Cooperation with UNESCO in Support for Persons with DisabilitiesProjects for Tokyo Paralympics Occupational training facility in Myanmar

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Shuichi Ohno, Executive Director of The Nippon Foundation, announcing the UNESCO projects
At an event at UNESCO headquarters in Paris on December 2, The Nippon Foundation and UNESCO announced the specific projects to be carried out under the framework agreement they signed in December 2015. The event was to mark the UN International Day of Persons with Disabilities on December 3, and roughly 300 people from around the world participated and discussed how best to support persons with disabilities. The three main projects to be carried out under the framework agreement are: (1) A summit of 100 persons with disabilities; (2) An arts festival for artists with disabilities; and (3) The establishment of an occupational training facility for persons with disabilities in Myanmar.

Specific projects

The first project will invite 100 leaders with disabilities from around the world in advance of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. The individuals will be selected from fields including government, economics, society, and culture, and invited to attend the summit in Japan in 2020. The summit is intended to provide a venue where these leaders can discuss how to achieve an inclusive society, and formulate policy proposals. The second project will be a global-scale performing arts festival, to be held in Japan in 2020 against the backdrop of the Tokyo Paralympics and highlighting artists with disabilities. In advance of this festival, an Asia-Pacific arts festival is planned for 2018, mainly featuring artists from the region and with the aim of enhancing the position of persons with disabilities in the region.
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Dr. Win Myat Aye speaks at UNESCO headquarters
The third project is the establishment in 2017 of an occupational training facility for persons with disabilities in Myanmar. Teaching advanced information and communications technology skills to persons with disabilities is seen contributing to greater opportunities for employment for persons with disabilities in Myanmar. In his remarks at UNESCO headquarters, Dr. Win Myat Aye, Myanmar’s Minister for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, commented, “Our government is promoting information technology for persons with disabilities, but we still have a long way to go. The Nippon Foundation’s support gives us great hope,”

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Contact

Communications Department The Nippon Foundation
E-mail
cc@ps.nippon-foundation.or.jp