01:40 direct assistance in these two very critical areas around fragility,

1:01:44 conflict,

1:01:45 and violence,

1:01:46 and then very importantly,

1:01:47 in,

1:01:48 in the digital space.

1:01:49 And I think one of the messages that really sticks with me is that,

1:01:53 you know,

1:01:54 we can't underplay the role of digital development.

1:01:57 And if,

1:01:58 if anything,

1:01:58 what we should do is we should leapfrog over the mistakes that have been made,

1:02:03 um,

1:02:03 in,

1:02:04 in the north and make sure that

1:02:06 digital development actually reaches persons with disabilities,

1:02:09 impacts their lives,

1:02:11 and,

1:02:11 and changes their lives.

1:02:12 And then,

1:02:13 you know,

1:02:13 we,

1:02:13 I couldn't agree more on the issues raised on AI both as a risk but as an opportunity.

1:02:20 So we look forward to continued,

1:02:22 um,

1:02:22 you know,

1:02:22 a working relationship with you on this.

1:02:25 We have a little bit of time for questions,

1:02:28 and we have a few questions that have

1:02:30 uh been put into the chat box,

1:02:32 and we had some

1:02:34 um questions that came in from the audiences as they registered.

1:02:38 So I would like to take,

1:02:40 uh,

1:02:40 a few of,

1:02:41 of both,

1:02:42 given the,

1:02:42 given the limited time.

1:02:44 The first question,

1:02:45 um,

1:02:46 comes from

1:02:47 Ru

1:02:47 Ruy Wimbo.

1:02:49 And Rivimbo says,

1:02:51 what are the key first steps a donor government should consider

1:02:56 when developing a strategy

1:02:58 or a framework for disability inclusion?

1:03:01 And perhaps Gopal can get us started on that question,

1:03:05 and so

1:03:06 give me a second,

1:03:06 Gopal,

1:03:07 I'll ask the second question,

1:03:08 and then we,

1:03:09 we can respond.

1:03:11 Then we have a

1:03:12 question from Phyllis,

1:03:13 and

1:03:14 Phyllis says,

1:03:15 what are the investments of the World Bank to improve health

1:03:20 access barriers and health outcomes for persons with disabilities,

1:03:23 and I imagine that one would go to Samira.

1:03:26 And then there's a question that's come up around

1:03:30 having an easy to read or plain language,

1:03:33 um,

1:03:34 uh,

1:03:35 plain language being included as part of

1:03:37 the accessibility for the World Bank framework,

1:03:39 and I'll ask Mari to speak to that,

1:03:42 um,

1:03:42 but let me hand over to Gopal.

1:03:45 Samira,

1:03:46 Mari,

1:03:46 and then we'll see if we have time for another set of questions.

1:03:49 Gopal,

1:03:49 over to you.

1:03:52 Uh,

1:03:52 thank you so much,

1:03:53 Charlotte.

1:03:53 Uh.

1:03:54 Just a couple of reflections.

1:03:56 First of all,

1:03:57 uh,

1:03:58 when we were,

1:03:59 uh,

1:03:59 developing the UN disability inclusion strategy,

1:04:01 what we,

1:04:02 uh,

1:04:03 what was brought to our attention to the consultations is that,

1:04:06 and it applies to,

1:04:08 I think,

1:04:08 many other domains,

1:04:09 is that,

1:04:10 uh,

1:04:11 the progress,

1:04:12 the current status or the progress is uneven

1:04:15 among

1:04:16 different parts,

1:04:17 uh,

1:04:18 uh,

1:04:18 uh,

1:04:19 uh,

1:04:19 in our case,

1:04:20 the UN system.

1:04:22 There is a great diversity within the organizations,

1:04:25 you know,

1:04:26 so a strategy has to keep

1:04:28 in mind that aspect.

1:04:31 The strategy,

1:04:32 uh,

1:04:32 any strategy has to keep in mind that aspect so that it's,

1:04:35 it's very relevant.

1:04:37 Uh,

1:04:37 the second,

1:04:38 I think,

1:04:38 is which is foundational,

1:04:40 is it cannot,

1:04:42 uh,

1:04:43 stress enough

1:04:44 on the importance of meaningfully engaging persons with

1:04:48 disabilities and their representative organization at every stage

1:04:52 of implementation as well as its development.

1:04:55 And the,

1:04:56 and the third point is

1:04:58 we talk about the twin track approach,

1:05:00 right?

1:05:01 So

1:05:02 it is how to meaningfully operationalize twin track approach.

1:05:06 We know that targeted investment towards disability inclusion

1:05:10 will be minuscule compared to overall investment in social and economic sectors.

1:05:17 So unless we are able to

1:05:19 Really include,

1:05:20 uh,

1:05:20 ensure disability inclusion

1:05:22 in the big,

1:05:23 biggest,

1:05:24 bigger piece of the pie,

1:05:26 which is general programming,

1:05:28 uh,

1:05:28 and then supported to targeted programming,

1:05:31 uh,

1:05:31 will not be able to make progress,

1:05:32 but if we are able to do it,

1:05:34 I think,

1:05:34 uh,

1:05:35 there is so much more,

1:05:36 uh,

1:05:36 scope

1:05:37 to advance

1:05:38 the inclusion of persons with disabilities.

1:05:39 So those were just a few reflections over to you.

1:05:43 Thanks,

1:05:43 Gopal.

1:05:44 Um,

1:05:44 Samira,

1:05:44 do you want to come in on the question around investments,

1:05:47 um,

1:05:48 to improve health?

1:05:50 Access barriers and outcomes.

1:05:54 Sure,

1:05:55 Charlatan,

1:05:55 thanks for the question.

1:05:57 I think,

1:05:57 um,

1:05:58 I mean,

1:05:59 I,

1:05:59 I don't want to,

1:06:00 to sound

1:06:01 naive,

1:06:02 but I think good advocacy,

1:06:05 especially within the internal

1:06:07 ecosystem within any organization,

1:06:09 but especially the World Bank would,

1:06:11 would really

1:06:12 go a very,

1:06:13 very um

1:06:14 A long way.

1:06:16 If we can show

1:06:18 the,

1:06:18 the,

1:06:18 the cost of doing nothing

1:06:21 on not just the development and the accumulation of the human capital

1:06:25 and from the rights perspective which are really,

1:06:27 uh,

1:06:28 you know,

1:06:28 core issues,

1:06:29 no one can,

1:06:30 can overlook them.

1:06:31 But we also can try and,

1:06:32 and look at,

1:06:33 you know,

1:06:33 what does it mean for the GDP?

1:06:35 What does it mean for the overall

1:06:37 health sector expenses?

1:06:38 What does it mean

1:06:40 for

1:06:41 Unemployment or,

1:06:42 you know,

1:06:42 absenteeism from work and all of these things.

1:06:44 I think

1:06:45 this makes a very compelling argument in terms of

1:06:49 uh trying to socialize the notion of

1:06:51 when you do look at marginalized populations,

1:06:54 and I'm not saying that people with disabilities are marginalized,

1:06:57 but

1:06:57 what I'm trying to,

1:06:58 to say is that when you look at different sects of population,

1:07:01 it becomes a population health.

1:07:03 Um,

1:07:03 aspect more than anything else.

1:07:05 It is not easy,

1:07:06 but it's also

1:07:07 comes under the shadow of many other

1:07:10 what we call neglected diseases or neglected populations,

1:07:13 but I think it can be done through good data,

1:07:16 good dialogue,

1:07:16 and good advocacy material.

1:07:18 Thank you.

1:07:20 Thanks,

1:07:20 Samira.

1:07:21 Maria,

1:07:21 a quick word from you.

1:07:24 Thank you,

1:07:25 Charlotte.

1:07:25 Yes,

1:07:26 uh,

1:07:26 so it was on the,

1:07:27 uh,

1:07:28 on the different,

1:07:28 uh,

1:07:29 formats of,

1:07:30 uh,

1:07:30 of the framework.

1:07:31 So

1:07:31 shortly,

1:07:32 yes,

1:07:32 so thank you very much for this,

1:07:34 uh,

1:07:34 important question.

1:07:35 Yes,

1:07:36 we are going to develop an easy to

1:07:38 read version

1:07:40 of,

1:07:40 of the framework.

1:07:41 So thank you so much for this.

1:07:43 Thank you.

1:07:44 So that will be forthcoming and there are a couple of questions that,

1:07:47 uh,

1:07:47 that I guess are,

1:07:48 I should answer.

1:07:49 There's a question from Abe

1:07:51 Abbewa from the Africa Disability Forum.

1:07:55 And

1:07:55 the question is,

1:07:57 um,

1:07:59 The World Bank updated the disability framework to

1:08:02 include new examples of disability inclusive projects.

1:08:05 Will persons with disabilities and organizations of persons with disabilities

1:08:09 engage and participate meaningfully from the start

1:08:12 to the end of these important projects?

1:08:14 A really great Question.

1:08:16 And so,

1:08:17 one of the things that we do by way of the environmental social framework

1:08:21 is to have

1:08:22 uh stakeholder engagement and consultations.

1:08:25 It's,

1:08:26 it's a requirement under the Environmental Social Standard 10.

1:08:31 So there is a requirement that at that stage,

1:08:35 at the stage of consultation,

1:08:37 that persons and organizations of persons with disabilities are,

1:08:41 are engaged.

1:08:42 Now,

1:08:42 I will be the first one to say that that doesn't always happen.

1:08:47 But that it is certainly progressively happening.

1:08:50 What we want to maintain is that

1:08:54 We can go

1:08:55 beyond just having persons with disabilities in the consultations,

1:08:59 but that they're part of supervision and that they

1:09:02 continue to be part of the project cycle.

1:09:05 So,

1:09:06 that's a,

1:09:07 you know,

1:09:07 that's a space that we're looking at and we need to get better at doing,

1:09:11 and we

1:09:12 really want you to hold us accountable.

1:09:15 And call us out when we don't do that.

1:09:17 So,

1:09:18 so please just

1:09:19 be mindful of that and,

1:09:21 and let us know if we're not,

1:09:22 if we're not doing that

1:09:23 in,

1:09:23 in your particular context.

1:09:26 There was also another question around

1:09:28 why do we have so many disability experts at our headquarters

1:09:33 as opposed to having them at national level.

1:09:36 Uh,

1:09:36 where most of our projects are.

1:09:38 Um,

1:09:39 we actually

1:09:40 don't have that many experts,

1:09:43 um,

1:09:43 on disability at headquarters.

1:09:45 Um,

1:09:46 we have a very lean team.

1:09:48 And increasingly,

1:09:49 the bank is decentralizing its staff,

1:09:52 so we're finding that we do have a lot more colleagues that are working on disability

1:09:59 who are in-country offices.

1:10:01 And I think to Gopal's 0.1 of the benefits of these frameworks,

1:10:06 both at the UN and within the bank,

1:10:08 is that

1:10:09 Addressing disability ceases to be just the responsibility of the disability team

1:10:15 and in,

1:10:15 in,

1:10:16 in the case of,

1:10:17 you know,

1:10:17 in,

1:10:17 in that case,

1:10:18 being at headquarters,

1:10:19 but it becomes the responsibility

1:10:22 of colleagues that are working in the field

1:10:24 on various,

1:10:25 in various sectors.

1:10:27 So that is,

1:10:28 it,

1:10:28 it's an,

1:10:29 it's an important move um and one that we recognize

1:10:33 as

1:10:34 Be necessary so that you can be on the ground,

1:10:37 you can engage with the clients,

1:10:39 you have access to organizations of persons with disabilities,

1:10:42 and you certainly understand the context a lot better than

1:10:45 um I do sitting in Washington DC.

1:10:48 So point taken on that.

1:10:50 We then also had a question around

1:10:52 um why is there no inclusive education for

1:10:55 children with disabilities in Nepal?

1:10:58 And I just want to bring to the attention of,

1:11:01 of the person who posed the question that actually Nepal is um

1:11:05 one of our focus countries on

1:11:07 the inclusive education initiative.

1:11:10 And we actually have quite a lot of work going

1:11:12 on in Nepal around inclusive education for children with disabilities.

1:11:17 And in fact,

1:11:18 tomorrow have an event

1:11:20 um that will showcase some of that work.

1:11:23 So we would invite you to join,

1:11:25 join us for the event um tomorrow.

1:11:28 And I think Anna is posting um

1:11:31 the link to the event into the chat box.

1:11:33 So

1:11:34 please do join us and you can learn a bit more about

1:11:38 what we're doing um in Nepal on disability inclusion.

1:11:44 OK,

1:11:44 are there any more questions that I should be focusing on?

1:11:50 Um,

1:11:51 there's a question to Gopal.

1:11:54 And the question

1:11:56 is,

1:11:57 what are some of the main challenges in the rollout of the UN

1:12:01 disability strategy?

1:12:06 Thank you,

1:12:07 Charlotte.

1:12:07 Uh,

1:12:08 so I,

1:12:08 uh,

1:12:09 as I was,

1:12:10 uh,

1:12:10 uh,

1:12:10 briefly alluded to before,

1:12:12 uh,

1:12:13 so first is,

1:12:14 uh,

1:12:14 we did not have a very,

1:12:17 very strong framework

1:12:19 of policies,

1:12:20 procedures,

1:12:20 and the guidance,

1:12:22 you know,

1:12:23 so,

1:12:23 uh,

1:12:23 that is,

1:12:24 uh,

1:12:24 that over the last two years we have been able to plug some of those gaps.

1:12:29 Uh,

1:12:30 second,

1:12:30 of course,

1:12:31 as you will realize,

1:12:32 is,

1:12:32 is,

1:12:33 uh,

1:12:34 there is a gap

1:12:35 in between the intent

1:12:37 and the capacity.

1:12:38 Right?

1:12:39 So,

1:12:39 uh,

1:12:40 that is,

1:12:41 that is already always,

1:12:43 uh,

1:12:43 always an issue,

1:12:44 and we,

1:12:45 we have been

1:12:46 very,

1:12:46 very systematically trying to,

1:12:49 uh,

1:12:49 build knowledge,

1:12:50 uh,

1:12:51 build,

1:12:51 uh,

1:12:52 uh,

1:12:52 develop,

1:12:52 uh,

1:12:53 capacities,

1:12:54 uh,

1:12:54 on disability inclusion

1:12:56 across the organization.

1:12:57 And as Charlotte,

1:12:57 you also mentioned,

1:12:59 uh,

1:12:59 we are seeing more and more,

1:13:00 uh,

1:13:01 poor person,

1:13:02 not only persons with disabilities being hired,

1:13:04 but also more and more,

1:13:06 uh,

1:13:06 uh.

1:13:07 Uh,

1:13:07 colleagues working on disability inclusion

1:13:10 with the expertise.

1:13:11 So,

1:13:12 uh,

1:13:13 these are,

1:13:13 I think,

1:13:14 some,

1:13:14 some of the,

1:13:15 some of the key challenges,

1:13:17 uh,

1:13:17 which we,

1:13:18 we have faced,

1:13:19 and we are,

1:13:19 we are

1:13:20 trying to systematically address them.

1:13:21 But at the same time,

1:13:22 I must say that it's,

1:13:24 it,

1:13:24 it takes time,

1:13:25 doesn't happen overnight,

1:13:26 you know,

1:13:26 but,

1:13:27 uh,

1:13:27 uh,

1:13:28 the strategy does enable us to

1:13:30 much more efficiently identify

1:13:33 those gaps,

1:13:33 those challenges,

1:13:34 and come together to address them.

1:13:37 Thank you,

1:13:38 Sean.

1:13:39 Thank you very much,

1:13:40 Gopal,

1:13:40 and I know there are still a couple of questions,

1:13:43 um,

1:13:44 that are in the chat box.

1:13:45 We will go through them and we will respond directly to

1:13:48 the individuals that have posed them so that questions don't go

1:13:52 unanswered.

1:13:53 But my role now is to thank everybody for joining us.

1:13:57 Um,

1:13:58 this has been a very,

1:13:59 very rich session.

1:14:01 And I think it just,

1:14:02 you know,

1:14:03 provides um testimony to the importance of having frameworks.

1:14:07 Having frameworks that in the case of the bank provide a roadmap

1:14:11 for staff,

1:14:13 um,

1:14:13 and have really served to invigorate and,

1:14:16 and generate

1:14:17 a lot of traction

1:14:19 in,

1:14:19 in,

1:14:20 in advancing disability inclusion.

1:14:22 Now,

1:14:23 of course,

1:14:23 the framework

1:14:24 is a framework.

1:14:25 Um,

1:14:26 and you need to have a whole lot of other things in place.

1:14:28 You need to build the capacity,

1:14:30 you need to have resources,

1:14:32 uh,

1:14:32 you need to have

1:14:33 a willing client that wants to,

1:14:35 wants to engage on disability inclusion.

1:14:38 And so it really does require all of us to participate.

1:14:42 It needs to,

1:14:42 we need to ensure that we are better

1:14:45 at working with organizations of persons with disabilities,

1:14:48 um,

1:14:49 because this is something that we all need to be part of.

1:14:52 Thank you all very much for joining us.

1:14:54 It's been an absolute pleasure.

1:15:00 Thank you,

1:15:01 Charlotte.

1:15:03 Thank you

showAllTimestamps

no

transcript

And to everyone who has joined us today for this event titled Strengthening the Implementation of the World Bank's Disability Inclusion and Accountability framework. My name is Charlotte McLean and Nhlapo. I'm the global disability advisor at the World Bank. I'm a brown woman with long brown hair. I have green eyes, and today I'm wearing a black sweater with a white collar, large hoop earrings, and black reading glasses. Before we begin today's discussion, I want to point out some accessibility features that we have today. First of all, we have international sign interpretation that will be spotlighted throughout the discussion. Secondly, we have closed captioning. If you would like to access this feature, please go to the bottom of your screen and select the CC icon and select show subtitles. Alternatively, we're placing the streaming link in the chat box as I speak. We would encourage you. To post questions and use the chat box to introduce yourselves, and let us know which organization you represent. Again, please post questions that you have about the updated disability inclusion and accountability framework, and we'll try to get to those during the course of our discussion today. Finally, we will be recording today's discussion. And the reason for that is that we would like to share this widely with those who are not able to attend. We know that there are many side events happening, happening simultaneously around the Global Disability summit, making it difficult for people to decide which event to attend. For that, we're honored that you have selected to join us today. Before I hand over to an amazing panel of speakers that we have. I want to give a little bit of background on the first disability inclusion and accountability framework. So the first disability inclusion accountability framework was launched in 2018 at the first Global Disability summit. The disability framework supports the mainstreaming of disability in World Bank activities, and it does so by laying a roadmap for including disability in banks policies, operations, and analytical work. As well as very importantly, building internal capacity that supports clients in implementing disability inclusive development programs. Since its launch in 2018, and along with the World Bank's 10 commitments that were announced at the last Global Disability summit, we have seen a lot of progress at the World Bank towards making sure that projects and programs are more disability inclusive. From the onset of this framework, we saw it as a living document. And so we have constantly we have been revising revising it and ensuring that it takes into account a lot of the new developments made at the bank in the last 3 years or so. And so we found the timing of the 2nd Global Disability summit, an ideal one to present a refreshed version of many of many of the projects and some of our work over the past couple of years. In addition to that, we have also identified new thematic areas to highlight where the bank can make significant impact on persons with disabilities. And so without further ado, I'd like to introduce my colleague Janet Lord, who's been working diligently on this updated version, to tell us a bit more about the process of updating the disability framework and some of the things that you will be able to find in this new version that were not captured in the first version. Janet is a senior fellow at the Harvard Law School Project on Disability, and we've been really fortunate to have her lead on this work. Janet, over to you. Please provide us with an overview of the Disability Inclusion and Accountability framework. Thank you so much, Charlotte. Good morning, afternoon, and evening to all of you. As Charlotte said, I'm Janet Lord, and I had the great honor of working with, with her whole team and many others throughout the bank and beyond on this project. I am, uh, coming to you today from Baltimore, Maryland, Mid-Atlantic East Coast of the United States. Um, I'm a white woman of Northern European descent. I have short blonde hair. I'm wearing glasses, I have green eyes, and I'm wearing today a purple blouse and a purple vest, and I have a necklace that I got in Egypt, one of my favorite countries. So, let's get started and take a look at uh this project and what it was all about. If you could switch to the next slide, please. Great. So what was the rationale for updating the World Bank's disability framework, which, uh, you know, was launched just a few years ago. Well, there was a sense that we wanted to uh reflect ongoing developments, capture really the proliferation of, of new guidance and, and also new commitments being undertaken both internationally and by the bank to identify some new focal areas where the bank is starting to have and can continue to have significant impact on the inclusion of people with disabilities and develop a theory of change for disability inclusion in the World Bank. And there was also the sense uh of a need to highlight regional advancements on disability inclusion, uh, and specifically for bank staff to identify disability-inclusive country framework partnerships and systematic country diagnostics. Now, to put it another way and maybe more interestingly, we were really trying to capture, I think, the dynamism. Or the rhizomatic change, think ginger or bamboo, that the CRPD, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and Article 32, is really helping to bring about. And to first do that, uh, having a look at deeply at the World Bank's work, but also, um, where possible, uh, to certainly highlight some of the other Uh, work that's being done, uh, by other donors, by other organizations around the world to advance disability-inclusive development. Next slide, please. So, the process was consisted of two phases, and during the first phase, uh, there were sector reviews of World Bank projects, uh, across many different thematic areas, looking at the not only projects, but the analytics and practices, looking at disability inclusion, uh, across the many sectors within which the bank works. Uh, there was the opportunity to review. A range of new guidance that's been issued by the World Bank and by other stakeholders, uh, and, uh, guidance that really tries to, uh, help operationalize what disability inclusion means in specific thematic areas. We consulted with World Bank teams across various sectors and global practices, accounted for commitments that have been undertaken since 2018, and ident Going on, not, not a revisit revision as such. Next slide. Uh, in the phase two, we, uh, took a deeper dive, reviewing topic areas to see, uh, what new projects and commitments were undertaken. We identified new areas that really weren't covered or covered in detail in the first iteration of the framework. We did internal outreach within the bank, meeting with teams, individual experts, and others. We shared drafts of updates for inputs and feedback externally as well with uh partners of the World Bank, with organizations of personal, uh, persons with disabilities, with other donors. Uh, and in those consultations, we received both oral feedback and we, we received as well, uh, a range of different written feedback which, uh, we worked to reflect in the revision process, and that took place this past autumn. Next slide. So in the new, uh, revision of the framework, we identified 4 cross-cutting themes that, uh, wanted to address. The first was social inclusion and really trying to capture intersectionality, uh, in a way that wasn't done in detail in the, in the first iteration. Uh, we have a, a section on gender and disability inclusion, and that reflects some of the new work that the bank's team is doing. the Women Law and Development team and, and others across uh the bank. We, uh, incorporated a section on citizen engagement, which of course is a cross-cutting issue that needs to be reflected in all of the bank's work, and finally, we introduced a section on fragility, conflict, and violence environments, um, and that really gives a nod to some of the dynamic work that's happened internationally to refocus efforts as a result of Security Council Resolution 2475. Next slide. So, in the thematic sections that are covered, uh, we've added some, and that reflects some of the exciting work that either the bank has undertaken since 2018 or uh work projects that are in the pipeline. Uh, so we certainly amplified the, uh, coverage of disability inclusive data. A lot of that reflects the work that's been done by the Washington Group on Disability Statistics, UNICEF and others. Added a section on food security and agriculture, as well as GovTech, and finally added a section on identification for development, uh, and that, uh, captures the work that the World Bank is doing in Developing countries, uh, to ensure that, uh, persons with disabilities have access to legal proof of identity, which is critical. Uh, and then the other, uh, sectors, uh, were simply updated healthcare, ICT, education, jobs, resilience and disaster management, social protection, transport, urban development, and water sector operations. New slide, next slide, please. We also tried hard to reflect, uh, new developments since 2019 or 2018, and there's quite a few of them, uh, uh, some of them are captured here on this slide. Obviously, we had the launch of the UN Disability strategy, the adoption of Security Council Resolution 2475 on the protection of persons with disabilities in armed conflict, uh, the promulgation of guidelines on the inclusion of persons with disabilities in humanitarian action. Uh, new module and the, uh, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration standards, uh, and, and work and good practices reflected in the UN flagship report on disability and development. Next slide. I think that's it. Right, so that gives you a snapshot and an overview of the work that we tried to, uh, to capture and the many dynamic developments happening in this field. I'll pass it over to you, Charlotte. Thank you. Thank you, Janet, for setting the stage, um, today. And please, um, to colleagues who are joining, please introduce yourself in the chat. Let us know which organization you come from and where you are. That would be great just to know who's here. Um, but Janet, thank you for talking about the importance of, um, a framework like this and the importance of having a range of stakeholders. I think what has been very important about the first framework as well as the refresh to, to um this particular framework is that the process has been important. Ensuring that we have consultations, ensuring that we consult with persons with disabilities and organizations of persons with disabilities has been an important aspect of, um, you know, making sure that we have a good framework. I want to now introduce my World Bank colleague Sannaid Assefa. Uh, Sunai is a practice manager in social sustainability and the inclusion practice, and she is responsible for West and Central Africa. I want to highlight that while Sn is currently managing projects in Western Central Africa, She also spent time leading the World Bank, the World Bank's work in other regions of Africa, so she's very well placed to speak to us about the disability framework and how it's framed the work um in her region, but across the continent. And also Sirnight was the manager that worked very closely with us, uh, to finalize the, the first strategy, so we're really excited to have Sir Knight with us, and over to you, Senna. Thank you, Charlotte. It's great to be here. Uh, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, everyone. I, I hope you can hear me? Yes? OK. Um, I know we have, uh, several people joining from all over the world. So this is, this is a very exciting, uh, uh, session for me to, to attend. My name is Sannai Assefa. Uh, I am a practice manager in the Social sustainability and inclusion global practice, um, as Charles said, currently covering several countries in West and Central Africa. Uh, and, of course, I had also worked in other parts of Africa. Uh, a little bit about myself. I am connected from my home office in Maryland, uh, United States. I am medium, medium height, although some would say I'm short. Um, I'm an African woman from Ethiopia, Eritrea. I have black hair, brown eyes, uh, and today I'm wearing a black and white shirt and orange scarf. So, to the framework, so as, as, as has been mentioned, over the last few years, uh, the World Bank has ramped up its efforts to, uh, more effectively address disability inclusion in all its operations and engagements. And this is very much, this has been a very important agenda for Africa. Um, there are many contributing factors, uh, to this positive change, including, of course, uh, the disability inclusion and accountability framework, uh, the 10 commitments on disabled inclusive development, and the new environmental and social framework, uh, that was, uh, adopted in 2018, and, uh, the IDA 19 disabled inclusion commitments. Uh, focusing on the disability inclusion, uh, accountability framework, uh, this framework has been very instrumental in laying out a roadmap for including disability and the World Bank policies, operations, analytical work. Uh, and building internal capacity for supporting clients, uh, and, uh, also our own internal capacity, uh, in terms of what staff and teams should, should focus on and how they should, uh, design, uh, disabled inclusive, uh, operations projects. Uh, if I was, let me just give you a few examples. Uh, one of the 10 commitments, uh, focuses on inclusive education. Uh, stating that all World Bank finance projects, uh, should, uh, include or should be disability inclusive by 2025. This is a very ambitious, uh, commitment, and, uh, I think we're making good progress. We're not there yet, but we're, we're making good progress. Uh, for example, In Ghana, the Ghana Accountability for Learning Outcome Project supports the transformation of existing special schools and regional assessment centers into inclusive education resource centers and a pilot, pilot training for staff in their new capacities. Uh, it supports the strengthening of civil society networks, uh, organizational capacity in engaging with communities on inclusive education. Uh, and similarly in Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and other countries, we're seeing most of our education projects, World Bank financed education projects are increasingly integrating disability inclusion in their design and implementation. Uh, I'm happy to share that in addition to these encouraging developments in the education sector, we're seeing this in other sectors as well. For example, in Nigeria, the Nigeria Agro-processing Productivity Enhancement and Livelihood Improvement Support Project, for example. is being implemented across 6 states. Um, under one of the project components, uh, the, the aim is to target at least 5 to 10% of the beneficiaries of the project should be persons with disability. Uh, and the activities financed by this project include support for, uh, skill training, grant provision, uh, business development, and mentorship opportunities. Uh, we see encouraging trends across several sectors, transport, health, uh, social protection and jobs, uh, so on and so forth. I think, um, uh, the, the foundation is there and, and, and that has been, uh, sort of the success, I would say, of this, this framework over the last couple of years. Uh, one of the innovations I would say, and this, I'm very proud of this, uh, because this is mainly has been led from, from my unit. Uh, that we've put in place also is in a lot of our countries, at least in the countries that I cover, we have established what we call country engagement platforms for social inclusion. Uh, what these platforms do is they allow us the technical, to, to bring in the technical support that is needed to make sure every single project or engagement that the bank supports, uh, is, uh, sort of, there's a A deliberate effort to make sure we have thought about disability inclusion. Sometimes it might make sense and sometimes it wouldn't make sense to include those, but at least the thought process has been built into that. So these platforms have been very helpful in allowing us to bring in technical support across the bank, but mostly led by the social development teams, uh, but also engaging internally with bank task teams as As well as externally with clients, with stakeholders, with organizations uh for persons with disabilities and other stakeholders. And, and I think, um, when we think about disability inclusion mainstreaming, uh, these kinds of instruments will be very, very critical, uh, to make sure that we're really, uh, doing this at scale and across, uh, the bank's engagement portfolio. So, the disability inclusion and accountability framework has provided important framework for, for this process. Uh, I think we've made good progress, and I think going forward and looking into IA 20 we see further opportunities for deepening our work, uh, and, and also scaling up, um, under the human capital special. Theme under IDA 20, uh, there are several, uh, policy commitments, but one of the, the important one is on universal access. Uh, the aim is to promote inclusive societies supporting at least 18 IDA countries to be disability inclusive by implementing them. Let me just shut off this call here one sec. By promoting the principles of non-discrimination, inclusion, and universal access, I'm as laid out in the environmental and social framework. Uh, and, and prioritizing sectors such as education, health, social protection, water, urban development, digital development, and transport. So, we have, uh, I think we have a strong momentum. The foundation is there, the momentum is good, and huge opportunities to significantly scale up our work in Africa and other regions of the World Bank going forward. This, of course, would require not only ramping up of the bank's own, the World Bank's financial and technical resources, but also deepening our partnership with organizations of for persons with disabilities, with governments, with private sector, uh, and other development partners. So let me stop here. Uh, thank you, Charlotte over to you. So thank you very much, Senna, and thank you for underscoring the value added of the framework as a roadmap and sharing with us some exciting examples. And I did just want to make a point made or underscore a point made by Snight that the, the projects that she's talking about are projects that are bank mainstream projects. And so it's really important for us to, to recognize that the framework has begun to impact on much larger bank projects. So these are not necessarily small pilots, they are indeed big um lending projects. I want to now bring in Shitai Asatawi. Shitai is the director for advocacy and communications with the Africa Disability Forum. And she will speak to us about the importance of a framework like this as it relates to organizations of persons with disabilities. Over to you, Shitai. Thank you, Charlotte. Uh, uh, good morning. Good afternoon, and, uh, uh, good evening, uh, good evening to all the participants and the organizers of this important, uh, side event. But uh yeah, sunlight makes my life difficult. I don't know what to talk after that clear and um you know, um uh very clear, like, I mean, uh, a speech and um presentation of uh the World Bank and the usability of uh the disability inclusion and accountability framework. In any case, let me add something uh to that as well. Yes, I'm Stataus, uh, from Ethiopia. Uh, I'm working for the regional umbrella organizations of, uh, uh Uh, persons with disabilities, the African Disability Forum or ADF, uh, in short. Uh, I'm the new incoming advocacy and communication, uh, director. The African Disability Forum, uh, is striving to, uh, toward this strong voice of national federations across Africa. Presently, it has, uh, as a member of 44 national federations, 8 sub-regional. Uh, organizations of, uh, persons with disabilities and also another four sub-regional organizations. Uh, so, uh, saying this, uh, just to reflect my, uh, uh, my opinion of the framework. Uh, yes, this is very much important and crucial, and I think it's the right time for the World Bank to undertake such, uh, uh, such a step. Uh, it makes like the framework could make inclusion, uh, possible and practical. In the World Bank itself. And also it could have ways for the bank's partners to follow track, to really follow on that and adopt such kinds of framework. That's one very uh big essential importance of the, the framework. And it could also the new door as a new door for collaboration. And could enable to make dialogue and negotiation easier for partners, uh, especially for those partners who are working on the field of disability. Uh, and the others, uh, as well. It could also, um, serve as a model. Uh, World Bank is such, uh, Great entity and so for this commitment, for this step, we are sure within the coming few years, others also would follow uh that model and it will add on the, the effort of uh disability inclusion and towards also the our ambition to achieve the SDGs 17 goals. And uh my, uh, so, um, the framework will be uh crucial for the, for the World Bank uh to get down also in a very meaningful manner uh to organizations of persons with disabilities and their uh beneficiaries and partners. It could give us a good, a good chance, uh, a good way in such like this partnership with OPDs at the grassroots level. Uh, could be started, for instance, with, uh, with such like global big issues like climate change. Or for that matter, uh, gender inequality. Uh, so this is a good, uh, and a very nice achievement, and I would like to congratulate you guys who are really working within the bank to achieve and manage this part. So, uh, yeah, uh, let me stop here. And thank you. Thank you very much, Shitai, and I have to say we really value the engagement of organizations of persons with disabilities. It's now, it's uh considered, it's a part of our stakeholder engagement, and you raised some very important points. We're so glad to have been able to have you with us today and for you to share our perspectives and a huge congratulations on your new position within the Africa Disability Forum, and we look, we look forward to continuing to work with you. Now I want to shift our, thank you. Now I want to shift our focus to a more sectoral perspective. I'm bringing my colleague Samira E Tarji. And Samira is the lead, a global lead on the population and development, health, nutrition and population global practice at the World Bank. Samira, welcome. We've been collaborating over the last year or so, and it's just fabulous that we're able to have you join us today. So over to you, Samira. Thank you, Charlotte, and um good morning, good evening, afternoon, everyone. I come from um Northern Virginia, the Washington metropolitan area from my home office. Uh I am uh from Saudi Arabia, so I am a brown woman. Um, I have a medium length, um, almost black hair and brown eyes, and I'm wearing a red top this morning. Um, As Charlotte had indicated, we've been really working very diligently with the um social sustainability and inclusion, global practice and specifically with Charlotte's team on looking out. How can we actually place inclusive health, which also by default um uh includes uh persons with disabilities. So, um, within, within the health and nutrition and population, uh, next slide, please. Global practice, uh, we really work on two goals. Um, the first one is to support universal health coverage, uh, which is a right on its own, and also to, uh, help. Uh, countries and individuals within countries, um, accumulate, uh, uh, human capital. So, um, if we just look at the semantics of the, the situation, we know that, uh, 15% of the world's population actually living with disabilities, hence the 1 billion persons, and 80% of those, um, live actually in developing countries which are the focus of the World Bank, especially within the IDAL International Development Association. Typically, also, um, these disabled person, persons with disabilities usually have, um, a poor, uh, they come from poor, poor background and they have a lot of barriers to face in, in health, uh, in healthcare, um, whether it's in, in accessible facilities, limited availability, or high cost of healthcare, the things we usually face within the uh universal health coverage domain. Um, as, as indicated by, by my colleagues who spoke before me, there is also this, this, um, a feature of, of, uh, of low-income countries, uh, that cannot afford quality healthcare, uh, is, is usually host to, to persons with with uh disabilities. Uh, which leads to more, uh, worse health outcomes. Uh, they are, for example, 3 times more likely to be diabetic, probably based on the poor diet, 2 times more likely to be HIV positive because of lack of access to healthcare and to testing and diagnostics, and also 2 to 3 times more likely to die from COVID-19 because of the same access issues and because of the same um inaccessibility to healthcare. Children, uh, unfortunately, uh, with disabilities are actually 10 more times likely to be seriously ill and 2 times more likely to be, uh, suffering from malnutrition and, and stunting. Next, please. So in a, in a, in a nutshell, uh, we, we know that the uh inclusive healthcare is important because it supports the fundamental, the fundamental right to help for persons with disability and it also helps create a robust health system that, that is a building block towards a universal health coverage and also contributing to a better health outcomes for persons with disability, which is actually an underpinning for their human capital formation because we know that. Um, uh, young and educated and healthy adults make a better workforce and less dependency ratio as they age. Next, please. So, I am not going to dwell a lot on the framework. This is a busy slide and it's been adopted from the missing billion Health Systems framework and the WHO's Health System framework as well, the building blocks. It just talks about how, where we start uh from the system, uh, thinking and the system engagement on leadership and governance, we need to think about the inclusivity of all of these people with disabilities into the framework of the health system. We also need to find financing and sustainable financing for that reason. Health information system is extremely important because without it, we really cannot trace and follow the needs of, of persons with disabilities. Service delivery also is another building block because we need to look at the traditional demand and supply dimensions of the service delivery system, uh, including autonomy and awareness and affordability when it comes to health services, some of which are truly expensive. And on the supply side, we need to look at health facilities that have not just the infrastructure, physical infrastructure, but also the orientation, the understanding, and the mix of skills for those people who are, uh, rendering these services and access to essential medicines, and specialized services, uh, and, and, and, and other aspects. We've touched upon the health workforce and how they, they need to be responsive and aware. And that would contribute to outputs which are characterized by good access and good coverage and quality services and also safe services. On the outcomes, um, we, we, we aim within this framework to have um healthy outcomes, um, responsiveness, social and financial risk mitigation, and protection and also efficiency of the health system response to persons with disabilities. Next, please. So, um, 3, key simple but not so simple steps actually starts by, uh, consulting, and that would be the learning curve because, and, and the, the, the work with stakeholders, uh, had been touched upon by the previous speakers. I, I think it cannot be stressed enough that the, that, that kind of learning curve. Especially educating the policymakers and the middle management in a, in a, in a certain setting um is extremely important and it should include persons with disabilities or their representatives and also technical experts on disability and inclusion. That would lead to the learning, um, experience which actually reflects on the projects, uh, to ensure that the analysis adopts a disability-inclusive lens that actually would yield, uh, a mapping of the current situation, the priority issues, uh, the priority key gaps, and identifies the process that would lead to, um, to, to, um, rendering these gaps and, and working on them. And all of these consultations and learning curves and the information that that collection would actually contribute to the change that you would want to see in the health system, especially in a service delivery health system. And if we start from the macro level at the Country-level policy dialogue, which really includes disability, inclusive health and creates awareness among key stakeholders. Uh, at the level of the project or program design inclusive health is also reflected in the analysis with a dedicated budget which covers the financing and also probably a consideration for targeted programs to address many but specific needs of people with disabilities. Um, training of the project staff and implementation partners on disability inclusion, and finally, the, the, the monitoring and evaluation just to look at the impacts of these policies and these shift and change, uh, shifts and changes in the, in the policymaking and also at the project level. Next, please. So, um, walking the talk within, within, within the, the World Bank, I think we can, can broadly say that we have a history of very good anti repressional work within the institution, but um it's, it's, it's been focused mainly on middle-income countries. And um this is also a reaction by, by, by, um, Specific requests from the countries themselves. The good news is that uh we've been working uh across the summer on the new IDA-20 uh commitments, the IDA-20 cycle, and that is going to have um a dedicated commitment, policy commitment to, um, to include services for, uh, persons with disabilities, specifically targeting the low-income countries because that's, that's how the IDA cycle works. Um, there is also an alignment with the Global Pledge for disability. Uh, the framework that's been discussed at the beginning of this session, um, that was developed by the, the Missing Billion Initiative also, uh, uh, ensures that the bank supports, uh, The health and nutrition and population capacity building within, within, within, um, within the, uh, the, the World Bank, and that would include really uh guidance notes for task team leads and, and other people, other staff who are working on designing projects and as we indicated before, there has to be some learning from consultations and from uh talking to stakeholders. The framework that, that we've been talking about is one of many several uh practical steps that are being taken and adopted by the bank to actually enhance the, the system thinking about disability inclusion, not just about a one-off uh product whether it's analytical or operation. And consequently, the bank is taking these practical steps to show and, and, and uh display its commitment to addressing this gap and also bringing a much desired and much needed health services to persons with disabilities. Next, please. So on a word on the implementation, um, awareness raising is, is extremely important in within, within the, within the bank and also within external stakeholders, and we have many ongoing dialogues with governments, um, our traditional partners, and this is also a very good opportunity. To actually collect data and provide evidence and, and, and embark on awareness raising. Training is also extremely important because sometimes teams would want to include disability into their outlook whether it's the country um uh cooperation program or otherwise. So I think we also need to, um, to translate that awareness raising into some skills development within, within the bank teams and within the external partners as well. Technical assistance, of course, is extremely important. Sometimes the information is right there, but no one actually um can look at it. Or if you look at it, you cannot interpret it into something that can be put into practice and, and translated into, uh, into operations. And, and the last one, but not the least, is the technical notes that we have been uh producing. And this was discussed before, so I am not going to stop at length at it. Next, please. That was a part one technical note on, on, on accessibility. And the thematic fact sheets that were also mentioned, there was one on WOS, um, sector of operations. Next, please, and the one next. Slide swipes. Sorry, that was your last slide. OK. OK, I'll leave it there. I'm back to you, Charlotte. Thank you. Samira, thank you very, very much and for a very substantive presentation on promoting inclusive health and I, and identifying three key steps that I think are very helpful in us thinking about how we actually operationalize this, consult, learn, and change. So thank you very much for that. I now want to bring in my colleague Marie Kostini. Uh, Mari is going to share with us a bit more about some of the resources. That we've developed to support our staff in operationalizing disability inclusive development, um, and with that, I'd like to hand over to you, Mari. I can't hear you, Marie. Marie, I think you might be on mute. Oh, sorry. All good. OK. Thank you, Charlotte. So good morning. You try. Good afternoon and good evening to everyone. Uh, I'm connecting from Washington DC this morning and as Charlotte, Charlotte mentioned, uh, my name is Marie Oystenen. I'm a senior social development specialist at the World Bank. Uh, I'm a white woman, uh, with, uh, brown short hair. I have uh green eyes, and uh today I'm wearing a black shirt. So while the uh disability inclusion and accountability framework supports the mainstreaming of disability in World Bank activities, we are very aware that more technical support and guidance is required as, as mentioned by uh Z Samira. Uh, to support our teams further in operationalizing disability-inclusive development, we have developed a suite of technical nodes, uh, in several sectors including health, as mentioned by Samira, education, water, data, digital development, disaster risk management, and, uh, gender-based violence to mention a few. Uh, these various documents are being shared with you in the chatbox now, and many are available on our World Bank app page which is also being shared with you now. Thank you, Ana. Uh, we also do. Uh, regular awareness raising through internal blogs and events, provide training, uh, sorry, technical assistance to World Bank teams and offer regular training sessions to our staff to dive deeper into these areas of focus, and we have seen a lot of rich engagement come from those trainings. Next, uh, slide, please, Ana. So the uh Internal International Development Association, IDA uh assist low-income economies as mentioned by my colleagues, Denait and Samira already. Un IDA 20, starting in July 2022, support towards disability inclusion across sectors will further scale up. Through this, we have deepened our commitment to universal access, non-discrimination and inclusion. To support the rolling out of the disability framework and the commitment on universal access, we are finalizing a technical note focusing on accessibility. Next slide, please, Anna. So the note includes 5 thematic uh fact sheets focusing on ICT, urban sector, infrastructure, water, sanitation, and hygiene, and transportation. The idea is that other sectors can refer to a combination of these five sheets. For example, education can use infra plus ICT, perhaps also transportation and WAS in some cases, and, and so on. So the accessibility note will be launched in March, so please uh stay tuned. Back to you, uh Charlotte. Thank you so much. Thank you very much, Murray, and uh thank you very much, Anna, for posting all of those resources in the chat box. And as indicated, Mary, we do invite you to, to our website to further explore some other documents that we, we might, um, we, we have and that might be of interest to you. So I think Marie has mentioned that we've developed a range of a suite of documents, a suite of support documents and resources um for our staff. And To, um, develop these pieces of, of, of work to ensure that we are gaining more education and capacity within the bank teams about, um, developing and ensuring that disability is included in, in all of our projects. I now want to bring in one of my colleagues from the UN. To speak about another strategy document that has been developed, and he will speak about its impact that it's had across the UN agencies, but also we've asked him to touch on some of the challenges that um the UN has experienced in implementing the strategy. And we're so fortunate to have Gopal Mitra with us today, and Gopal is a senior social affairs officer with the disability team at the at the United Nations and has been very Uh, central in the, in, in the Andes. Um, so, Gopal, welcome. Thank you for joining us and over to you. Uh, thank you, uh, so much, Charlotte. Uh, uh, it's a pleasure to join the event today, and it is amazing to hear, uh, the wealth of experience that stems out of practice, uh, from your colleagues in the World Bank. Uh, good evening, uh, good morning, good afternoon, uh, uh, friends. Uh, my name is Gopal Mitra, and I'm connecting, uh, from the UN headquarters in New York today. Um, I am from South Asia, so I'm a brown man. I have a mixture of gray and black hair, mostly more gray, I must say. Uh, I'm wearing a gray suit and a white shirt, and I wear, I'm wearing dark glasses. I identify as a person with disability. So first of all, uh, my congratulations to you, Charlotte, and to all colleagues in the World Bank for updating the Disability Inclusion Accountability framework. We know it's, it's never easy, uh, uh, to take into account all the, uh, developments that have happened over the last few years and, and meaningfully incorporated in a, in a, in a, in a framework. So, amazing work. Uh, so I, over the next few minutes, I will tell you about, uh, give you a flavor of the UN disability inclusion strategy, uh, and, and some of the some reflections, uh, from the last 2.5, 3 years of implementation. Uh, so, Friends launched in June 2019, the UN Disability Inclusion strategy. Uh, uh, provides a clear framework and a roadmap. To the United Nations system to really advance its work on disability inclusion both in programs and in operations, internal operations, while launching the strategy, the Secretary General observed that he would like to see the UN lead by example on disability inclusion, and the strategy really provides us a blueprint, a framework to do so. As I said, the strategy covers both programs and internal operations. Uh, it is wide ranging in scope. It covers all the three pillars of the UN's work, development, human rights, and peace and security, and it applies to both headquarters and uh work in the countries, the country teams. So the policy has an, uh, the strategy has a policy and an accountability framework. The accountability framework is where the teeth of the policy lies, and it consists of two components. One is an entity accountability framework which applies to UN agencies, and the second is a UN country team scorecard, which applies to the joint delivering as one, the UN delivering as one at the country level. So, these, uh, the both the accountability, uh, framework components, it has very concrete indicators, 15 indicators in the entity accountability framework and 14 indicators in the country team scorecard. And they are clustered around 4 core areas leadership, strategic planning, and management. Inclusiveness, programming, and organizational culture. Now, consulting organizations of persons with disabilities and accessibility, there are specific indicators on that, and these are foundational and cross-cutting in nature. Uh, so, the UN agencies and country teams have been implementing the strategy since June 2019. And have been reporting annually on it. From nearly 3 years of implementation. What we have seen is the strategy has clearly triggered positive action across the UN system. The reporting has shown, the annual reporting that more and more. UN agencies at headquarters as well as the country level are in are better integrating disability inclusion in the strategic plans. There have been concrete steps to enhance accessibility, both physical and digital. A lot of policies, existing policies and strategies are being are being updated to better address disability inclusion, and I'm talking about mainstream policies and strategies, and a lot of uh uh specific policies have also been uh developed, developed, uh, uh, to uh better uh promote disability inclusion across the UN system. The implementation has also enabled us to identify significant areas where significant gaps exist. For example, after the first year of implementation, we noticed that disability inclusive procurement is one area where there is very huge gap. So we have worked with the UN procurement network. Uh, of which World Bank is a part and have come up with system-wide, very practical guidelines on promoting disability inclusive procurement. Now, 2 or 3 key lessons that we have learned is, first, leadership commitment is key to maintaining momentum and achieving results. Second, we have seen that. Disability inclusion, where different parts of the organization come together, as was evident from the presentations today. To work on disability inclusion, results are achieved. It's not only the disability team or the disability focal point. And thirdly, strong coordination always plays a great role in large organizations like the UN and applies to the World Bank. Also, I feel. Uh, for, for colleagues to be able to share good practices, to share information, and also encourage each other with the work they're doing. So I'll conclude by saying that, uh, the UN disability inclusion strategy has not only helped us to accelerate our progress on disability inclusion, but it has also. Enhance the accountability, internal accountability of the UN on disability inclusion, as well as external accountability to the Secretary-General's report to the General Assembly on the progress that is being made on the strategy. Uh, uh, my colleague Anna will share, uh, the link to the strategy's website where you can know more about the strategy, and also, uh, you can get a, a, a glimpse of where the UN system stands with results to its performance, uh, on, with regards to the accountability framework. So I'll stop there and, uh, we'll be happy to respond to any questions. Over to you, Charlotte. Thank you very much, Gopal, and thank you for highlighting the importance of uh the, the strategy and the fact that it's triggered positive action within the UN. But also I think a really important point you mentioned was that it's assisted in identifying gaps, and, and that's a really important point to take forward. And then I think your point around it's also made, um, it's also, it's also addressed disability beyond just the focal points working on disability, but it's now very much part of everybody's agenda. So that is indeed very exciting and thank you very much for joining us. Last but certainly not least, I'm excited to invite the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Mr. Gerard Quinn. Um, Gerard will help us to understand the importance of a document like the Disability inclusive inclusion and Accountability framework. At an international level. We've heard about how it's worked um at a regional level from SAA, uh, we've heard how it's worked from a sectoral level from Samira, uh, we've heard from Shitai how it's worked for organizations of persons with disabilities, um, we've heard from From Gopal, how the strategy has worked, or a different strategy, but a strategy all the same has worked within the UN. So Gerard, if you could talk to us a bit about what this means at an international level, uh, that would be fantastic. Please take it away, Gerard. Thank you, Charlotte, and I apologize for joining late. We were on a spotlight uh event in the GDS and unfortunately, we had a lot of technical problems, um, but, but here I am. So, it's always an honor and a pleasure to be with you, Charlotte, and the World Bank. As the World Bank continue your journey in making development assistance more open to and inclusive of persons with disabilities. I see this as a bigger mission of the World Bank to lead by example in showing how development assistance can be harnessed to expand opportunities for all in a circular economy and society, a vision shared between the UN SDGs and the UNCRPD. Let me remind you, and I'm sure you need no reminding, that the vast majority of persons with disabilities live in the global South. Arcane debates that tend to transfix us in the North about, for example, progressive realization of existing social protection programs make little or no sense in contexts where economic development is uneven, extractive, and exploitative. A rising tide does not necessarily raise all ships. Even when economic development is taking root, the cumulative effect of a historical lack of educational opportunity means that many talented persons with disabilities will be left behind. Worse, endemic conflicts and political instability challenge the task of building inclusive economic and social systems for the benefit of all. Nothing is inevitable. All of these Gordian knots can be undone, and a dynamic for change and for inclusiveness can be inserted even in the most unpromising of circumstances. Indeed, to me, this is the World Bank at its very best. On platforms like this, I, I often point out the fact that any new treaty regime means that existing treaty regimes have to respond and adjust. Even if the UNCRPD did not have Article 32 on international cooperation, then the logic of the treaty alone would point to more intentional efforts on development assistance. Uh, of course, the World Bank is not a state, much less a state party to a treaty, but would be anomalous in the extreme if the world leader on development assistance were not taken, were not to take a lead in guiding others. And that is exactly what the UN disability inclusion strategy requires in any event. Allow me to focus, Charlotte on two parts of the updated accountability framework that overlap directly with my concerns as UN Special Rapporteur. The first has to do with fragility, conflict and violence. I greatly welcome this focus, both as a way of avoiding conflicts or at least making them less likely. And as a way of building out from conflicts to lay the groundwork for a more sustainable and conflict-free future. When we inserted Article 11 into the treaty on situations of risk and humanitarian crises, I, for one, did not anticipate that hot conflicts would still be with us and indeed proliferate. Their character may have changed, but their impact is doubly devastating on population groups such as persons with disabilities. Furthermore, their impact can be and most assuredly are intergenerational with long-term effects on the challenges of making more inclusive societies and economies. We as UN Special Rapporteur, are doing our best to place focus on what inclusion means in avoiding conflicts, in dealing with the conduct of hostilities, in peacekeeping, and most crucially for my. Point of view in peacebuilding operations. It's exceptionally gratifying to me to see the World Bank play its part in mitigating the effects of conflicts to ensure a smoother path to inclusive development. Without this, the considerable losses generated by conflicts will just lie where they fall, and they fall extremely heavily on persons with disabilities. The second point of overlap with our work has to do with your focus on digital development. Let me suggest three very brief reasons why I think this is important. First of all, we have become very accustomed to many obstacles to development in the North. We have tended to underplay the role of technology in helping us surmount these obstacles. In many respects, the developing South will be able to avoid many mistakes we've made in the developed North, so we can actually learn from them and they can show us the way. I'm thinking in particular about the impact of new technology in making community living a reality. Second, building the digital divide is crucial in spreading the benefits to all. So I very much welcome the intention to focus on this in the revised framework. Last but not least, one of the key drivers of our digital future is artificial intelligence. which can be both a help as well as a hindrance in driving development and inclusive development. In our recent thematic report on this, we draw specific attention to the balance of risks and opportunities presented by artificial intelligence. We all need to do more to get the very best of these advances whilst avoiding some predictable problems. AI gives us incredibly powerful tools to personalize services, even to advance peer support in the mental health field and avoid coercion. Can I point to the sterling work of the Center for Democracy and Technology and indeed. Face Equality International, who provide powerful accounts of some of the downsides of the technology. For example, face recognition technology, which is becoming rampant even on smartphones, directly discriminates against persons with disabilities, with facial disfigurement. The very people who need the technology to drive a much more inclusive future. So great care will be needed to ensure that the new technologies do not embed ableism and indeed ageism. If they do, persons with disabilities will not just be left behind, they will have no chance to catch up. In sum, I warmly welcome the revised draft framework and for our part, pledge our direct assistance, particularly when it comes to conflicts as well as digital development. Thank you so much, Charlotte. Congratulations and back to you. Thank you very much, Gerard. It really, it's truly an honor to have you join us today. And, and I, I think, you know, we will certainly take you up on your offer of direct assistance in these two very critical areas around fragility, conflict, and violence, and then very importantly, in, in the digital space. And I think one of the messages that really sticks with me is that, you know, we can't underplay the role of digital development. And if, if anything, what we should do is we should leapfrog over the mistakes that have been made, um, in, in the north and make sure that digital development actually reaches persons with disabilities, impacts their lives, and, and changes their lives. And then, you know, we, I couldn't agree more on the issues raised on AI both as a risk but as an opportunity. So we look forward to continued, um, you know, a working relationship with you on this. We have a little bit of time for questions, and we have a few questions that have uh been put into the chat box, and we had some um questions that came in from the audiences as they registered. So I would like to take, uh, a few of, of both, given the, given the limited time. The first question, um, comes from Ru Ruy Wimbo. And Rivimbo says, what are the key first steps a donor government should consider when developing a strategy or a framework for disability inclusion? And perhaps Gopal can get us started on that question, and so give me a second, Gopal, I'll ask the second question, and then we, we can respond. Then we have a question from Phyllis, and Phyllis says, what are the investments of the World Bank to improve health access barriers and health outcomes for persons with disabilities, and I imagine that one would go to Samira. And then there's a question that's come up around having an easy to read or plain language, um, uh, plain language being included as part of the accessibility for the World Bank framework, and I'll ask Mari to speak to that, um, but let me hand over to Gopal. Samira, Mari, and then we'll see if we have time for another set of questions. Gopal, over to you. Uh, thank you so much, Charlotte. Uh. Just a couple of reflections. First of all, uh, when we were, uh, developing the UN disability inclusion strategy, what we, uh, what was brought to our attention to the consultations is that, and it applies to, I think, many other domains, is that, uh, the progress, the current status or the progress is uneven among different parts, uh, uh, uh, uh, in our case, the UN system. There is a great diversity within the organizations, you know, so a strategy has to keep in mind that aspect. The strategy, uh, any strategy has to keep in mind that aspect so that it's, it's very relevant. Uh, the second, I think, is which is foundational, is it cannot, uh, stress enough on the importance of meaningfully engaging persons with disabilities and their representative organization at every stage of implementation as well as its development. And the, and the third point is we talk about the twin track approach, right? So it is how to meaningfully operationalize twin track approach. We know that targeted investment towards disability inclusion will be minuscule compared to overall investment in social and economic sectors. So unless we are able to Really include, uh, ensure disability inclusion in the big, biggest, bigger piece of the pie, which is general programming, uh, and then supported to targeted programming, uh, will not be able to make progress, but if we are able to do it, I think, uh, there is so much more, uh, scope to advance the inclusion of persons with disabilities. So those were just a few reflections over to you. Thanks, Gopal. Um, Samira, do you want to come in on the question around investments, um, to improve health? Access barriers and outcomes. Sure, Charlatan, thanks for the question. I think, um, I mean, I, I don't want to, to sound naive, but I think good advocacy, especially within the internal ecosystem within any organization, but especially the World Bank would, would really go a very, very um A long way. If we can show the, the, the cost of doing nothing on not just the development and the accumulation of the human capital and from the rights perspective which are really, uh, you know, core issues, no one can, can overlook them. But we also can try and, and look at, you know, what does it mean for the GDP? What does it mean for the overall health sector expenses? What does it mean for Unemployment or, you know, absenteeism from work and all of these things. I think this makes a very compelling argument in terms of uh trying to socialize the notion of when you do look at marginalized populations, and I'm not saying that people with disabilities are marginalized, but what I'm trying to, to say is that when you look at different sects of population, it becomes a population health. Um, aspect more than anything else. It is not easy, but it's also comes under the shadow of many other what we call neglected diseases or neglected populations, but I think it can be done through good data, good dialogue, and good advocacy material. Thank you. Thanks, Samira. Maria, a quick word from you. Thank you, Charlotte. Yes, uh, so it was on the, uh, on the different, uh, formats of, uh, of the framework. So shortly, yes, so thank you very much for this, uh, important question. Yes, we are going to develop an easy to read version of, of the framework. So thank you so much for this. Thank you. So that will be forthcoming and there are a couple of questions that, uh, that I guess are, I should answer. There's a question from Abe Abbewa from the Africa Disability Forum. And the question is, um, The World Bank updated the disability framework to include new examples of disability inclusive projects. Will persons with disabilities and organizations of persons with disabilities engage and participate meaningfully from the start to the end of these important projects? A really great Question. And so, one of the things that we do by way of the environmental social framework is to have uh stakeholder engagement and consultations. It's, it's a requirement under the Environmental Social Standard 10. So there is a requirement that at that stage, at the stage of consultation, that persons and organizations of persons with disabilities are, are engaged. Now, I will be the first one to say that that doesn't always happen. But that it is certainly progressively happening. What we want to maintain is that We can go beyond just having persons with disabilities in the consultations, but that they're part of supervision and that they continue to be part of the project cycle. So, that's a, you know, that's a space that we're looking at and we need to get better at doing, and we really want you to hold us accountable. And call us out when we don't do that. So, so please just be mindful of that and, and let us know if we're not, if we're not doing that in, in your particular context. There was also another question around why do we have so many disability experts at our headquarters as opposed to having them at national level. Uh, where most of our projects are. Um, we actually don't have that many experts, um, on disability at headquarters. Um, we have a very lean team. And increasingly, the bank is decentralizing its staff, so we're finding that we do have a lot more colleagues that are working on disability who are in-country offices. And I think to Gopal's 0.1 of the benefits of these frameworks, both at the UN and within the bank, is that Addressing disability ceases to be just the responsibility of the disability team and in, in, in the case of, you know, in, in that case, being at headquarters, but it becomes the responsibility of colleagues that are working in the field on various, in various sectors. So that is, it, it's an, it's an important move um and one that we recognize as Be necessary so that you can be on the ground, you can engage with the clients, you have access to organizations of persons with disabilities, and you certainly understand the context a lot better than um I do sitting in Washington DC. So point taken on that. We then also had a question around um why is there no inclusive education for children with disabilities in Nepal? And I just want to bring to the attention of, of the person who posed the question that actually Nepal is um one of our focus countries on the inclusive education initiative. And we actually have quite a lot of work going on in Nepal around inclusive education for children with disabilities. And in fact, tomorrow have an event um that will showcase some of that work. So we would invite you to join, join us for the event um tomorrow. And I think Anna is posting um the link to the event into the chat box. So please do join us and you can learn a bit more about what we're doing um in Nepal on disability inclusion. OK, are there any more questions that I should be focusing on? Um, there's a question to Gopal. And the question is, what are some of the main challenges in the rollout of the UN disability strategy? Thank you, Charlotte. Uh, so I, uh, as I was, uh, uh, briefly alluded to before, uh, so first is, uh, we did not have a very, very strong framework of policies, procedures, and the guidance, you know, so, uh, that is, uh, that over the last two years we have been able to plug some of those gaps. Uh, second, of course, as you will realize, is, is, uh, there is a gap in between the intent and the capacity. Right? So, uh, that is, that is already always, uh, always an issue, and we, we have been very, very systematically trying to, uh, build knowledge, uh, build, uh, uh, develop, uh, capacities, uh, on disability inclusion across the organization. And as Charlotte, you also mentioned, uh, we are seeing more and more, uh, poor person, not only persons with disabilities being hired, but also more and more, uh, uh. Uh, colleagues working on disability inclusion with the expertise. So, uh, these are, I think, some, some of the, some of the key challenges, uh, which we, we have faced, and we are, we are trying to systematically address them. But at the same time, I must say that it's, it, it takes time, doesn't happen overnight, you know, but, uh, uh, the strategy does enable us to much more efficiently identify those gaps, those challenges, and come together to address them. Thank you, Sean. Thank you very much, Gopal, and I know there are still a couple of questions, um, that are in the chat box. We will go through them and we will respond directly to the individuals that have posed them so that questions don't go unanswered. But my role now is to thank everybody for joining us. Um, this has been a very, very rich session. And I think it just, you know, provides um testimony to the importance of having frameworks. Having frameworks that in the case of the bank provide a roadmap for staff, um, and have really served to invigorate and, and generate a lot of traction in, in, in advancing disability inclusion. Now, of course, the framework is a framework. Um, and you need to have a whole lot of other things in place. You need to build the capacity, you need to have resources, uh, you need to have a willing client that wants to, wants to engage on disability inclusion. And so it really does require all of us to participate. It needs to, we need to ensure that we are better at working with organizations of persons with disabilities, um, because this is something that we all need to be part of. Thank you all very much for joining us. It's been an absolute pleasure. Thank you, Charlotte. Thank you

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STRENGTHENING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE WORLD BANK DISABILITY INCLUSION_ACCOUNTABILITY FRAMEWORK

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STRENGTHENING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE WORLD BANK DISABILITY INCLUSION_ACCOUNTABILITY FRAMEWORK

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