Third meeting: Brussels, 19-20 February 2004

Overview

The third meeting of the WG has been rescheduled and will take place February 19-20, 2004, in Brussels, Belgium. Due to the unforeseen circumstances that made it impossible to meet as originally scheduled and the need to meet as soon as possible, the planning committee determined that the third meeting should take the form of a strategic meeting. The agenda will be somewhat abbreviated but will focus on two very important issues for the WG.

At the conclusion of the second Meeting of the WG, there was agreement that a position paper should be developed to identify the purpose/s that a general disability measure should address.  The paper has been developed and will be presented for discussion at the meeting.  Formal comments will be requested.  Agreement on the issues in the paper will form the basis for identifying future activities for the WG.  The second major agenda item will be a discussion of a governance plan for the WG.  A position paper dealing with the structure and operational guidelines for the Group is being prepared.  This proposal will also be discussed and amended as needed by the meeting attendees.  The results of the discussion of these two papers will determine/prioritize the immediate future work of the WG including the clear delineation of “next steps”.

The meeting room is located in the Federale Overheidsdienst Statistiek en Economische Informatie (National Institute for Statistics), Rue de Louvain/Leuvense weg 44/46, B-1000 Brussels.  There will not be a conference hotel, and meeting participants will be responsible for making there own hotel arrangements.  An interactive map Web site and a hotel Web site have been provided below to assist meeting participants with travel arrangements.  Please check the WG Web site frequently for meeting updates.

Agenda

Agenda – Third Washington Group Meeting 

Papers and Presentations

Opening, welcome, objectives and agenda/program of the meeting

• Program for the Third Meeting (WG3.8) 
• Room documents:
  • The Collection and Dissemination of Statistics on Disability at the UNSD, Proposals for the Future 
  • Information Note for WG3 

Selection of purposes

Based on the disability measurement matrix, a position paper will be presented proposing the selection of 1 -2 purposes that a general disability measure should address and providing a rationale for the choice based on relevance across countries with respect to policy and feasibility of implementation with special attention to international comparability of data. The presentation of the paper will be followed by comments prepared by invited discussants and a plenary discussion with all participants. The final result has to be the decision upon the selected purposes for the general disability measure which the WG will develop.

• Use of Terms and Definitions (WG3.5)
• Proposed Purpose of an Internationally Comparable General Disability Measure (WG3.6)
  • Proposed Purpose of an Internationally Comparable General Disability Measure
    • Revised Governance Plan

• Strategy and organization of the WG work

  In order to be effective in accomplishing the main objectives of the WG and in order to produce tangible and useable end products, it has become increasingly apparent that an organizational plan for the structure and operation of the WG is needed. These organizational issues reflect group governance. A plan for governance of the WG will be proposed followed by presentations of comments by invited discussants and a plenary discussion with all participants. The final result of the session has to be the decision upon the structure and way of operation of the WG.

  • Proposed Plan for Governance of the Washington Group

     

    • Proposed Plan for Governance of the Washington Group

       

      • Revised Governance Plan
  • Proposed World Bank Grant for Strengthening Disability Statistics

Outline of next steps

The outcome of sessions 2 and 3 will be summarized and discussed in the light of the objectives of the WG and the future. The final result has to be a decision upon the work plan for the WG, including objectives of the next meeting, planning of the work for the next steps and organizational issues.

Regional Commentary

• Brazil  (powerpoint)
  • Brazil (pdf)
• Australia 
• UK 
• Uganda (powepoint)
  • Uganda (pdf)
• Philippines (powerpoint)
  • Philippines (pdf)
• Peru
• India 

Executive Summary

Executive Summary of the Third WG Meeting for the UN Statistical Commission