Events

UNESCO, together with other UN organizations, invites you to celebrate the International Day of Persons with Disabilities on 3 December 2020, to raise awareness of the complexity of disability issues and the challenges faced by people with disabilities around the world.

This year's theme is "Building back better: towards an inclusive, accessible and sustainable post COVID-19 world by, for and with persons with disabilities".

People with disabilities are disproportionately affected by the health, social and economic consequences of the global COVID-19 pandemic. This year's theme emphasizes the importance of strengthening our collective efforts for universal access to essential services, including immediate health and social protection, education, digital infrastructure, accessible information, employment and other socio-cultural opportunities in order to ensure that persons with disabilities are not left behind in times of crisis and beyond.

UNESCO will mark the day with a week-long programme from 25 November to 3 December 2020.

Since the global COVID-19 outbreak, UNESCO has been at the forefront of the response to the pandemic, encouraging education systems to remain open and accessible to all. Global school closures due to the pandemic represented an unprecedented risk to children’s education, protection and wellbeing. Educational responses to the crisis have not always reached the most disadvantaged or been adapted to their needs. The suspension of a face-to-face formal and non-formal education, including vocational, technical, cultural, sport and physical activities, has also been extremely rapid around the world. The mobilization of resources in support of the application of digital technologies for the empowerment of learners with disabilities and capacity building for their teachers to adapt to new learning environments are crucial.     

UNESCO’s action for persons with disabilities

Setting standards for inclusive education

• Promoting inclusive education is paramount to meet the targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; even more in the current COVID-19 pandemic, considerably hampering equal opportunities for educational progress and lifelong learning
• The Open Educational Resources (OER) Recommendation (2019) supports the creation, use and adaptation of inclusive and quality OER, facilitates international cooperation and invites all Member States to take urgent measures.

Enabling information gathering for informed policy formulation - Laboratory of ideas

• Informed policy formulation - The online platform “Story4Development”, supported by The Nippon Foundation, collects stories about persons with disabilities including athletes and entrepreneurs, making an impact in their communities and contribute to the fulfilment of  human potential by overcoming barriers helping governments, private sector etc. to develop informed policies, actions and business plan

Providing access to information and documentary heritage

• UNESCO, as one of the lead UN agencies with a mandate to promote access to information, urges all stakeholders to ensure inclusive access to documentary heritage.

Building human and institutional capacities for inclusion of persons with disabilities

• Through its International Coalition of Inclusive and Sustainable Cities (ICCAR) a targeted event will be organized to raise awareness among local governments to protect their citizens with disabilities rights to learn, stay safe, active and educated during emergencies and promote inclusive policy.

Promoting international cooperation and raising awareness : Overview of the week-long celebration

• 25 – 27 November 2020 - International Symposium on Ensuring the right to quality nclusive education for persons with disabilities
• 2 – 4 December 2020 - Global Awareness Raising Campaign “Tell our story–enable our rights"
• 2 December 2020 - E-publication Launch: “Accessible Digital Documentary Heritage: Guidelines for the preparation of documentation heritage in accessible formats for persons with disabilities”
• 3 December 2020 - Announcement of the Laureates of the UNESCO/Emir Jaber Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah Prize for Digital Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (2020-21) / Webinar “Disability inclusive response for COVID-19 through Open and Distance Learning” / Webinar “Share your Story for Development" 

Useful Links:

• 3 December - International Day of Persons with Disabilities
• UNESCO's work on Access for People with Disabilities
• Story for Development project
• UNESCO's work on Inclusion in Education
• UNESCO and Open Educational Resources (OER)

Contact: Irmgarda Kasinskaite-Budd

URL:

https://events.unesco.org/event?id=1515062495&lang=1033