In a collective move to translate disability inclusive development into action, the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology (MECDM) and the Ministry of Finance and Treasury (MoFT) organized the disability inclusion sensitization sessions in their ministry last week. The MECDM session was held on Tuesday, followed by the MoFT session on Friday.
The sessions were facilitated by the National Rehabilitation and Disability Division (NRDD) of the Ministry of Health and Medical Services (MHMS) with support from the World Health Organization (WHO). They focused on how the two ministries could support the implementation and monitoring of the Solomon Islands National Disability Inclusive Development Policy 2023–2031 (SINDIDP) and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
For many participants, it was their first exposure to discussions on disability inclusion and equity. The sessions helped reshape understanding, emphasizing that disability is not a matter of “them and us,” but a universal human experience, as most people may face some form of impairment or functional difficulty during their lifetime.
One MECDM officer shared a personal story about living with a family member with a disability, describing it as challenging but meaningful. She expressed hope that both the SINDID Policy and the CRPD would help improve access to services and inclusion for persons with disabilities in all aspects of community life.
MECDM Human Resource Manager, Mr. Andrew Noli, acknowledged the ministry’s critical role in implementing the SINDIDP and CRPD. He committed to ensuring that all MECDM divisions are informed about the policy and convention and encouraged active involvement in implementation.
At MoFT, the session also highlighted the importance of disability inclusion in budgeting processes and data systems, particularly through the National Statistics Office.
Mrs. Marcellina Iro, Director of the Budget Unit, welcomed the opportunity to familiarize the ministry with the SINDID Policy. She expressed that MoFT has recently engaged in few reform areas that requires reviewing the current chart of accounts for proper budget tagging process and reporting, such as access to climate finance, , disaster risk financing, gender and child-inclusive budgeting, and now, disability-inclusive budgeting.
Mrs. Iro emphasized that the first step is to collaborate with line ministries to familiarise with the SINDID Policy and be able to have inclusive aspect of it in the relevant ministries policies, which would then mainstream disability inclusion into their program budgets. She stressed the Budget Unit’s role as a checkpoint to ensure disability inclusion is clearly reflected in budget submissions of relevant ministries whose mandates are linked to the priority areas of the Policy.
To date, the disability inclusive sensitization sessions have reached 22 ministries, including the Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and three constitutional institutions which included the National Parliament, Leadership Code Commission, and the Office of the Ombudsman, as well as representatives from non-governmental organizations (NGOs)—reaching a total of 382 officers in the Public Sector..
Mrs. Elsie Taloafiri, Director of the National Rehabilitation and Disability Services, commended all ministries and institutions that organized and participated in the sessions. She described this initiative as the beginning of a collective journey toward inclusive action.
Mrs. Taloafiri expressed the Division’s commitment to continued collaboration with all sectors to mainstream disability across systems and levels in both the implementation and monitoring of the SINDID Policy and CRPD. She also noted that upcoming sessions will be scheduled with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, before extending the program to the provinces.
Meanwhile, the Ministry is grateful for the financial support of World Health Organization, that enabled the series of workshops to be conducted.
End///..
[MHMS]
