World Blind Union (WBU) & UN-Habitat implementation of 2020-2023 agreement to mainstream disability inclusion, universal design, and accessibility

Action Implemented

As part of the MoU implementation since WUF10, WBU and UN-Habitat has worked on co-organisation of Expert Group Meeting on Inclusive Cities focusing on persons with disabilities and older persons providing UN-Habitat with recommendations and actions to take forward within its 4 Domains of Change. WBU, and the GAP-PCG Persons with Disabilities, have provided feedback on some of the UN-Habitat normative tools under review. WBU and UN-Habitat has also collaborated to submit joint funding proposals, and WBU has provided recommendations related to the implementation of UN Disability Inclusion Strategy, and specifically on accessibility.

Outcomes and Expected Impact

The collaboration 2020-2023 expects to accelerate UN-Habitat’s work towards mainstreaming disability inclusion, universal design and accessibility within its strategies, policies, programs, and operations in line with the Agenda 2030, New Urban Agenda, and CRPD. The collaboration aims to support the progressive implementation of the UN Disability Inclusion Strategy for UN-Habitat to be better equipped to address exclusion of persons with disabilities in the implementation of the New Urban Agenda. WBU seeks to specifically support UN-Habitat to take a whole-of-organisation approach to accessibility across its systems, practices and services based on the newly launched Accessibility GO! A Guide to Action.

Sustainability and Scalability

Against the backdrop of the realisation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), the global development frameworks should all be viewed as mutually reinforcing tools in fulfilling the global commitment to leave no-one behind. Safeguarding and promoting enhanced compliance with the CRPD, including participation of diverse persons with disabilities in processes informing urban policy and practice, are critical to succeed in building accessible cities for all. The partnership seeks to foster increased engagement across the board building upon the achievements at WUF10 which laid the foundation to scale up engagement ahead of and at WUF11.

Innovative and Cultural Aspects

This partnership is modelling cooperation between UN agencies and Organisations of Persons with Disabilities, which can be scaled up and replicated also by other stakeholders. It offers the opportunity to increasingly benchmark urban practices on disability inclusion, universal design, and accessibility. The cooperation seeks to promote the full and effective participation of persons with disabilities which is often excluded in urban policy and practice. Hence the cooperation has a heavy focus on accessibility as an enabler for inclusion and for development actors to be better equipped to understand and address the causes which maintain and reinforce inequalities.

Lessons Learned

Though the pandemic delayed some of the planned initiatives in 2020, it also proved that the world has not done enough to address accessibility barriers also in urban settings and that accessibility is a true enabler to succeed in building back better for everyone. Moving forward we learnt that it is critical for urban stakeholders at all levels to address accessibility with a holistic and whole-of-organisation approach. This requires commitments and actions at all levels and across systems, practices, and policies since accessibility is a shared responsibility of everyone in an organisation.

Social Inclusion

The MoU aims at advancing one of the social dimensions of the UN-Habitat Strategic Plan 2020-2023: the inclusion of Persons with Disabilities. Universal design is and will be a critical pathway towards the inclusion of all groups in urban settings. The cooperation is an enabler to facilitate the active involvement of a diversity of persons with disabilities towards more accessible cities for all, recognising that mainstreaming and an intersectional approach to inclusion is critical to leave no one behind.