PLANNING MEETING

for

“DPO CAPACITY BUILDING WORKSHOP AND MENTORSHIP”

April 13, 2007

Cara Lodge

Georgetown, Guyana

MINUTES

In preparation for a capacity building workshop on strengthening evidence-based advocacy in Disabled People’s Organisations (DPO) in Guyana, the IDB Disability and Development Team held an exploratory meeting in Georgetown, Guyana on April 13, 2007.

Prior to the meeting, an Organisational Capacity Self-Assessment Tool (pdf) had been distributed to DPOs to orientate them about the future workshop and prepare them for in-depth dialogues about their organisational training needs. The assessment addressed key advocacy issues of planning, management, relationships, communication, monitoring and evaluation, and data and policy, and listed a series of questions as a foundation for initiating dialogue around those topics (see also Assessment Results and Analysis (pdf)).

During the meeting, DPO representatives expressed the needs of their organizations, explored options for solutions, and finally identified shared priorities and expected outcomes for the workshop. The day was divided in two parts: During the morning session Ms. Beverly Pile from the National Commission on Disability presented updates on the draft Bill of Rights, which is expected to be passes into law this year. Ms. Pile outlined some of the major challenges related to implementing the bill, such as education and accessibility. Following, 6 participants shared stories of their organisations; drawing parallels between the problems they face, and the broader challenges on a national and political level. The outcome of the morning session was a collective understanding of the key issues facing the disability community in Guyana, and a sense of urgency in discussing what needs to be done.

The afternoon was entirely dedicated to dialogue between participants with the goal to identify training needs that could be addressed in the workshop. With basis in a series of discussion questions grouped in 6 different areas covered in the preliminary assessment the participants had 4 sessions of dialogue of 20 minutes each. After each 20 minutes, the participants rotated and continued discussions at a new table (see Guidelines for Round Table Discussions).

The final session of open dialogue captured the ideas and thoughts discussed at each table in a matrix (see separate sheet on DPO matrix). The development of the matrix with the input from participants was displayed with a projector on a big canvas for everyone to follow. Moving from table to table, the dialogue grew deeper and richer until there was a collective understanding of the training needs of the community that should be address in the workshop. Priorities include: Participatory tools and inclusive approaches as a means to improve long-term planning; Networking and knowledge sharing techniques to strengthen communication between stakeholders and the media; Monitoring and evaluation concepts and strategies to develop and implement useful indicators; and access to and utilization of data and socioeconomic arguments for advocacy purposes.

Yet, the greatest commitment made by the DPOs was to form an umbrella organisation to represent the entire community on behalf of every DPO. This was a clear wish from all of the representatives from the 22 organisations present at the meeting. It was greatly appreciated that the lack of coordinated efforts worked against the common interests of the community, and establishing an umbrella organisation was considered a priority to advance advocacy efforts on disability issues in the country.

The workshop concluded with a summary of the priorities identified, and a round of final questions. Next, the IDB will summaries the assessment results and workshop findings in written, share them with stakeholders, and then complete the targeting and development of the workshop and mentoring programme to the needs of the DPOs. The 2-3 day workshop will be held in mid-June of this year.