The Trust Fund for the Decade

Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons, 1993-2002

Social Development Division, United Nations ESCAP

Government contributions led to the establishment of a modest ESCAP Fund for the Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons. Disbursement has largely been in the nature of seed money. Activities supported are those which directly contribute to the full participation and equality of people with disabilities in ESCAP developing countries.

Purpose

To strengthen the capacity of persons with disabilities to fulfil their potential for full participation in society.

To support the breaking of social, economic and physical barriers that condemn people with disabilities to poverty.

Activities

The resources of the Fund support action that contributes to the inclusion of people with disabilities in society. Specifically, the fund is used to support activities that assist the developing countries and territories of the ESCAP region in their implementation of the Agenda for Action for the Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons.

The following types of activities are eligible for support upon written request from concerned agencies or organizations (governmental and non-governmental) in ESCAP developing countries and territories:

Training
Technical exchange
Information dissemination
Advisory services

Special consideration is given to meeting requests for assistance in promoting:

National and local-level implementation of the Agenda for Action by self-help organizations of disabled persons;
Promotion of employment of persons with disabilities, including education and training programmes.
Development of community-based support services for people with disabilities;
Production of low-cost, high-quality and culturally appropriate assistive devices for persons with disabilities, using indigenous materials and new technologies wherever feasible;
Translation of information materials on national disability policies and programmes into languages and formats which are accessible to persons with disabilities;
Conduct of public awareness-raising activities directed at mobilizing inter-sectoral support for improved access of people with disabilities to the built environment.

Examples of activities supported by the Trust Fund:

BANGLADESH:

Literacy training and other activities to Promote Poverty Alleviation among People with Disabilities in Rural Bangladesh.
The project supports trainers in functional literacy, community development, group organization, management, and income-generating activities. Its focus is on the active participation of people with disabilities, including women.

Policy-making, Management and Support to Education Projects for People with Disabilities.
This supports the management of self-help organizations of people with disabilities. It provides scholarships to blind members of the organization. It also supports local-language production of Decade information materials.

VIETNAM:

Training in Managing Economically Viable Production Workshops for Persons with Disabilities.
This Technical Cooperation between Developing Countries (TCDC) project transferred from India to Viet Nam knowledge on managing self-sustained production-cum-training workshops employing people with diverse disabilities.

THAILAND:

Establishment of an NGO Information Center on disability in Thailand.
Supports the establishment of an online database as well as preparation, translation and dissemination of Thai language information sheets and documents on the Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons.

CAMBODIA:

Development of self-help organizations of people with disabilities.
Supports the development of self-help organizations. Includes organization of a start up seminar, formulation of plan for the establishment and development of an organization of disabled people. Following the start-up of a self-help organization of people with disabilities, a leadership seminar for newly-elected officers of the Cambodian Disabled Peoples' Organization was convened.

VIETNAM:

Promotion of Self-help Organizations of Diverse Disability Groups in Viet Nam.
This project focuses on the development of a self-help movement of people with disabilities. It also encourages contact between Vietnamese disabled persons and regional organizations of persons with disabilities through training and dissemination of information concerning the Decade in the Vietnamese language.

INDONESIA:

Community based rehabilitation (CBR) training for people with disabilities.
Supported the training of people with disabilities in the development of CBR programmes. Aimed at developing strategies for strengthening the involvement of self-help organizations of people with disabilities in CBR programmes and regional CBR networking.

Donors

The Decade Trust Fund has, to date, received contributions from the following countries: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, China, Hong Kong, India, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand, and the Honda Motor Workers' Union has also contributed to the Trust Fund.

Click here to return to the overview page about our activities in the Decade.