Role of DPOs (Disabled Peoples’ Organizations) in Emergencies A Case of Pakistan

1. Role of DPOs (Disabled Peoples’ Organizations) in Emergencies A Case of Pakistan Muhammad Atif Sheikh President, Special Talent Exchange Program (STEP) Chairperson, South Asian Disability Forum (SADF) Founder Member Ageing and Disability Taskforce (ADTF)

2. Special Talent Exchange Program (STEP) STEP is a cross disability organization, with a prime objective of empowerment of disabled persons through capacity building and advocacy. STEP is engaged in Leadership, ICT and Independent Living training of disabled persons since 1997.

4. Endeavors of STEP Advocate society about the rights of disabled persons through, Disability Equality Trainings, Accessibility Audits, awareness campaigns and demonstrations

5. Endeavors of STEP Leadership Development of disabled persons and Networking through Leadership training and annual Leadership Conference of Persons with Disabilities

6. Endeavors of STEP Bridge the gap between disabled persons and facilities of health, education and livelihood through promoting accessible information and publications

7. Endeavors of STEP Inclusion of disabled persons in overall development process through lobbying with policy makers in public, private and development sector

8. Endeavors of STEP Create Employment opportunities for persons with Disabilities all over the country through online job board and lobbying with the employment market

9. Endeavors of STEP Information and Resource Center (IRCD) established to response in Disasters and Emergencies

10. Disability in Conflicts and Disasters • In any crisis, people with disabilities are no doubly the most vulnerable: • Suffer high rates of mortality in an acute crisis • In addition to those who were disabled before the crisis, many more become disabled as a result of: • Poor medical care • Interruption of preventative health care • Displacement from support system

11. Situation in Pakistan In Pakistan, it is estimated by the World Bank, UN, and WHO that at least 10% of the nation’s population of 170 million are persons with disabilities – or 17 million people.

12. Earthquake 2005 An Earthquake of 7.6 magnitude, centered in Pakistan administered Kashmir jolted the whole country on October 8, 2005. The government of Pakistan's official death toll was 75,000, leaving uncounted people injured and homeless

13. Contacted DPOs in affected areas and rushed with rescue teams

14. Conducted a need assessment and collected first hand data of 7000 disabled persons

15. Training of field staff of humanitarian organizations

16. Represented in UN Cluster Planning Meetings Established IRCD (Information Resource Center on Disability) in collaboration with Handicap International

17. Published Emergency Checklist in collaboration with HI and VSO

18. Conducted the meeting of stakeholders on International Day of Persons with Disabilities in 2006 with title ‘Let’s not Leave them Half Way’

19. IDP Crises 2009 In July 2009 an estimated 2.8 million Pakistanis driven out by fighting in other regions of the country's north-west are already living in camps or with relatives elsewhere.

20. Building the Capacity of DPO Leaders

21. Flood 2010 In July last year Pakistan’s north-west region experienced a ‘once-in-a-century’ rains. The worst hit areas were Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Punjab and Baluchistan. This has developed into one of the worst natural disasters any country has faced in recent years. The United Nations estimates that more than 21 million people have been injured or are homeless as a result of the flooding. That’s more than the combined total of individuals affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

23. Re-activated Information Resource Center on Disability (IRCD) with the support of Sightsavers to develop a focal point of information sharing and dissemination for the flood affected PWDs from District Nowshera and Charsaddah. In these two districts around 500 persons with disabilities identified by IRCD received cash grants, food and hygiene kits from Sightsavers through the support of Standard chartered bank and Scottish government

24. Orientation on disability of emergency response teams and volunteers of Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS) Established linkage between PRCS and Disabled Peoples Organization (DPO) in flood affected areas to rescue unreached persons with disabilities Highlighted needs of persons with disability in disaster station at UN response system through representing in clusters meetings Conducted training on Inclusive Child Friendly Spaces in collaboration with Handicap International and UNICEF

25. Distributed wheelchairs supported by Thai People through Asia Pacific Development Center on Disability (APCD)

26. Training of Journalists on Reporting Disability during disasters in Collaboration with Internews

27. Ageing and Disability Taskforce (ADTF)

28. CROSS CUTTING THEMATIC GROUPS Environment: UNDP; Protection: UNHCR; Disaster Risk Reduction: UNDP; Gender: UN Women

29. The Protection Thematic Working Group is composed of: Two Sub Groups - Child Protection and GBV; Two Advisory Groups - Housing, Land and Property and Information Management, Advocacy and Communications; and One Task Force - Ageing and Disability

30. Conclusion: • Hire people with disabilities • •Identify people with disabilities • •Build alliances with local disabled people’s organizations • •Set up standardized data collection systems

31. Also: • Include people with all types of disabilities in management and decision making processes • •Conduct a needs assessment of people with disabilities • •Create systems for informing people with disabilities about general and targeted programs/services • •Ensure accessible camp infrastructure, services and communication • •Ensure national and local plans for return, settlement, relocation, and rebuilding include and address the needs of people with disabilities

32. Thank You