Excellencies,
Dear Colleagues,
At the outset, I would like to thank the organizers for this timely and important event.
This event was designed with the idea of harnessing the potential of humanitarian partnerships, especially by including local organizations of persons with disabilities.
We agree on the importance of using DPOs’ knowledge and expertise. Indeed, nobody can understand better the needs of persons with disabilities, but persons with disabilities. They must be included whenever policies are designed, or programs implemented. This will be the only way to ensure the responses meet the demand.
I want to be brief, so let me just provide an example of what has happened in Israel.
In the wake of the Second Lebanon War in 2006, urgent action was needed to assure everybody’s safety. The challenge for persons with a limited ability to hear a siren and to independently and quickly evacuate to a safe place, was greater. While the needs of persons with disabilities who live in designated institutions were well addressed, the ones who live in the community were not as prepared for a daily emergency routine. Thus, some measures were taken:
- During the operation itself, the “Flexible Response for Persons with Disabilities” program was launched by Israeli NGOs, enabling people with disabilities to receive help with transport, food delivery, child care, urgent financial assistance, etc. This program was developed in coordination with the Ministry of health, the Ministry of social welfare and the Ministry of Justice.
- In addition to action during the crises, local partnerships proved to be important also in creating stronger community infrastructures. A collaboration between Joint Israel, the Israel Social Security Institute, the Ministry of Welfare, ten municipalities and five NGO’s resulted in the creation of 10 supportive communities for persons with disabilities, that serve 800 households. The aim of this project is to establish a supportive network in times of emergency, available 24/7. The project is led by a social worker and offers a way to effectively mediate to other emergency services.
These are examples on how we realized the importance of considering the local needs, and how people with disabilities living and working, turned into a key asset to better protect all people in this emergency context.
I am sure there is still a long way to go, but events like this one can help us to further strengthen our commitment to leave no one behind.
Thank you.