Group meeting 14 December 2005

Present:
Chair: Julia Peckett, Sense International
Sian Higgins, Leprosy Mission
Geoffrey Atieli, Sense International
Catherine Hingley, Motivation
Icky Hasnain, Asian People's Disability Alliance
Andy Tait, Sightsavers International
Hazel Jones, WEDC
Raymond Lang, Handicap International
Sue Coe, World Vision UK
Mary Ann Mhina, Uganda Society for Disabled Children

Apologies:
Lorraine Wapling (Chair), ADD
Kate Gooding, Sightsavers International

1. Action Points from last meeting

DDG Make Poverty History paper:
On a general note, in response to a query from Kate Gooding, it was agreed that generally, a period of three weeks should be allowed for feedback when papers are circulated to DDG members, and once such feedback has been included they can then be presented formally as DDG papers.
Action point: Lorraine Wapling to check the current status of this particular paper, whether it is now on the DDG section of BOND website, and to ensure that papers are not put on website without going through above process.

Who is on the circulation list for such papers needs to be updated and clarified.
Action point: Julia Peckett to e-mail Lorraine Wapling to address above circulation list task.

BOND Subgroups
With a view to widening the impact of the DDG within BOND, Julia Peckett outlined the involvement of DDG members' within other BOND Subgroups. Some of those listed below were not at the meeting and therefore unable to confirm their involvement.

Capacity Building Group: Sense International (Julia)

East Europe and Central Asia Working Group: Orbis (Ben Simms at Sue Ryder Care also Chairs this group).

Education: No official BOND working group, but Kate Gooding is a member of the Global Campaign for education policy group and will liaise with DDG on this. Philippa Lei at World Vision UK is also involved in this and will liase with Sue Coe who will feedback to DDG.

European Policy Group: SSI (Kate Gooding), Orbis, OWA, as above.

EC Funding Group: SSI currently chairs this group, and through this sit on Concord. Kate Gooding has agreed with the SSI rep (Ian Henstock) that they'll send ECFG minutes round the DDG and flag up anything relevant.

Funding Working Group: Several DDG members, including SSI, LCI, ADD, Orbis. Need for DDG reps to liaise with those in their organisations attending these groups to ensure that disability is included in any relevant actions.

Southern Advocacy Group: SSI (Kate Gooding)

UK Water Network: SSI (Kate Gooding) is on the email list, with plans to attend meetings, but not an active participant. Hazel Jones to check the contact person at WEDC for this network.

Networker Newsletter
An article on mainstreaming disability had been written by Lorraine Wapling for the December issue of the Networker.

DDG Steering Group
Lorraine finds having a steering group very useful, as it is a place to bounce ideas and get quick responses on smaller issues, but the question of who is currently an active member of this group and who else might be interested in joining needs to be looked at.
Action point: Lorraine Wapling to clarify who is on current DDG Steering Group, and to invite others who have expressed interest in participating.

International Day of Disabled People 2006 (3 December)
It was decided a few weeks ago that it was too late to organise an event for this December, but that it was definitely something worth considering for next year. This should be discussed at next DDG Meeting (1st half of Feb). It was agreed that an achievable focus for this would be agreed, bearing in mind the proximity of the IDDP to World Aids Day (Dec 1). All agreed that we need to start planning early for this event!
Action point: Lorraine Wapling to put as agenda item for next meeting. Lorraine to also check venue options prior to the meeting to ensure feasibility of event.

DDG/DFID Letter
An update was provided. The DDG had written a letter to DFID with the purpose of keeping disability on the agenda, which had been very well received. A meeting was to be arranged with Julia Chambers of DFID plus, ideally, other senior DFID people, to maintain the momentum of this purpose.
Action Point: Julia Peckett to feed back to DDG on when this meeting will be, who needs to attend etc.

2. Asia 2015 Conference
Sian Higgins of Leprosy Mission provided update on this event. The stated purpose of the Asia 2015 conference was to look at development issues in Asia, past, present and future, in terms of meeting MDGs. The group felt that it was important that disability was not treated as an add-on theme and was taken seriously. 10 NGOs are to be invited as delegates, at least half of which will be Southern NGOs.
Action point: Sian Higgins to inform DDG of this list, when received, so that DDG can then discuss how best to engage with that list in terms of furthering DDG members purpose of disability playing a significant part in Asian development agenda. All to also look at other ways of achieving our purpose eg. targeting speakers.

3. Review of activities this year and setting plans for 2006
Julia Peckett informed attendees of Lorraine Wapling's perspective on 2005 achievements and lessons.

"In terms of achievements this year - we made good efforts to get involved in the MPH campaign and the early part of the year focused on trying to make this relevant to disabled people. Whilst we didn't actually manage to make a big impact we did produce some good information on why mainstreaming is important and I think we can make more of this in 2006. As a slight aside from this, the work we did through the DDG actually helped ADD to focus more on development issues and in fact some of our programs have started to get more involved with mainstream NGOs working on poverty reduction in country. So whilst in the UK we may not have made such a big impact work overseas is benefiting. Maybe there are other organisations where this has also happened?

We have had good dialogue with DFID over the new policy on social exclusion. We were involved in all the preliminary discussions and contributed to the paper. This is another area we should be following up as a group next year to help DFID implement this at country program level.

We also began engaging with BOND itself and in particular Richard Hawkes who is very keen to help the group promote its message. The letter that was written by BOND to DFID asking about disability and inclusion was well received and we are in the process of arranging quite a high level meeting to discuss this further. Overall I think this means we have been quietly successful in our dealings with DFID this year and hopefully that will help us in 2006 to make more of an impact.

We wrote an article for the Networker for 3 December although I haven't seen the newsletter itself yet! We have also had a couple of other small updates in the Networker earlier in the year.

In terms of structure as well I wanted to comment that having a Steering group is very beneficial. I missed having the group in the mid part of the year so was very happy when a new group was appointed. Having small working parties focusing on specific issues I think tends to work best."

Sue Coe of World Vision felt that her organisation's greater participation in disability issues, in which DDG had played a role, had resulted in disability becoming a significant priority for World Vision.

A series of general discussions then took place around setting plans for next year.

A number of attendees wanted clarification on whether DFID's recent Social Exclusion paper was actually being put into action by DFID's Country Offices. It was agreed that looking at this, both as a group and as individual organisations, was a good next step.

A number of ideas were put forward to address this:

Local partners be contacted by UK partners to see if paper being implemented by Country Offices, and if not, UK partners to contact DFID UK to explore further.

UK organisations also have the responsibility of ensuring that partners are aware of this paper themselves.

Social Development Advisors and NGO Co-ordinators in DFID Country Offices would be good points of contact.

If country offices are not enthusiastic about meeting with local NGOs, meetings with Country Offices to discuss the Social Exclusion paper to be arranged when UK partners undertake local partner visits, as a way to open dialogue and start engaging with country offices.

Geoffrey Atieli (visiting from Sense International (East Africa), based in Kenya), suggested that local partners could create alliances with other local organisations in order to jointly approach Country Offices, which would have greater impact.

It would also be a good idea for organisations to share any experiences of where DFID country offices are responding to the social exclusion paper well and how this was achieved.

There appeared to be a general pattern of funders requesting evidence of economic data to support the link between disability and poverty, as well as requesting comprehensive solutions to the problem once it has been recognised. Ie. What are we asking them to do in practical terms?

There was confusion with respect to the current position of DDG's Terms of Reference - are they still up-to-date and are they on the BOND website?
Action Point: Lorraine to clarify above.

Hazel Jones (WEDC) asked whether there was any new interest from members in 'reviving' the DDG Mainstreaming Disability smaller working group. Hazel and Sue Coe of World Vision also felt it would be a good to use the DDG as a channel for sharing ideas and success stories in disability and development work, which members could learn from and use as arguments / evidence to meet their own purpose. So as well as carrying out particular activities, it was felt that this group was useful in that it was a place to meet and share ideas.

A number of themes for 2006 were suggested, and these could be used to set action points / campaigns at future meetings:

Taking work with DFID further, as discussed above.

Holding an event aimed at wider BOND membership for the IDDP, 3 December 2006

"Mainstreaming" activities in their various forms, possibly including the production of a 'toolkit' on how to mainstream disability in practical terms.

Taking a broader approach to CBR and learning from different sectors/organisations (Andrew Tait, Sight Savers International)

Having a sectoral implementation strategy (Hazel Jones, WEDC)

It was agreed that sub-groups could be formed at the next meeting to take various elements of this forward.

4. DDG D-Group
The overlap between the BOND mailing list and the DDG D-Group was discussed under Action Points from the last meeting. There is a need to harmonise these lists to ensure that everybody is receiving all messages. Julia will email Lorraine to ensure that this is followed up on.

5. Arrangements for next meeting
To be during 1st half of Feb, 2006. Lorraine Wapling to set date.

6. AOB
There was none.