Pattaya Recommendations on Community-based Inclusive Development

We, the representatives of government focal points on social welfare and development, local governments, and civil society organizations, including groups/organizations of persons with disabilities and their families, from the region of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Japan, gathered in Pattaya, Thailand, from 6th-7th December 2012, at the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF) Regional Meeting. Comprised of around 100 delegates, the Meeting was organized by the Asia-Pacific Development Center on Disability (APCD) in collaboration with the ASEAN Secretariat, the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security of Thailand and JAIF.

According to the Bali Declaration on the Enhancement of the Role and Participation of the Persons with Disabilities in ASEAN Community, proclaimed the ASEAN Decade of Persons with Disabilities, 2011-2020, and the ASEAN Strategic Framework for Social Welfare and Development, 2011-2015, amongst other barriers, physical and social barriers that result in limited opportunities to access and utilize basic rights are considered as one of the major barriers commonly faced by persons with disabilities in the greater Mekong sub-region, namely Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Myanmar and Viet Nam (CLMV countries).

Therefore, the Non-handicapping Environment (NHE) and Community-based Rehabilitation (CBR) as the strategic approaches to the Community-based Inclusive Development (CBID) Project has been introduced by APCD to the government of the CLMV countries, with the support of JAIF.

In view of the perspectives from the two days of intensive discussion, the Meeting hereby agrees to the following recommendations:

1. ASEAN should be a model of sub-regional cooperation on disability and development in the Asia-Pacific region. In this context, multi-sectoral collaboration at the local and national level in the ASEAN member countries should be further strengthened to promote barrier-free communities at the regional level;

2. In partnership with other ASEAN member countries, the government in the CLMV countries, APCD and other stakeholders should enhance their collaboration in implementing the Project by forging a set of priorities in the official ASEAN documents on disability and development;

3. In cooperation with the governments in the CLMV countries and other ASEAN member countries, the Project through the NHE and CBR perspectives should be continued to link tangible outcomes of the Project with national programs and projects for sustainable disability inclusive development;

4. The next APCD/JAIF Project Regional Meeting should be convened in Vietnam in August 2013.

Witnessed by
H.E. Mr.  Sem Sokha, 
Secretary of State, 
Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation, Cambodia 

Mr. Sisavath Khomphonh,
Deputy Director, Pension, Invalid and Disability Department, 
Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, Lao PDR

Ms. Yi Mar Tin, 
Principal, School of Children with Disabilities, Department of Social Welfare, 
Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, Myanmar 

Ms. Le Tuyet Nhung
Deputy Director General, Social Protection Department,
Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, Viet Nam

Mrs. Napa Setthakorn, 
Secretary General, National Office for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, 
Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, Thailand

Mr. Akiie Ninomiya, 
Executive Director, 
Asia-Pacific Development Center on Disability

7 December 2012, Pattaya, Thailand