Webinar on the Guidelines on Deinstitutionalisation, including in Emergencies, organised by the Global Coalition on Deinstitutionalisation
Date and time: Thursday, 8 October 2026, 15:00 CET – 17:00 CET
Registration link: click here
Zoom captioning and ISL will be provided
During 2024 and 2025, the Global Coalition on Deinstitutionalization (GCDI) conducted a webinar series titled ‘From Words to Practice’ aiming to unpack the various chapters of the UN Guidelines on Deinstitutionalization, including in emergencies. As part of the webinar series, we organized a thematic workshop focusing on international cooperation. As a result of the previous workshop/webinar, it had emerged that there was a need for further engagements and discussions on the topic. The first webinar on this topic focused largely on the voices of persons with disabilities and organizations of persons with disabilities (OPD perspectives). In the second webinar, we will be centering the voices and perspectives of other key stakeholders, such as regional disability forums, government representatives, as well as organizations which work on providing community-based support services for persons with disabilities.
According to Article 32 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), international cooperation has a crucial role to play in supporting national efforts for the realization of the rights of persons with disabilities globally. The CRPD, among other things, requires States to; ensure that international development efforts are inclusive of persons with disabilities, to share knowledge and best practices, to improve monitoring and implementation, and to ensure resources are allocated towards improving and ensuring full and equal participation of persons with disabilities in international development efforts.
In April 2025, at the Global Disability Summit (GDS), the Amman-Berlin Declaration on Global Disability Inclusion was adopted. The Declaration requires that 15% of international development efforts be allocated towards disability inclusion. However, despite the adoption of the Declaration last year in 2025, resourcing for disability-inclusive international development efforts remains scarce. Deinstitutionalization requires sufficient resources to ensure that the process is done correctly, and to ensure that there are sufficient resources for persons with disabilities to live independently in the community on an equal basis with others.
Objective of the webinar
The proposed webinar seeks to reflect on the role of international cooperation in realizing the rights of persons with disabilities globally, with a specific focus on the right of persons with disabilities to live independently in the community. We will explore the role and significance of international cooperation in successful deinstitutionalization efforts.
Format of the webinar
The webinar will be on Zoom. It will follow a dialogue-driven and interactive approach rather than a presentation based approach. Zoom captioning and ISL will be provided.
Agenda:
- Steven Allen, Director, Validity Foundation (moderator)
- Hon. Anne Musiwa, African Union’s Special Rapporteur on Children Without Parental Care and the Chairperson of the Working Group on the Rights of Children with Disabilities under the ACERWC – Leaving No Child Behind: Supporting Family-Led and Systemic Care Reform in Africa
- Enrique Restoy, Lumos Foundation – Lumos’ GDS commitments & shift in Lumos’s stance/approach regarding group homes
- Dorodi Sharma, Keystone Human Services/KHS – Role of service providers
- Sofia Reyes, Plena Inclusion – Role of service providers
- Rasha Hussein Al-Adwan, High Council of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Director of Independent Living – Jordan’s DI initiatives as first country in MENA region with a DI strategy
- Saowalak Thongkuay, ASEAN Disability Forum – Role of regional disability forums to support cooperation between States and OPDs to advance DI
- African Commission’s Working Group on the Rights of Older Persons and Persons with Disabilities in Africa – Role of the African Commission’s Working Group on standards and monitoring Article 14 of the ADP on right to live in the community