Thursday 6 November, 1:15 – 2:30 pm, Room 7, Qatar National Convention Center
REGISTER:
https://forms.office.com/e/A7mAzmKzFU
Co-Organizers
Co-Sponsors
Background and rationale
The Second World Summit for Social Development (WSSD) brings the international community together to recommit to the Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development and the Programme of Action and accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. The Second WSSD will focus on poverty eradication, promotion of full employment and decent work and social inclusion, critical issues facing persons with disabilities across the world. Persons with disabilities consistently experience higher rates of multi-dimensional poverty than those without disabilities. Persons with disabilities have lower incomes and wages than persons without disabilities and households with persons with disabilities earn a lower income per capita than those without persons with disabilities. Globally, the percentages of the working age population who are employed currently stand at 27 per cent for persons with disabilities and 56 per cent for persons without disabilities.
To realize the 2030 Agenda and advance equity and inclusion, it is vital to recognize the urgent need to accelerate social development progress for persons with disabilities. Persons with disabilities represent 16 percent of the global population – an estimated 1.3 billion people – yet, currently, just 6 percent of Sustainable Development Goal targets are on track for persons with disabilities, whilst the majority have stalled and even reversed. Without urgent action the 2030 Agenda will collectively fail to meet its targets and central principle to leave no one behind.
This session will showcase multi-stakeholder solutions for collective action to advance disability inclusive social development, through innovative partnership and with the leadership of OPDs.
The event will cover multi-stakeholder solutions related to:
- Financing for disability-inclusive development through partnership, building on the concrete outcomes and commitments of the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development;
- Global instruments and local solutions for poverty eradication, full employment and decent work, and social inclusion, for and with persons with disabilities; and
- Implementing the outcome document of the Second World Summit for Social Development in line with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and to leave no one behind.
The event will bring together partners from governments, the UN system, organizations of persons with disabilities (OPDs), civil society and diverse stakeholders to promote dialogue, collective action and practical solutions for advancing inclusive social development. It will showcase examples and case studies to implement innovative solutions and transformative systems changes to address poverty, unemployment, and social exclusion experienced by persons with disabilities.
Event objectives
- Showcase innovative, inclusive solutions that accelerate disability inclusion in social development programmes, including from OPDs working at country-level, particularly those focused on poverty reduction, employment, and social inclusion.
- Present case studies from global programmes and initiatives that demonstrate how tailored, disability-responsive innovative solutions have enabled the effective participation and inclusion of persons with disabilities in national development efforts.
- Highlight good practices in multi-stakeholder collaboration, featuring partnerships between national government representatives and OPDs, and spotlight scalable service-delivery solutions to address poverty experienced by persons with disabilities through collective action.
- Mobilize new and existing partnerships to drive lasting change and accelerate social progress for persons with disabilities across the world through increased collaboration.
Accessibility
- Accessibility: International Sign Interpretation, CART
Run of Show
| 12:50 – 13:15 | Technical setup & arrivals |
| 13:15 – 13:20 | Welcome & framing |
| Moderator: Dr. Ola Abualghaib, Director, UN Global Disability Fund 2-min context (purpose, link to WSSD2 themes), housekeeping (CART/IS, mic use, inclusive Q&A), and speaker protocol. |
| 13:20 – 13:27 | Opening remarks (3 × ~2–2.5 min) |
|
| 13:27 – 13:32 | Keynote (5 min) |
| Hon. Edgar Moyo, Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare of the Republic of Zimbabwe |
| 13:32 – 14:05 | Panel: From commitments to accountable implementation |
Panelists (4 min max each): Dr Alfred N. Muta, Cabinet Secretary of the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of Kenya José Viera, Executive Director, International Disability Alliance Miguel Barreto, UN Resident Coordinator, Guatemala Farida Bena, Director of Diplomacy, Every Woman Sanja Tarczay, Vice President, IDA & President, World Federation of the Deafblind Government of Finland (TBC) Moderator prompts (if needed): financing alignment, OPD governance, data & accountability, crisis-to-systems transition. |
| 14:05 – 14:18 | Q&A |
| Moderator (Dr. Ola): 3–4 takeaways (policy, financing, partnership actions), next steps, and where materials will be shared. |
| 14:18 – 14:22 | Synthesis |
| 14:22 – 14:30 | Closing remarks & acknowledgements |
Government of Spain (TBC) (2–3 min) Final thanks; photo moment with speakers |
Reference Materials
