Birchwood Declaration

DPSA Biennial General Assembly

11 to 13 March 2004

Theme: Celebrating twenty years in the struggle for equality and democracy

Recognising , affirming , bearing in mind , considering the fundamental principles enunciated and elaborated in the policies, declarations and laws including but not limited to the following:

·        The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

·        The International Bill of Human Rights

·        The Declaration on the rights of Mentally retarded persons (1971)

·        The ILO recommendation No 99 of 1955 and 168 of 1983

·        The World Programme of Action Concerning Disable People

·        The UN Standard Rules on the Equalisation of Opportunities for People with Disabilities

·        The South African Constitution

·        The South African White Paper on an Integrated National Disability Strategy

·        The Employment Equity Act

·        The Skills development Act

·        The Preferential Procurement Act

·        The Promotion of Equality and the Prohibition of unfair discrimination Act

·        The Continental plan for the African Decade of People with Disabilities

We the delegates at the Tenth Biennial General Assembly of DPSA held from 11 to 13 March 2004 at Birchwood Conference Centre in Johannesburg hereby declare and resolve

1. Constitutional Review Process

·        That the constitutional review adhoc committee’s mandate, to conduct a comprehensive review of the DPSA constitution issued at the 2001, Biennial General Assembly be extended to enable it to complete that process by the next Biennial  General Assembly in 2006.

2. Community Based Rehabilitation a vehicle for Independent Living

Noting

·        The success of the CBR Programme in Mpumalanga

·        The Mpumalanga CBR Model has shown that real partnerships with communities are essential for sustainable development and empowerment of people with disabilities and 

·        that affirmation of people with disabilities contributes to them playing active and leading roles in developing their localities by reducing their marginalisation in society.

·        And therefore contributes to independent living

And resolves that

·        The CBR – Model in Mpumalanga to be documented

·        DPSA need to  lobby national support for the  Mpumalanga CBR Model to be recognized as a best practice

·        DPSA need to develop integrated strategies which would orientate national and provincial stakeholder on the Mpumalanga CBR Model

·        DPSA to facilitate a process that would enable provinces to implement the CBR Model with local adaptations

3. Personal Assistants

DPSA resolves :

·        to develop a position on Personal Assistants

·        to develop implementation strategies for Personal Assistants in partnership with relevant stakeholders

·        to develop a manual and facilitate training on the management of Personal Assistants

4.    Higher Education

DPSA Resolves:

·        That a committee should be formed with the main tasks

o      to develop a strategy to facilitate the organisation of disabled students at institutions of higher learning

o      to engage more effectively with the new funding framework for higher education

o      To consider ways in which government funding could be used as an incentive for institutions of higher learning to increase access and improve conditions for equal participation of disabled students

·        To develop a mechanism for sharing information to disabled students on how to access financial assistance

·        To record and capture experiences of disabled students at institutions of higher learning to benefit other students

·        To develop a closer relationship with the council on higher education

·        To facilitate the establishment of partnerships between institutions of higher learning and disabled persons organisations

·        To access and distribute information on opportunities provided by distance education to members

·        To develop mechanism which would ensure that graduates are retained in the organisation as resource persons

5. Skills development and learner ships

DPSA resolves

·        To develop a user-friendly manual for members that would provide information on skills development programmes and learner ships

·        To develop a training/ awareness raising programme for employers on the training of disabled people

·        To develop mechanism that would ensure that members register on the data base of job seekers to be developed by the Thabo Mbeki Development Trust

·        To participate effectively in the development of the national skills plans of the SETAS

·        To raise awareness among members on the use and interpretation of the policy on the recognition of prior learning

7.  Africa Decade of people with disabilities

DPSA  resolves

·        To facilitate the development of country specific plan of action that identifies new areas, existing legislative framework and service delivery. This plan needs to be integrative of the issues affecting woman , youth and children

·        To devise a communication strategy for the dissemination of information to the broader disability sector and DPSA membership

·        To develop mechanism for accessing capacity building within the decade

8.  UN Convention

DPSA resolves

·        To develop a communication strategy in conjunction with OSDP to feedback and engage with civil society on the processes of the UN Convention

9.   Building a Strong Disability Rights Movement

DPSA noting:

·        That the mandate, role and responsibilities of DPSA are less understood by some members especially at provincial level

·        Problems related to the deployment of DPSA members to various structures and in particular the lack of a deployment policy

·        The problems relating to dual membership

·        That there is a lack of a comprehensive and effective publicity, marketing and information dissemination strategy

·        The recruitment of membership is not well diversified and that deployed members are not sufficiently used as resource persons

·        The critical importance of strategic partnerships and alliances at institutional and individual level

·        The concern the local grass route structures are not sufficiently resourced

·        That there are efforts to strengthen and maximise participation by the youth

DPSA therefore resolves to

·        Train members in the organisational culture with specific reference to mandate role and responsibility

·        To clearly define the role and responsibilities of the SAFCD as compared to those of DPSA

·        To investigate and develop a clear code of conduct for members to enable them to set, understand and acknowledge their boundaries of operation and their accountability to the organisation  and to set up a properly structured deployment committee and to develop a code of good practices on deployment practises

·        To pro-actively engage in initiatives aimed at enhancing the image, brand and profile of the organisation

·        That the recruitment strategy be diversified and not be confined to a specific race or disability group and that deployed members avail themselves and be sufficiently used as resource persons

·        To identify, develop and strengthen its strategic partnerships with individuals and institutions

·        Strategies should be developed to investigate and improve the resourcing of local structures

·        To further strengthen and promote further participation of youth including the development of a succession plan strategy

·        To develop a fundraising strategy which would ensure the sustainability of the organisation and its programmes

·        To capacitate its membership on basic human rights and the principles thereof

·        To give a specific mandate to deployed members and to capacitate them to fulfil this mandate

·        To facilitate the inclusion of DPSA’s programmes into broad rural and urban development initiatives