This article is written by Mr. Sagar Prasai.

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Background:

Everybody wants job. Similar is the case in disability community. Every persons with disability wants to get a job. But many of them are still unclear what is the job they would like to do is. Even if some of them can tell- they want to work in bank or be a newspaper editor, they don’t know the skills and qualification that particular jobs will need. They apply for any job that is available and mostly are rejected. This has caused a lot of frustration in the people with disabilities because of the thinking that the only reason they are not getting jobs are because they are disabled. That may be true to some extent but the reason is not only that.

People with disabilities are not getting jobs because of two major reasons- First, employers doesn’t know there are skilled manpower within disability community and are also afraid to hire persons with disabilities. Second persons with disability doesn’t know what is needed to apply for a certain job. This is a huge gap between the employers and job seeker. However, if the employers get to know qualified and skilled manpower in disability community and if people will disability know what they want to do and know what is needed to do that job, this gap will be gone.

Global Context:

The situation of employment of persons with disabilities is somewhat similar around the world. They are not getting enough employment opportunities and those who are employed are also paid lower wages in most cases. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics in USA, only 17.5 percent of persons with a disability were employed while 65% of persons without disabilities were employed in 2015. Similarly, the unemployment rate for persons with disability was 10.7 percent in 2015, about twice that of those with no disability (5.1 percent).

World Report on Disability (WHO, World Bank, 2011) also shows contrasting difference in employment rate between persons with and without disability.  This report shows that in low income countries, employment rate of persons with disabilities is 42.9% while that of people without disabilities is 58.8% (in age group 18-49 yrs).  The report suggest four major barriers for employment of persons with disabilities: Lack of Access, Misconception about Disability, Discrimination and Overprotection in Employment Law. It is also seen that women with disabilities earn less than men with disabilities.

Nepal’s Context

According to the National Population Census of Nepal (2011). 1.94% of total population has disability. That equals to about 500,000 Nepalese.  Out of those people, 163000 (1.52% of total youth population) are youths between (aged 16 -40). There are not any desegregated data on disability and employment.  However, based on the field experience, we can safely say that employment status of people with disabilities in Nepal is in its worst case.

Very few people with disabilities are employed and even among them, most are unemployed.  National Living Condition of Persons with Disabilities (National Federation of the Disabled – Nepal and SINTEF, 2015) states that access to employment among persons with disabilities is very low. This is similar even for the households with family members with disabilities.

Because of various myths about disability, it is seen that people with disabilities can do only certain kind of jobs. For instance, it is believed that, persons with visual impairment can only do front desk jobs or teaching jobs. These kinds of presumptions has also played significant negative role in employment of persons with disabilities.

However, there are also some big companies that have set a strong examples by hiring persons with disabilities. Those companies include- Deurali Janta Pharmaceuticals, The Bakery Café, Cloud Factory etc.

Government Provisions

The new constitution of Nepal which was adopted a year ago has prohibited discrimination of any kind because of one’s disability. This is applied in employment sector also. In addition to that, Disabled Protection and Welfare Act (1992) has stated that every private company that hires more than 25 employees should hire at least one persons with disabilities for every 25 employees. The pay and other facilities of these employee with disabilities should be equal to those without disability. However, these laws are not implemented in way they are mandatory.

Nepal government has also reserved 5% quota in civil service jobs (public service). This provision has help many people with disabilities to get into government jobs each year. Similar provisions are in place for jobs that are opened by companies and commission that haves some kind of government investments.

Government also has provision for disability pensions and allowances if somebody acquired a disability during jobs. But there are no such provision in terms of private companies.

Right vs. Skills

Employment like other basic needs are rights of every persons. However, by being focused only on employment rights, many job seekers with disabilities have given very little of no emphasis on individual’s skill sets. It is very important on someone looking for a job to have the minimum requirements and skills that are required by that particular job. But many times disability rights activists themselves try to overlook this fact and private sector are often unhappy with this.

The skills development training provided by NGO are often traditional and doesn’t provide the necessary skills to the participants so that they can integrate into mainstream labour market. This is because these trainings package are designed without doing necessary market assessments.

Employers are also hesitant to hire persons with disabilities thinking that once hired they can’t be laid off the jobs ever. So disability activists should pass on the message to the private sector that firing someone because of disability is prohibited, but firing someone because of bad work is okay.

Also job seekers with disabilities should be prepared for the job market they are about to enter. They should also leave behind the ‘NGO culture’ and become more professional as they are expected during the job.

Opportunities and Conclusion

Even though employment situation of persons with disabilities is not satisfactory currently, many initiatives are underway which promises the good outcomes in the future. Because of the new constitution, many acts are being revised including employment law of Nepal, so this is the best time for activists in Nepal to intervene in such acts to make them disability friendly as well.

Many employers have now understood that people with disabilities may be their reliable work force. People with disabilities should be able to take this belief in next level by preparing themselves for jobs they have to offer. NGOs can also help in this process by providing trainings of those skills which are easily sellable in Job Market. A through market analysis needs to be done while designing such trainings.

Disability community of Nepal can also be benefitted from the many years of relation between Nepal and Republic of Korea. Bringing good practices on disability and employment from Korea to Nepal by engaging professionals and civil society organizations of both countries will play a significant role in employment of persons with disabilities. Sharing what is working on each country and what are the factors that are motivating private sector to work closely with disability community will also be very important.

A society will only be equal and just if it’s all members have equal opportunities and participation on social, cultural and economic activities. Having jobs is important to everybody and it is more so for people with disabilities to become independent. If disability community works with private sectors not lobbies for job not only because it’s our rights but because we have skills approach then creating a just society is possible.

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About the Author

Mr. Sagar Prasai works as a project coordinator at National Federation of the Disabled-Nepal. He specifically works as project lead for implementing employment related activities at NFDN. He has experience of working both with employers and job seekers with disabilities and this article is result of such interaction with both parties during his work.

Mr. Prasai can be reached at aware@nfdn.org.np or sagar.prasain@gmail.com

This article is written by Ms Nino Gvetadze, Country Director of the Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund Deutschland e.V. (ASB) in Nepal.

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About the Paper:

The disability-inclusive disaster risk reduction (DiDRR) thematic paper was prepared based on the comprehensive desk review and series of consultations with various DRR stakeholders including sectoral ministries, DPNET-Nepal, AIN-TGDM, thematic Disabled People’s Organizations (DPOs), UN agencies and other civil society actors prior to and during the National Human Rights Summit of Persons with Disabilities 2016. The process was coordinated by the Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund (ASB) Nepal.

The paper outlines the critical aspects of DRR requiring particular attention and actions for realizing the Sendai Framework all-of-society commitment through the meaningful participation of women, men, girls and boys with disabilities in disaster risk reduction at all levels. At the same time, it focuses on implementation of Article 11 of UNCRPD and the Incheon Strategy, Goal 7, for ensuring protection and safety of persons with disabilities in situations of risk and inclusion of most at-risk groups in disaster risk reduction and management.

The DiDRR paper also illustrates the shortcomings to scaling up disability-inclusive DRR in Nepal, including the lack of disability disaggregated data as an evidence base for better understanding disaster risk and inform risk-sensitive decision making. For conclusion, capitalizing on the importance of exchange of evidence-based knowledge and good practices, the paper puts forward recommendations and suggests how disability inclusion, if approached from a functioning perspective, can be practically mainstreamed into the current DRR planning and programming.

Introduction

Disasters may strike everyone, however, persons with disabilities are exposed to greater risk and are disproportionately affected by disasters due to the wide range of barriers they face in accessing and acting on information. For instance, for persons with disabilities, gaps in accessibility can pose a significant challenge in obtaining information about the risks and in evacuating in the event of a disaster. Persons with disabilities are also more likely to receive inadequate attention and coverage in post-disaster context.

The monitoring the rights of persons with disabilities in Nepal has revealed that access to information and communication in disasters and emergency situations is often overlooked. In absence of appropriate communication mechanisms, including inclusive and accessible early warning systems, persons with disabilities are placed at higher risk and their right to protection in the situation of emergency and disaster is infringed.

Globally, over 1 billion people or 15 percent of the world’s population live with some form of disability. The likelihood of disability also increases with age.

According to the World Health Survey (WHS) 2002-2004, disability prevalence for Nepal was 21.7 percent, whereas as per the National Population Census, only 0.46 percent of the total population had disability in 2001 and 1.94 percent in 2011. Although there is data consistency among the last two censuses, the census focused exclusively on a narrow choice of impairments instead of recording functional limitations and participation restriction in addition to impairments. It’s notable that surveys among the same population using an approach that emphasizes functional ability yield estimates in the 10 to 20 percent range. The way of formulating and asking questions to the household head instead of interviewing each household member, as well as stereotypes and stigma associated with disability may also have contributed to the significantly lower response rates in Nepal, compared to the WHO and national thematic Disabled People’s Organizations (DPOs) estimates.

For every person killed in a disaster, another three are injured or left with a long-lasting impairment. Haiti’s earthquake serves as a haunting reminder, where an estimated 200,000 people acquired new forms of impairment out of the 3 million who were affected. The evidence gathered after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake indicates that mortality rates of persons with disabilities were two to four times higher than those without disabilities.

The April and May 2015 large-scale earthquakes in Nepal occurred in the context of deeply entrenched social hierarchy and social exclusion – with vulnerable and marginalized groups having suffered a history of discrimination due to caste, gender, ethnicity, religion, age, disability, language and/or geographical remoteness. This context of social exclusion had profound significance for the earthquake response, because the overwhelming majority of the affected population were from vulnerable and marginalized groups. Although there is a limited data and research on the impacts of the Nepal earthquake on persons with disabilities, the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) clearly articulated the disproportionate impact of the disaster on vulnerable and marginalized groups including persons with disabilities.

The often life-threatening impact of disasters on persons with disabilities is attributed, in part, to the absence of disability perspectives in all phases of DRR. An online survey conducted by UNISDR in 2013, involving more than 5,000 persons with disabilities from 137 countries, revealed that 86 percent of the respondents had not participated in the DRR processes within their communities and were, therefore, excluded from the DRR related decision-making, planning and implementation processes. Moreover, 72 percent of the respondents stated that they did not have a disaster preparedness plan and only 20 percent stated they would be able to evacuate immediately and without difficulty in case of a disaster.

Persons with disabilities have unique contributions, often overlooked, to help reduce the risk of disasters and build resilient societies and communities. Therefore, inclusion needs to be addressed as a cross-cutting issue of shared concern and responsibility within disaster risk reduction and resilience building.

Global and regional policy frameworks supporting disability-inclusive DRR

The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 recognizes persons with disabilities as one of the major stakeholders and encourages Member States to engage persons with disabilities and their representative organizations in assessment of disaster risk and in designing and implementing DRR programs.

The guiding principle (III.19.d) recognizes that persons with disabilities are disproportionately affected by disasters. It promotes all-of-society engagement and partnership which requires empowerment and inclusive, accessible and non-discriminatory participation of those disproportionately affected by disasters.

The guiding principle (III.19.g) states that: Disaster risk reduction requires inclusive risk-informed decision-making based on the open exchange and dissemination of disaggregated data, including by sex, age and disability . The establishment of an evidence base to inform risk-sensitive decision-making is a necessary precondition for understanding disaster risk. Such an evidence base requires disaggregated data.

Sendai Framework Priority 4 also recommends: Empowering persons with disabilities to publicly lead and promote equitable and universally accessible response, recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction approaches .

The interconnectivity of disability and DRR is well-reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) where the Goals 9, 11 and 13 are closely linked to the disability-inclusive disaster risk reduction. Furthermore, the SDGs confirm the United Nations’ commitment to promoting inclusive societies that take active measures to ensure the safety of everyone when disasters strike.

The Article 11 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) makes a strong reference to the disability-inclusive disaster risk reduction, stating that: State Parties shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection and safety of persons with disabilities in situations of risk, including humanitarian emergencies and the occurrence of natural disasters , along with an emphasis on the accessible information and “Universal Design”, being critical for the safety and resilience of not only persons with disabilities, but society as a whole.

Goal 7 of the Incheon Strategy to “Make the Right Real” for Persons with Disabilities in Asia and the Pacific also addresses disability-inclusive DRR encouraging governments to develop disability-inclusive DRR plans, provide relevant training, ensure accessible facilities and information, and collect, analyze and disseminate disability-disaggregated data. Central to the Incheon Strategy is the establishment of reliable and comparable disability baseline data for the core indicators by the midpoint of the Asian and Pacific Decade of Persons with Disabilities (2013-2022), for tracking progress towards the achievement of the goals and targets.

The outcomes of the 7^th Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) reflect well disability-inclusion. Specifically, the Asia Regional Plan 2015-2030 highlights the role of persons with disabilities as contributing actors to disaster risk reduction and building resilient societies, mentioning disability in six places, with the following mention in the text being particularly important: Adopting an inclusive approach – via multi-sector/stakeholder DRR platforms, both at national and local levels – is particularly important. It should embrace the leadership of persons with disability, women, children and youth and the significant contribution of the business sector .

The New Delhi Declaration 2016 also calls on all government and stakeholders to:

Encourage meaningful participation and support representation of women, children and youth, and persons with disabilities in leadership role for disaster risk reduction .

As Nepal is moving towards the implementation of the Sendai Framework as well as the CRPD, the SDGs and other related global and regional policy frameworks, embracing leadership of persons with disabilities and their representative organizations will be fundamental for ensuring inclusive and all-of-society approach to DRR for building resilient communities, society and the nation.

Progress in implementing disability-inclusive DRR

In terms of disability-inclusive DRR, notable achievements have been made by a number of countries, supported by organizations and individuals working on disability inclusion and DRR. The examples below demonstrate selected good practices at local, national and regional levels, though the list is not exhaustive.

Nepal has revised its local disaster risk management planning guidelines, emphasizing the role of persons with disabilities and their representative organizations in the development of the DRR plans as well as importance of collecting and using disability disaggregated data for better understanding disaster risk and informed risk-sensitive decision-making.

The Post-Disaster Recovery Framework (PDRF) which establishes the strategic priorities for Nepal’s post-earthquake recovery over the upcoming five years, also recognizes disability issues and reflects a policy-level commitment to inclusion. However, careful attention to disability issues during its actual implementation is crucial to realize the overarching goal of ‘building back better’.

The practice of inclusion of persons with disabilities in DRR decision-making in Bangladesh has fostered the provision of accessible shelters, raised awareness in communities and led to the training of volunteers who are able to help during evacuation processes and the stockpiling of equipment needed in times of disasters. The government has also issued a circular to include persons with disabilities in disaster management committees at all levels and a special task force has been formed for implementing inclusive-DRR. Flash flood resilient house models with accessibility features are also being designed for further replication across the country.

Local initiatives on inclusive DRR plans, inclusive disaster exercises/drills, and school and community-based DRR programs have been widely promoted in Indonesia. Persons with disabilities have also been included in the local pool of facilitators for disaster management. In the Philippines, the government has allocated financial resources to support disability-inclusive DRR at the local level.

In Vietnam, information barriers for persons with disabilities in DRR have been minimized through the use of accessible digital information systems. The country is also developing a comprehensive model of the disability-inclusive community based DRR from national to village levels. The circular of guidance for the post-disaster needs assessments clearly states the importance of collection of data disaggregated by disability.

In terms of collecting and using disability data for DRR, functioning approach has gained ground as a practical and resource efficient tool. Alongside increasing uptake by national statistical agencies,the Washington Group Short Set of Questions on functioning has recently been used by DRR practitioners and development researchers in Tanzania, India and Indonesia to better identify and respond to the risks persons with disabilities face. ^&   Furthermore, the Washington Group questions can be used by a range of actors, including at the community level, with minimum training and sensitization and can be readily applied across a range of risk reduction and prevention scenarios efficiently and economically.

The Washington Group questions are increasingly being demonstrated to be a practical way to better understand the barriers and risks that persons with disabilities face. Through such understandings, we are better able to understand disaster risk and realize the inclusive and resilient societies envisaged within the Sendai Framework for DRR.

Gaps and challenges in scaling up disability-inclusive DRR in Nepal

While the Sendai Framework establishes broader recognition of the disproportionate risk that persons with disabilities face and acknowledges the important role of persons with disabilities and their representative organizations in disaster risk reduction, the progress made so far in transforming the Sendai commitments into action towards inclusive and all-of-society approach to DRR still needs to be accelerated, particularly when it relates to fulfilling commitments to disability disaggregated data. The predominant challenge remains in translating the policy into practice and removing barriers to reduce the impact of disasters on persons with disabilities.

This is partially due to the fact that both governments and other stakeholders often lack skills, knowledge and collaborative good practices of implementing disability-inclusive disaster risk reduction (DiDRR). In addition, DiDRR is often mistakenly perceived as something rather technical and therefore, overly complex and resource intensive.

When it comes to the context of Nepal, the existing systems at the local, sub-national and national levels are yet to recognize the leadership role of persons with disabilities and their representative organizations in DRR rather than viewing them as passive recipients of aid.

Research indicates that DRR activities in Nepal prior to the 2015 earthquakes failed to meaningfully include vulnerable sections of society and reflected systematic social and spatial biases. The majority of persons with disabilities were not included, engaged, or consulted in DRR activities and information and programs on disaster risk reduction and disaster preparedness were not accessible to persons with disability, further limiting their awareness about disasters.

Further, disability is often overlooked as part of the broader definition of ‘vulnerable’ groups. Forinstance, while the Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) concept is mainstreamed in the National Strategy for Disaster Risk Management (NSDRM), there is no specific mention of the role of persons with disabilities and their representative organizations in DRR planning and programming and the critical importance of collecting and using data disaggregated by sex, age and disability. Without fulfilling the Sendai Framework commitments to disability-disaggregated data, disaster risk cannot be understood, and the realization of the inclusive and all-of-society approach to DRR will be severely curtailed.

The official disability statistics in Nepal is significantly below the global averages, creating a highly contested information gap. Lack of financial and technical capacity, geographic limitations to data collection, and a variety of social stigmas lead to underreporting.

Due to the limitations in collecting and using disability disaggregated data, if the WHO global estimates were to be applied to Nepal, approximately 3 million persons with disabilities including women and men, children and youth, and senior citizens would continue to remain at-risk, being invisible to the mainstream DRR actors. Often community risk assessments also rely on the secondary data available at the local level which does not always allow to identify the most at-risk and hidden groups of the population.

It is understood that a major obstacle to collecting disability data is the perception that disability is a ‘technical’ concern. This thinking suggests that data collection is complex and resource intensive. This is not the case and is supported by a growing evidence base informed by research and practice.

The use of ‘types’ of disability as the basis for data collection is challenging for DRR actors and, more broadly, governments alike. Such an approach can give rise to multiple categorizations and a lack of consistency across, and within, countries. An alternative is to approach disability from the perspective of functioning which is less concerned with categorizations and instead focuses on what a person is able to do in their everyday life.

Understanding disability from a functioning perspective is directly relevant to DRR since it enables the disproportionate risk that persons with disabilities face to be easily identified and directly acted upon.

The case of the Nepal earthquakes also demonstrated that due to the limited representation of most at-risk groups in the local governance structures and disaster relief committees as well as in emergency response planning by state and non-state actors, the humanitarian response failed to ensure that no one was left behind. Persons with disabilities and their representative organizations were highly underrepresented within the institutional structure of disaster response and not meaningfully engaged in District Disaster Recovery Committees and cluster system (e.g. Protection cluster). Information barriers are a significant drivers of this trend, and uneven patterns of aid distribution are exacerbated by intersectional forms of social exclusion related to gender, ethnicity, caste, class and geographic marginalization.

Nepali Disabled People’s Organizations (DPOs) are a major yet underutilized DRR resource in Nepal as they are under-recognized by the Government, international development institutions, and even other GESI-oriented civil society groups. Coordination between the INGOs and DPOs was also weak with a few exceptions.

While the proposed Disaster Management bill has taken a step forward towards inclusion of most at-risk groups including women, children, senior citizens and persons with disabilities, focus remains predominantly on provision of priority assistance in emergency response and relocation from unsafe settlements. The role of persons with disabilities and their representative organizations in DRR planning and programming and importance of ensuring their inclusion and meaningful participation should be further highlighted.

Despite various policies, rules and regulations, services and facilities, the implementation of the UNCRPD including its Article 11 has not been achieved as expected. This is partially due to the fact that the disability community has traditionally prioritized realization of the rights to basic social services while the protection aspects in case of emergencies had been overlooked. Consequently, the National Policy and Plan of Action on Disability (NPPAD) has not previously addressed the aforementioned gaps including ensuring safety and protection of persons with disabilities in emergency and disaster situations. The existing urban-rural gap is also notable in this regard, particularly in terms translating policy into practice.

The proposed Disability Rights Bill also ensures the right to protection of Nepali persons with disabilities during the time of conflict, emergency situations or disasters. This piece of legislation is also crucial in terms of initiating the process of operationalizing some of the principles of inclusion embedded in the Sendai Framework for DRR.

Recommendations and ways forward

The disability and DRR stakeholders in Nepal recommend the following for consideration by the government and other relevant actors for moving ahead with the implementation of the disability-inclusive disaster risk reduction.

• Ensure all-of-society and inclusive approach to disaster risk reduction though meaningful participation of persons with disabilities and their representative organizations in all aspects of DRR, including planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of inclusive risk reduction, prevention, preparedness and response initiatives from local to national levels, promoting effective cross-sectoral partnerships and capacity building, providing accessible information and early warning systems, improving disability data collection using functioning approach and tools such as Washington Group questions, and incorporating the principles of Universal and Accessible Design in reconstruction and recovery.

The aforementioned recommendation could translate into the following priority actions at various levels to be carried out by the government, I/NGOs, donor community, DPOs, and other relevant actors over the short to long term period, prioritizing disability disaggregated data collection and development of disability-inclusive national and local DRR plans in order for the achievement of the first up-coming Sendai target (e) by 2020.

Recommendations to the Government of Nepal:

• Improve national and district level disability data collection in line with the SDGs by setting up effective and standardized mechanisms using a functioning approach and tools such as the Washington Group questions (e.g. within the National Population Census). Ensure data sharing between the Central Statistics Bureau, national disaster management authorities and other cross-sectoral multilateral, international and national actors.
• Ensure meaningful participation of persons with disabilities and their representative organizations in decision-making processes related to disaster risk reduction (DRR) and that all DRR-related policies, strategies, guidelines and action plans are disability-inclusive (e.g. National Disaster Risk Management Strategy, National DRR Action Plan, National Disaster Response Framework, District Disaster Preparedness Response Plans, Post-disaster Recovery Framework, DRR mainstreaming guidelines, etc.).
•  Ensure that disability-related policies, strategies and action plans (e.g. the National Policy and Plan of Action on Disability) address the Article 11 of the UNCRPD, protection and  safety of persons with disabilities in disasters and emergency situations.
•  Ensure DRR-related information, safety messages and early warning systems are provided in accessible formats for everyone including persons with various functioning limitations (e.g. hearing, visual, etc.).
• Ensure representation and meaningful participation of persons with disabilities and their representative organizations in the local governance structures and disaster relief committees, and that humanitarian response is inclusive taking into account specific needs of persons with disabilities including but not limited to health, WASH and education sectors in line with the Minimum Standards for Age and Disability Inclusion and Sphere.
• Ensure that disaster preparedness and response, recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction are based on “build back better” principles, including addressing the root causes of risk and vulnerability for achieving equitable economic, social, health and cultural resilience of all people including persons with disabilities.
• Ensure that all newly built infrastructure including schools, hospitals and shelters are made safe and accessible following the principles of Universal Design and ‘build back better’.

Recommendations to the donor community:

• Ensure that all humanitarian and development programs supported by the donor community are inclusive and risk aware, and prioritize inclusion of most at-risk groups including persons with disabilities in disaster risk reduction planning and programming.

Recommendations to the UN:

• Provide technical support to the government and other mainstream actors for fostering cross-sectoral engagement and planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of disability-inclusive disaster risk reduction (DiDRR) from community to regional levels.

• Ensure meaningful participation or persons with disabilities and their representative organizations in planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the UN-supported humanitarian and development programs including DRR-related policy development and practice.
• Support establishment of effective and standardized mechanisms for national and district level disability data collection using a functioning approach and tools such as the Washington Group questions. Foster cross-sectoral sharing and learning, including research on the disaggregated data and relation between disability and disaster risk (e.g. study on the impact of the Nepal earthquake on persons with disabilities).

Recommendations to the I/NGOs:

• Strengthen capacities of persons with disabilities and their representative organizations to support their meaningful contribution to all phases of DRR.
• Strengthen community resilience through ensuring meaningful participation of persons with disabilities, including women, children and youth, and senior citizens in community-based DRR initiatives.
•  Carry out inclusive community risk assessments and DRR planning at the local level, including household data collection using a functioning approach and tools such as the Washington Group short set of questions (e.g. as part of the community Vulnerability and Capacity Assessments).
• Support improving access to DRR information, communication and services for persons with disabilities (e.g. inclusive and accessible early warning systems, inclusive evacuation plans and simulation exercises/ drills, etc.).
• Support establishment of a pool of human resources on disability-inclusive DRR including facilitators and trainers with disabilities, training of first responders on disability-inclusive disaster response, etc. and promote good practices and resource materials on inclusive community-based DRR.
• Promote Universal Design and assistive technology in DRR for accessible physical infrastructure, communication and services to ensure participation and reduce risk for all.
• Promote disability-inclusive disaster preparedness for effective response and to “build back better” in recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction.

Recommendations to the private sector:

• Ensure that all programs supported by private sector are inclusive and risk aware.

Recommendations to the media:

• Increase the role of media in DRR and safety-related information, education and awareness raising, ensuring universal and equitable access to information by everyone, including persons with disabilities.

Recommendations to the DPOs:

1. Ensure that safety and protection of persons with disabilities in disaster and emergency situations (CRPD Art.11) is addressed in the national disability-related policy advocacy, development and practice.
2. Focus on the internal human resource development on disability-inclusive disaster risk reduction for effective advocacy and partnerships as well as representation and meaningful participation in DRR-related mechanisms from local to national levels.

Recommendations to the civil society:

• Foster local leadership and forums on disability-inclusive DRR.

Supported by

1. Disability-inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction Network (DiDRRN)
2. The National Federation of the Disabled, Nepal (NFD-N) and thematic disabled people’s organizations (DPOs)
3. The Government of Nepal
4. Disaster preparedness network-Nepal (DPNet-Nepal)
5. AIN Task Group on Disaster Management and Climate Change (AIN TGDM-CC)
6. AIN Disability Working Group (AIN DWG)
7. UN Agencies
8. National Society for Earthquake Technology (NSET-Nepal)
9. Academia
10. Private sector
11. Media

About the Author: 

Ms Nino Gvetadze is a Country Director of the Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund Deutschland e.V. (ASB) in Nepal.

ASB is one of the oldest German aid and welfare organisations which established its operational presence in Nepal following the 2015 earthquake. ASB coordinates its partner implemented “Post-Earthquake Response, Recovery, Reconstruction and Inclusive Community Resilience” program in Nepal through its country office in Kathmandu. Resilience building, empowerment and inclusion of most at-risk groups including persons with disabilities in disaster risk reduction (DRR) and wider development programming are ASB’s key strategic priorities in Nepal.

The author has over ten years of progressively responsible professional experience in international/regional and country-level organisational and program management and leadership within the development and humanitarian sectors. Her technical expertise lies in capacity building at institutional, organisational and community levels through partnerships development, policy advocacy, knowledge sharing, networking and collaborations in DRR and resilience building, disability inclusive development, governance, program quality assurance and accountability.

For further details, Nino can be reached at nino.gvetadze@asbnepal.org.

Footnotes

This article is written by Mr. Prakash Raj Wagle.

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Introduction

The Sustainable Development Goal- SDG is also known as transforming our world: the 2030 agenda for sustainable development is set of 17 aspirations called global goals. The United Nations through 194 member states as well as global civil society took initiatives to endorse these goal which contained in paragraph 54 of UN Resolution A/RES/70/01 on 25^th of September 2015. On 19 July 2014 the UN General Assembly open working group on sustainable Development Goal forwarded a proposal for the SDG to the assembly with containing 17 goals, 169 targets and 231 global indicators.

The UN Sectary General Ban Ki-Moon quoted that “There can no plan B, because there is no planet B”. Sustainable development recognizes that eradicating poverty in all forms and dimensions, combating inequality within and among countries, preserving the planet, inclusive and sustainable economic growth and fostering social inclusion are linked to each other and are interdependent.

Sustainable management and utilization of 5 “p” has been adopted as fundamental principles. These Ps are called people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership considering its implications that challenging the current world. It estimated that sustainability of the people can be achieved through ending poverty and hunger in all forms of society by ensuring dignity and equality. As Mr. Moon quoted, there is no plan B because there is no planet B, it is also a measure to protect our planet, natural resource and climate for our future generations. Prosperity refer to ensure prosperous and dignified life in harmony with nature.

The SDG is also envisioned to foster peaceful, just and inclusive society considering current global crisis in terms of political, social and cultural issues. The SDG is not only motivating and dreamed the goals but also discerning about its well implementation through global partnership.

SDG and Disability

All goals are related to persons with disabilities, but only 7 targets have an explicit reference. A number of other Goals and targets reference vulnerable groups and thus include persons with disabilities because of the reference (vulnerable) in paragraph 23 of the SDG. This paragraph is particularly strong because it calls for the empowerment of ‘vulnerable’ people and places persons with disabilities at the center of poverty eradication throughout the entire Agenda

The inclusive phrasing of many Goals and targets, also make them implicitly applicable for persons with disabilities, such as those referencing “for all” or “all women and men.” Even without any such references, all Goals and targets will be applicable to persons with disabilities by simple virtue of the universality, which applies to all, and the overarching principle of “leave no one behind”

SDG has taken “Leaving no one behind” as overarching objective. Therefore, people with disabilities also should not be left behind in all its goals although disability is not mentioned in all SDG goals. SDG has emphasis on inclusive society as well as prosperity, sustainability of the development, reduce hunger and poverty, the persons with disabilities are come into front line. Without addressing poverty of people with disability the goal of zero hunger will not be achieved. To ensure its success, the agenda must remain of the people, by the people and for the people committing to world to global action for the next 15 years.

Sustainable development goal is a milestone to thrive the persons with disabilities in forms of development process. There are 17 goals among these 13 goals are reference to the person with disabilities and 7 have explicit reference to Person with disabilities. In summary of each of the goal that linked to persons with disabilities have been summarize.

Eradicating poverty:

Eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere and implement social protection systems. Achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable and ensure that the poor and the vulnerable have equal rights to economic resources, access to basic services, ownership (land, property, inheritance, natural resources), new technology, financial services, including microfinance. Nepal is underdeveloped country where more than 80 percent of population are living in rural area with semi-to unemployment situation.

A recent household survey of CBS Nepal shows that per capita GDP in current price is less than $2 per day and only 77 percent of Nepal population is employed. To reduce poverty down in 6 percent is much ambitious and even more challenging in context of persons with disabilities. In this connection the development partners, government and civil society organization need to play a vital role in moving forward with decent idea in order to enforce disability inclusive development that should be incorporated in all level of development planning, implementation and monitoring & evaluation process.

Zero Hunger:

End hunger and ensure access for all people—in particular the poor and people in vulnerable situations—to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round and end all forms of malnutrition. The goal can be achieved when and if food security is realized for persons with disabilities everywhere and available nutritious food. The World Food Summit 1996 states that food security “exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.” A report stated that many persons with disabilities in most remote area are living their life depends on their relatives and in some cases they have not been treated well.

Nepal Health research report quoted that disability is also cause of lack of adequate nutritious food when they are in belly and after birth. Though it is challenging to ensure all persons with disabilities have access to adequate food, but still the stakeholders to work very closely form different prospective. In order to ensure zero hunger, there is need of adequate food for all and to get food some sort of livelihood is required, thus it is essential to make sure that appropriate means of livelihood need to be designed and provided to persons with disabilities. The government should endorse disability friendly policy to adopt lasting and sustainable livelihood and employment opportunity.

Good health and wellbeing:

Achieve universal health coverage, including financial risk, protection, access to quality essential health-care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all are key assumption of SDG related to health and well-being. This agenda has also reference to the person with disabilities vocalize as access to universal health coverage and health care services is realized including for health costs related to disability. Disability is development issue but at the same time it’s also connected to the medical and health issues.

A recent record published by one of the District Hospital said that out of 40 births, 8 cases have been reported with some king of impairments and only 50 percent of them get live. This is because of poverty, lack of health awareness, unhygienic practice, hazardous work load,   unhealthy practices during pregnancy. Especially during old age the poor people might not have easy and affordable access to the health care, medical treatment consequences long term disability. Thus the government and stakeholders make sure easy and affordable access to health facilities for all.

Quality and Inclusive education:

Complete free, equitable and quality education, access to quality early childhood development and access to affordable quality technical, vocational and literacy education are the key goals to be achieved by 2030. The goal can be achieved when inclusive, accessible and quality education for children and person with disabilities is realized in all level and leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes. In the context of Nepal inclusive and accessible school infrastructure, inclusive teaching and learning environment, available of means of communication like sign language and braille, discriminatory behavior are seen as major hindrance to achieve this goal. A strong lobby, advocacy, planning and commitment including partnership is need to fight against of bad practiced noticed.

Gender Equality:

End all forms of discrimination against women and girls, eliminate all kinds of violence against of women, eliminate all forms of harmful practices like early marriage, sexual exploitation and abuse, ensure women’s meaningful participation on all kinds of decision making process and leadership and ensure universal access to the reproductive health are the key assumption of goal. The goal can be achieved if all kinds of violence and discrimination towards girls and women with disabilities or towards children with disabilities ended and ensured that they are not excluded from society and treated equally. Nepal still practicing traditional norms and value thus general status of the women in Nepal is far lower than man.

Census 2011 shows that literacy rate of women is only 57 percent whereas male is 75 percent. Early marriage practices, traditional social customs and values and discriminatory practices have remained them backwards. The women have limited access to justice, social and family discrimination between male and female, limited to no access to decision making level and mostly forced to be engaged on domestics works are key challenges. Strong mechanism, advocacy and lobby and result based programs and interventions required mainstream women in development.

Clean water and Sanitation:

Achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all and access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene practices, end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations. The goal can be achieve if equitable and accessible drinking water, sanitation practices and hygiene practices are provided to persons with disabilities. Inclusive infrastructure policies are not in practice in Nepal, thus different reports quoted that persons with disabilities are forced to have unhygienic practice because of lack of accessible WASH facilities.

Affordable and clean energy:

The goal is to ensure universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services for all. The goal can only be achieved if households with persons with disabilities have access with adequate energy to sufficient their daily life. Persons with disabilities are using different types of modern technology to increase their access to services, mobility, rights, information and communication. The affordable energy can support them to increase their access to various modern technologies and to make their daily activities easy by using different aids, appliances, equipment, devices, software and accessible IT system.

Decent Work and economic Growth-employment:

The vision of this goal is to promote sustainable and inclusive economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all. Further, it aims to promote development oriented policies that create employment, decent job opportunities, entrepreneurship and access to financial services. The goal can be achieved when there is expansion of anti-discriminatory provisions in labor and labor-related laws. Accessible workstations, non-discriminatory behaviors and realization for reasonable accommodation are the key pre-conditions to be fulfilled to reduce the barriers that hinder the access of persons with disabilities to the job market.

The other key factors to be considered are creating more inclusive mainstream initiatives to promote full and productive employment for persons with disabilities, inclusive and affordable access to training and vocational education program and access to bank loans and micro-finances to start the businesses.

Industry, Innovation and infrastructure:

The objective of this goal is to build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation. The goal can be achieved if the person with disabilities realize and have access to established enabling public policy environments to enhance possibilities for persons with disabilities. Ensure that built, transport and communications infrastructure and ICT are inclusive and accessible to persons with disabilities and promote their full and equal inclusion into society through ICTs. In Nepal a very limited ICT has been introduced and even not reached in hands of those living in remote areas. It’s essential to introduce the recent technology and make them available to the persons with disabilities of all over the country.

Reduced Inequalities:

The aim of this goal is to reduce inequalities within and among countries. Empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all-irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status. Eliminating discriminatory laws, policies and practices and promoting appropriate legislation, policies and action and adopt policies, especially financial, wage and social protection policies, and progressively achieve greater equality. The Goal can be achieved if Persons with disabilities participate equally in political activities and the national laws and policies are affordable and inclusive to them. By the law, all forms of discrimination to be eliminated and provide reasonable adjustment. Opportunities in social, cultural, economic and political arena to be provided to the persons with disabilities in inclusive and accessible manner and social protection and essential public services for persons with disabilities to be ensured.

Sustainable cities and communities:

Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. Ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services, provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all, improving road safety, notably by expanding public transport, with special attention to the needs of those in vulnerable situations, women, children, persons with disabilities and older persons, reduce number of deaths caused by disasters, including water-related disasters, with a focus on protecting the poor and people in vulnerable situations. Provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, in particular for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities. The goal can be achieved when there is cities and human settlements are made livable, inclusive and accessible by applying the principles of universal design principles and international accessibility standards that can lead to a safer, more resilient world for all. Inclusive and meaningful participation of persons with disabilities in all disaster risk reduction and disaster risk management programs should be given high priority in all level.

Climate Action (Change):

Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters throughout the world. Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning. Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning. Promote mechanisms for raising capacity for effective climate change-related planning and management in least developed countries and Small Island developing States, including focusing on women, youth and local and marginalized communities. This goal is very important applying to the persons with disabilities as they considered most vulnerable during natural disaster and calamities. Thus the provision of food, water and shelter security for people with disabilities and their families to be ensured that persons with disabilities are front and center in seeking to create awareness, understanding and solutions. The evidence in Nepal earthquake reported that persons with disabilities are affected double due to their inaccessibility, limited access and approach to relief material, WASH facilities and loss of their assertive devices.

Peace Justice and strong institutions:

Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all level. Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere, end abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence and torture of children, women and person with disabilities, The goals is favoring to promote the rule of law at the national and international levels and ensure equal access to justice for all. Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels and ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels. The goal is considered more in favor of the persons with disabilities as it expanding rights to include in public services, are represented in key decision-making bodies and processes. Significant reduction of instances that persons with disabilities are subjected to violence and discrimination. All persons with disabilities must be registered at birth, end to forced sterilizations of persons with disabilities-Justices institutions are accessible and justice practices need to be affordable to them to protect and defend their rights. The justice system including judges, administrators and justice actors need to understand and implement disability centered justice practices.

Status of implementation in Nepal

A report published by National Planning Commission (NPC) does not mention disability at all throughout the document. Civil Society Organizations (CSO) have taken some initiatives but inclusion of disability in those initiatives is also not reflected significantly. In the past it has been realized that people with disabilities were not taken as important stakeholders in “Education for All” and Health for All” and people with disabilities were often not included in “ALL”.  All state and none state actors should make sure that people with disability are not left behind when talking about “Leaving No one Behind”.

Conclusion

The SDG is a milestone documents lobbying for inclusive development worldwide and it’s expected to achieve these goals, targets and indicators by 2030. It’s not only a document of imaginary prospective but also strong provisions to its time to time review and follow in different level. As long as we are enchanting about inclusive development, participation of the Persons with disability in all level of its implementation to be ensured and the PDWs and self-help organization also need to vigilant.  The progress and achievement of sustainable development goal to be accounted time to time and major findings of these progress to be disseminated to the concerned stakeholders. The goals need to review and follow-up in international, regional and national level. The governments and concerned stakeholders have to conduct regular and inclusive reviews of progress at the national and even in the local level. Likewise the review can be conducted in Regional/Sub-regional level. This is a key responsibility of the government to undertake peer learning, sharing of best practices and discussion of shared targets and cooperation amongst major stakeholders.

There is provision to have a High-level Political Forum (HLPF) undertakes the global follow-up and review of governments’ implementation of the SDGs. In this regards at the national level Participate in the global coordination mechanism established for persons with disabilities contribute to annual, thematic and national reviews and share knowledge, participate in peer review form and develop regional collaboration  and projects at the regional level and prepare parallel and shadow reports, provide expert knowledge and engagement, participate in government-led consultations and build partnership with civil society, academia, stakeholders and UN agencies at the national level.

The SDG is milestone document to achieve sustainable development by 2030 and this is moreover a milestone for overall development of the persons with disabilities This is an opportunity to the right holders and the civil society organizations to consult and strengthen partnership in national, regional and international level and time to time update on progress and report any concerned issues.

About the author

Mr. Prakash Wagle, has Master degree in disability studies from the University College London and has long and proven working experience in the field of disability rights promotion and Community Based Rehabilitation in Nepal (CBR) as the trainers, researcher, disability rights activists, manager, advisor and so on. He started his career in CBR from Nepal Disabled Association (NDA) in 1991. Later on he moved to International Nepal Fellowship (INF) in 1999 where he served in various key positions. The author is one of the founders of CBR National Network and has been active in promoting CBR and disability rights through Networking. He is also Nepal’s Country Representative for CBR Asia Pacific Network and member of global disability watch group. Currently working with CBM as the country coordinator of Nepal, Mr. Wagle is well known resource person for providing training in different aspect of disability rights, CBR and Social Inclusion.

This article is written by Mr. Pankaj Pradhananga & Mr. Suman Timalsina

Download this Article in Accessible PDF

Background of the Article

This article has been produced by the authors as the extended and detail version of the working paper presented on the issues of Accessible Tourism in the National Human Rights Summit of Persons with Disabilities organized by National Federation of the Disabled Nepal in Kathmandu on December 12^th and 13^th 2016. The article has been written on the basis of the long and proven working experiences and knowledge of the authors in tourism sectors and their involvement for promoting accessible tourism in Nepal for few years back. The article has also incorporated the valuable feedback, sharing of experiences, conclusion and recommendation from the floor of the National Human Rights Summit.

Overview of International Tourism and Nepal

Over the decades, tourism has experienced continued growth and deepening diversification to become one of the fastest growing economic sectors in the world. Modern tourism is closely linked to development and encompasses growing number of new dimension. These dynamics have turned tourism into a key driver for socio-economic progress. Travel and Tourism has become a universal activity in contemporary society. International Tourists arrival crossed one billion mark in 2012. This global spread of tourism in industrialized and developed states has produced ‎economic and employment benefits in many related sectors – from construction to ‎agriculture or telecommunications.‎

Nepal is known as an exotic destination in the Himalayan region with fascinating natural and cultural attractions. The country was opened for International Tourists after the fall of autocratic Rana Regime in 1951.  When Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa climbed Mount Everest in 1953, Nepal caught the attention of global travel market as a mystical and adventurous destination. Over 6 decades, Nepal has attracted tourists from across the globe; they come here to enjoy its natural beauty as well as centuries’ old tangible and intangible cultural heritages. Over the years, it has made its presence felt in International outbound market attracting number of segments i.e. Trekkers, adventure seekers, mountaineers, pilgrims (Hindus and Buddhists), wildlife enthusiasts, holidaymakers, MICE etc.

The success story from the 1950s that endures is the growth of the tourism sector in Nepal.

Tourists’ arrival to Nepal have continuously grown (since 1962 as recorded data) except few notable setbacks like the civil unrest for pro-democracy movement in 1990 and the civil unrest led by armed conflict (1996-2006). These events coincided with political instability, frequent demonstrations, banda (general strikes), political processions and growing labor unionism and disputes. Two major events of 2015 was a major setback on Nepal’s economic development and they were earthquake in April and blockade in the south of the border with India.

What is Accessible Tourism?

“Accessible Tourism is a form of Tourism that involves collaborative process between stakeholders that enables people with access requirements, including mobility, vision, hearing and cognitive dimensions of access, to function independently and with equity and dignity through the delivery of universally designed tourism products, services and environments ” – Dimitrios Buhalis &  Simon Darcy

This definition includes people living with permanent or temporary disabilities, senior citizens, obese and families with young children. Accessible tourism enables the persons with disabilities to explore the world switching from Fear to Freedom.

There has been increasing use of the term ‘ Inclusive Tourism’ for ‘ Accessible Tourism’.

The concept of ‘Inclusive Tourism is itself traveling around the world. It is leaving an infrastructure that will allow the pleasure of world discovery to generations to come. It enables generations present to do so through all stages of their lifespan. That’s the vision of Universal Design applied to tourism — Inclusive Tourism.

Why Accessible Tourism?

Freedom of movement, mobility right, or the right to travel is considered as a human right as stated in Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Every country should respect and encourage the right to travel for all. In other words, access to tourism is a right for everyone as assured by the UNCRPD. Although the convention has been signed by over 140 countries including EU and The USA, the accessible tourism still remains as a distant dream in many destinations.

The Global Code of Ethics for Tourism adopted by the World Tourism Organization in 1999 states:

“Tourism activities should respect the equality of men and women; they should promote human rights and, more particularly, the individual rights of the most vulnerable groups, notably children, the elderly, the handicapped, ethnic minorities and indigenous peoples.”

Needles to say, accessible Tourism is a very new term in Nepal.  There is no official record about  the first International tourist with disability who made it to Nepal. However, the effort of opening up for accessible tourism has already begun though it is still in its infancy . A major challenge for Destination Nepal is lack of accessible infrastructure and absence of enforcing laws in Tourism operating sectors for coming up with accessible Tourism products.  Given the enormous economic and social benefits to be derived from this segment of Tourism, it is high time for the industry to understand and develop Inclusive tourism in the gateway to the Himalaya.

A few tourism enterprises have taken the leadership role in developing a new and important tourism market for Nepal, the accessible tourism market. It is pertinent to mention Four Season Travel & Tours, a tour operator based in Kathmandu that identified the potential of Inclusive Travel by hosting the trip of Dr. Scott Rains, fondly known as Rolling Rains (www.rollingrains.com), in May 2014.

Worldwide, there are over 1 billion people with some form of disability and with friends and families; there are over a third of world’s populations directly affected by disability. The tourism industry must rise to the challenge of the changing demographic structure of the market and re-examine its product and service offerings. It is predicted that the accessible tourism market, although under-served, will account for 25% of total tourism spending by 2020. Looking forward just a few years, the proportion of people with disabilities will only continue to rise, given the general ageing of the population. The retiring Baby Boomer generation in western countries, in particular, will have a significant impact on the tourism market: they will control 50% of total tourism spending, 40% of then will have some form of disability, and by 2020, 25% of total worldwide tourism spending will be by travelers with a disability (McKinsey, 2007).

With the growing life expectancy worldwide, tourism industry will get more seniors/ elderly travelers with less mobility. By promoting inclusive tourism, Nepal can attract such travelers in a significant numbers .

As Nepal is working hard to reposition its destination image after the 2015 earthquake, it is the right time to focus on inclusive tourism as well in the process of rebuilding the monuments and tourist facilities making it more accessible. Generally, tourists with disabilities travel on ‘word of mouth’ publicity and they tend to stay longer than the average length of stay. If persons with disabilities are told that the tourist destination is friendly for them, they have the tendency and eagerness to visit that place. They travel with companions or in small groups hence this would reward the destination with greater revenue.

A picture from Wounded Hero Trek to Nepal. Photo Credit: Pankaj Pradhananga

Tourism and local Persons with Disabilities

The April 2015 earthquake also left more than 4,000 Nepalese with physical disabilities. It is rather more important to build accessible infrastructure for the benefit of the locals as well the foreign tourists who travel to enjoy Natural and cultural beauty of Nepal.

Making the state and Tourism entrepreneurs understand the importance of inclusive tourism will not only benefit Tourism Industry, it will also connect the DPOs ( Disabled People Organizations) and Tourism operating sectors. It is important to mention that many tourism associations did not only come forward to help in relief drive after the EQ, a tourism community even organized excursion in Kathmandu valley to the group of wheelchair users as a relief in order to bring some cheers and help them getting out of the trauma in June 2015. This act of relief through tourism excursion was highly appreciated by Person with Disabilities.

Accessible Tourism and Economic opportunities

Nepal census reports barely two percent (1.94%; 513,321) of the total population of Nepal having “some kind of disability”.

Nepal lacks organized effort to attract PWDs to travel Nepal.  However, a number of organizations were successful to draw some attention from Nepal Tourism Board and other government entities through their customized programs on accessible tourism. A more organized effort with larger political WILL will not just open up a new market for national revenue and create new job but will also help Nepal gain new height in promoting tourism. There are many aspects and advantages of accessible tourism. Few of them are:

1. It’s a right thing to do.
2. It will open up Nepal as a new destination for persons with disabilities, even for senior citizens and others.
3. It will also create a new market for tour operators, hoteliers, software companies, printing (large print/braille etc.), construction, legislation etc.
4. It will also create a social awareness to treat tourists with disabilities or special needs as any other tourists.

To best of my knowledge, following programs are worth mentioning here to gain traction in the field of accessible tourism.

One of the worth mentioning organized effort is a collective work by Washington, DC based International Development Institute and Kathmandu based Four Seasons Travel and Tours. In October 2014, in an informal meeting in Kathmnadu, agreed to start quarterly workshop/awareness sessions on accessible tourism. In Dec 2015, decided to organize a wounded heroes trek to Nepal. The effort added 2 additional US based partners and they were Operation Namaste and Soarway Foundation.  The effort was able to engage number of hotels, major airlines (Etihad), Clintonville outfitters and others.

Number of tourists with prosthetics came to trek in Annapurna Circuit with nurse, prosthesis and a physician. They observed UNWTO recognized world tourism day in Kathmandu. The program also received an endorsement by Nepal Tourism Board and many other disability advocacy groups. This unique group of wounded heroes visited President of Nepal, US Ambassador and Nepal’s Supreme Court Judges and other legal community, Inspector General of Police and others to create momentum. The participants brought number of extra prosthetics and donated to number of recipients. Their heroic effort was unique in its own way and touched life of many villagers, hoteliers, businesses etc. At the end, Nepal Tourism Board took an extra step to sign a memorandum of understanding to organize such tours of Wounded Heroes each year.

Conclusion

The initiative for Accessible Tourism in Nepal has already kicked off. The challenge of the hour is to give it a meaningful momentum towards the right direction. Tourism industry needs innovation in product development and service delivery. Failing to do so will have no other outcome but the stagnation.

Accessible Tourism is not an easy thing to do but a right thing to do. It is indeed a daunting task for the destination. However, a deliberate and properly planned focus on accessible tourism will help the destination in repositioning and gaining the glory as a Responsible Tourism destination. Joining hands with International organizations like European Network of Accessible Tourism( ENAT), ICTP, UNWTO and engaging local organizations like NFD-N, HAN, NATTA, NATO and NTB for accessible tourism will ensure a sustainable development of Tourism in Nepal.

The coalition of the willing is bound to open a gateway for  many tourists with disabilities from all over the world who otherwise thought visiting Nepal was only a distant dream.

About the Author(s)

Pankaj Pradhananga

Pankaj is a Director of Four Season Travel & Tours. He comes with an experience of more than 2 decades in Tourism industry with the focus on Responsible / Inclusive Tour operations in Himalayan region. He has been leading the initiatives to develop accessible Tourism in Nepal.

His areas of interest are public speaking, photography and learning new things. He is an active member of Everest Toastmasters Club and also an adjunct faculty of Ace Institute of Management in Kathmandu. He is associated with Hawaii based ICTP (International Coalition of Tourism Partners). He lives in Kathmandu and is originally from Bhadrapur(Jhapa).

Mr. Suman R. Timsina

Mr. Timsina is an Executive Director, Business Development at Washington, DC based International Development Institute. He led a team of 23 wounded heroes trek to Nepal to observe World Tourism Day in 2016 in collaboration with Four Seasons Travel and Tours, Soarway Foundation and Operation Namaste. His areas of interest have been innovation, entrepreneurship, mentoring, diaspora study, community development, education and health care. He has numerous policy papers on these issues. He lives in Virginia (USA) and is originally form Biratnagar (Nepal). He is also a Past President of NRN USA.

Reference:

1. UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: http://www.un.org/disabilities/convention/conventionfull.shtml
2. http://ethics.unwto.org/en/content/global-code-ethics-tourism
3. http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/economic_studies/serving_aging_baby_boomers
4. http://cf.cdn.unwto.org/
5. Accessible Tourism: Concepts and Issuesedited by DimitriosBuhalis, Simon Darcy
6. nefport ( www.nepaleconomicforum.org)
7. Travelability.com
8. Source: http://www.destinationsforall2014.com/en/framing-the-summit#.VBiAVZRdWK8

We have collected 3 presentations that were discussed in the disability and inclusive development workshop organized by National Planning Commission and National Federation of the Disabled, Nepal (NFDN) on Sep 28, 2015 at Hotel Himalaya, Kathmandu.

Please find the three presentations. Please click on the title of each presentation to view or download that file.

Disability Inclusion in Nepal: Situation, Opportunities, Challenges and Areas of Investments

Manish Prasai, Admin and Project Head, National Federation of the Disabled, Nepal

Presented by:

Manish Prasai, Project Manager, NFDN

Language:

English

Summary:

This presentation shows the work done and to be done in the disabilty sector. It discuss investments in disability sector and return on such investments. It also identifies sectors where such investments can be made.

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Role of INGOs for promoting disability rights in Nepal and Future vision/thinking

Saurabh Sharma, Disability Working Group, Association of INGOs of Nepal

Language:

Nepali

Summary:

This presentation summaries the roles of INGOs of Nepal in promoting disability rights and services in Nepal.

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अपाङ्गता सम्बन्धी नीति, कानुन तथा कार्यक्रम गत व्यवस्थहरू

Hum Kala Pandey, Under Secretary, Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare

Presented by:

Humkala Pandey, Undersecretary, Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare.

Language:

Nepali

Summary:

This presentation includes all the provisions related to disability in the current laws, policies and programs of Nepal government.

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Presented by: Monika Acermann, Consultant – DRPI AWARE Project

Title: Creating Inclusive Workshop (Putting theories into Practice)

Presented on: Feb 16, 2015

Presented at Senior Managers Workshop organized by DRPI AWARE Project and National Federation of the Disabled, Nepal at Soaltee Crown Plaza Hotel.

Please view the presentation online below or download it here

]]> https://www.nfdn.org.np/presentations/resume-writing/ Wed, 28 Jan 2015 18:26:32 +0000 https://sastowebsitenepal.com/nfdn/?p=7444

Presented by: Shreejan Kayestha

Basics of Resume Writing

Presented on: Jan 27, 2015

Presented at Effective Communication workshop organized by NFDN in partnership with  Australian Aid

Please watch the presentation online below or download the presentation here.

Also Download the accompanying files of the presentation below

1. Sample Bad Resume (Word File)

2. Sample Good Resume (Word File)

3. Quick Tips for writing good reusmes (Word File)

Basics of Cover Letter Writing

Presented on: Jan 27, 2015

Presented at Effective Communication workshop organized by NFDN in partnership with  Australian Aid

Please watch the presentation online below or download the presentation here.

Download the included files with this presentation below:

1. Quick Tips for writing good cover letters.

Effective Communication and Public Speaking

Presented on: Jan 27, 2015

Presented at Effective Communication workshop organized by NFDN in partnership with  Australian Aid

Please watch the presentation online below or download the orginal powerpoint presentation here.