The 2010 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee

RESPONSE of A.H.M. NOMAN KHAN

President Benigno S. Aquino III, Trustees of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation, distinguished guests, fellow Awardees and friends.

I would like to express my deepest respect for the late president of the Philippines, Honorable Ramon Magsaysay, his humane qualities and his belief in equal rights and dignity of all people.

It is for me an immense honor and pride to be elected for the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award. It is for me an even greater honor to receive this as a citizen of Bangladesh and as a representative of the disability movement that promotes empowerment of persons with disabilities through mainstreaming and inclusive development. It is awarded at a time of global initiatives to put into action the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

I must acknowledge that this Award is not attained by me solely, but rather as a proud member of collective actors. I salute the contributions of each member of my organization, Centre for Disability in Development, our partner organizations, our funding partners, the government of Bangladesh, and most importantly the persons with disabilities who made us realize that it is not their impairment, but rather the attitudinal and environmental barriers that impede their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis as others.

When CDD started its journey, persons with disabilities were largely excluded from society and were deprived of the benefits of development. We advocated for poverty reduction through development programmes, but we were not reaching persons with disabilities. We were alarmed at this exclusion and realized that no development can be achieved excluding this population. For Bangladesh, a country with limited resources, poor infrastructure facilities, a large population living in poverty, it was a huge challenge. Besides, disability issues were still addressed from a charity-based approach.

We wanted to bring positive changes, at the same time realized that significant changes can not be made only through the initiatives of a few NGOs. CDD came into existence, developed in-country capacity, partnered with development organizations and government to mainstream disability issues, then contributed to engage all development actors, the public and private sectors towards creating an inclusive rights-based society for all.

Currently hundreds of development organizations are mainstreaming disability issues as CDD's partners. In addition, there are many other NGOs, DPOs, networks and associations that address the issue. The government is also very supportive to the cause of disability. However, we still cannot claim that the results as satisfactory. We have fifteen million persons with disabilities, of which around 75 percent live in rural areas and in difficult conditions. Unfortunately, most are still not reached by the required disability and development services.

Today, we have the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability as policy and legislative guidelines, we have Millennium Development Goals as development targets, and we have Community Based Rehabilitation as a strategy to ensure implementation of UNCRPD and attainment of development goals. We at CDD firmly believe that with participation, contribution and support of all, we can collectively bring positive changes in the quality of life of persons with disabilities in Bangladesh, in Asia and beyond. This award will strengthen our commitment and boost the disability movement for empowerment of persons with disabilities. CDD and I are extremely proud and would like to express our sincere commitment to work for persons with disabilities towards creating an inclusive society.

Finally, I reiterate my gratitude to the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation by accepting this award. I also declare that the award money will be utilized for the empowerment of persons with disabilities in Bangladesh.