Annual event “Bridging the Gap – Inclusive Public Policies and Services for Equal Rights of Persons with Disabilities”, Rome 14 November 2019

The European project “Bridging the Gap – Inclusive Public Policies and Services for Equal Rights of Persons with Disabilities” is celebrating its 2019 Annual Event on November 14th from 9.00 am to 1.30 pm at the Representation in Italy of the European Commission in Rome (Palazzo dei Campanari, Via IV Novembre 149).

This year's event focuses on "Women and girls with disabilities: national and global leaders for inclusive development". Gender equality is a matter of crucial importance for ensuring full compliance of the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Bridging the Gap considers gender equality and the inclusion of women and girls with disabilities a cross-cutting priority throughout its action.

The debates, in form of open roundtables, will tackle the topic from the angle of female leadership, and exchange of experiences and practices: what are the main challenges for women with disabilities? Which solutions can be proposed to achieve inclusion and equality? And how can international cooperation contribute to the achievement of the CRPD's and SDGs' objectives? These are some of the questions that will be addressed during the event.

Bridging the Gap is a targeted thematic response to the requirement to make cooperation accessible to and inclusive of persons with disabilities, by operating at two different yet intertwined levels:

• At Global level, the project aims to develop tools to facilitate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDGs) guided by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
• At Country level, the project focuses on strengthening the capacities of governments, national human rights institutions and organizations of persons with disabilities in 5 low- and middle-income countries (Burkina Faso, Ecuador, Etiopía, Paraguay and Sudan) to develop, implement and monitor disability-inclusive sector policies and services in a participatory manner and in line with the CRPD.

The project has been funded by the European Union (EU) under the Development Cooperation Instrument (DCI).