Global Disability Summit in London: Humanity & Inclusion teams all over the world join the event

An estimated one billion people – 15% of the world’s population – have some form of disability and 80% of these people live in developing countries.
 
Humanity & Inclusion (HI) is proud to participate in the first-ever Global Disability Summit co-hosted by the UK government alongside the Government of Kenya and the International Disability Alliance (IDA) in London on Tuesday 24th July 2018.
 
“People with disabilities are at the heart of the summit and we are very proud to participate in it to advocate for all the people we work with every day around the world. Our role is to make sure that their voices are heard and commitments are taken to ensure that people with disabilities living in developing countries are nor forgotten or left behind,” says Aleema Shivji, Executive Director of HI UK.
 
HI has been engaged in many activities to support the Summit. We have been working with the UK Department for International Development (DFID), IDA and other stakeholders involved in the Summit to influence the agenda and promote an ambitious set of commitments.  Importantly, we have been supporting HI programs in countries where we work to engage with Summit activities happening there and globally.  For example HI has been involved in mini- Summits in Rwanda, Kenya, and Pakistan and we participated in the Government of Bangladesh’s Disaster Risk Reduction conference in May.
 
The outcomes from the Global Disability Summit in developing countries will have the greatest impact on the life of people with disabilities. This is the reason why we made sure that our country programs were also involved in this event to achieve lasting change for people with disabilities.
 
This summit will bring together governments and other key stakeholders from around the world and ask them to make ambitious commitments to invest in improving the lives of people with disabilities around the world.
 
HI will also make commitments to keep on improving access to inclusive education, employment, and humanitarian assistance for people, and use innovation for greater impact.
 
Some of HI’s commitments include:

• to work with the Ministry of Education in all the countries where we operate on education projects to ensure sustainable change for children with disabilities.  
• to create a digital tool to teach employers, INGOs, vocational training centers, and governments in low and middle-income countries about how they can accommodate people with disabilities in the workplace.
• to work with research and private sector partners to provide rehabilitation and assistive devices in remote and conflict-affected communities and during humanitarian crises, using  3D printing innovations and technology for distance rehabilitation.  

As well as participating in the Global Disability Summit and Civil Society Forum, HI will be exhibiting at the Summit Market Place, demonstrating our software to promote inclusive education, our digital toolbox to increase the ability of INGOs and employers to work with people with disabilities around the world and our 3D printing artificial limb project to offer solutions for amputees in remote areas or living inside a conflict zone.

Notes
- Interviews available upon request with Aleema Shivji, Humanity & Inclusion UK Executive Director
- We can organize visits in the field to discover some of our most innovative projects such as our 3D printing prosthesis project, our inclusive education projects or our new digital toolbox to help people with disabilities in developing countries to access work through low-cost solutions.
 
Press contact
Marlene Sigonney, Humanity & Inclusion UK
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +44 (0)870 774 3737 | +44 (0)7508 810 520
 
About Humanity & Inclusion
Co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Humanity & Inclusion (the new name of Handicap International) is a charity working in situations of poverty and exclusion, conflict and disaster. We work tirelessly alongside and vulnerable people to help meet their basic needs, improve their living conditions and promote respect for their dignity and fundamental rights.