Community Living for All
A Conference on the Future Role of the European
Union Structural Funds to Advance Community Living
for Older People and People with Disabilities.
PROGRAMME.
as of 12th of April, 2013.
In association with the Irish Presidency of
the Council of the EU.
Conference Website
The conference is generously supported in part by the European Foundation
Centre (EFC) Consortium of philanthropies on Human Rights and Disability
(Brussels) and Fundación ONCE, Spain.
Friday, 3 May 2013.
Áras Moyola, National University of Ireland, Galway, Republic of Ireland.
9.00am – 5.30pm.
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The Purpose of the Conference.
This conference marks a significant contribution during the Irish Presidency of
the EU (2013) to the Europe-wide debate about the future role of the EU
Structural Funds. It will focus on the positive potential of the EU Structural
Funds in assisting Member States to achieve community living for older persons
and persons with disabilities including activation through employment. This will
be an event ‘in association with the Irish Presidency’ of the EU.
It is timely given that new Regulations governing the Funds are due to be
concluded in 2013. The event is also timely given that Ireland is to the forefront
in developing policies to end congregated settings and the EU is currently
considering what role the Structural Funds might play in easing the transition to
community living. GENIO– which is part funded by Government and
philanthropy (Atlantic Philanthropies) – is also to the fore in Ireland in
developing community living models for both older people and people with
disabilities. The EU, in addition to its Member States, has ratified the UN
Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities that crystallizes the right to
community living which is based on general human rights applicable to all
persons. The link between voice (respecting what people want), choice (in terms
of community living arrangements) and the foundations of true economic
independence (through employment) will also be canvassed since the Structural
Funds have important roles to play at all points on the continuum.
The conference is open to all persons and groups interested in the development
of positive EU social policy in the fields of ageing and disability. No prior
knowledge of the Structural Funds is necessary.
The speakers are drawn from a variety of EU-level institutions and others
including the European Commission, the EU Fundamental Rights Agency, the
European Group of National Human Rights Institution and the United States
Federal Administration for Community Living. European level civil society
groups will be represented by the European Disability Forum and Age Platform
Europe. The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
(European Region) will also be represented. The growing role of European
philanthropy in achieving community living will be represented by the European
Foundation Centre. It will be opened by the Irish Minister for Older People,
People with Disabilities, Mental Health and Equality – Kathleen Lynch, T.D.
The Programme.
The one-day programme (3rd of May 2013, Galway, Ireland) will be divided into
four sessions.
The first session will focus on the evolving concept of community living, its
support by European civil society and its emergence as a policy imperative at
European level. The keynote address will be given by Professor Jerome
Bickenbach (Switzerland) who will reflect on the concept of community
living/ageing in place as a shared goal by older people and people with
disabilities. This will be followed by brief responses from Professor Mark
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Priestly and Professor Thomas Scharf focusing on how the concept needs to be
embedded in a new lifecourse policy perspective.
The second session will explore how the concept of community living is
currently imagined in the context of older people as well as disability. Camilla
Parker (London) will focus on disability, Professor Meindert Haveman
(Germany) will focus on older people and Madeleine Clarke (Genio Trust
Ireland) will focus on innovation covering both. Civil society perspectives from
the European Disability Forum and Age Platform Europe will also be canvassed
in this session to see where perspectives align. The evolution and future
trending of relevant European policy will also be covered. An added impetus for
community living in the disability domain comes in the shape of the UN
convention on the rights of persons with disabilities which the EU and most of its
member States have ratified. Since this treaty consolidates existing international
law it is fair to say that the obligation exists just as much in the field of older
people.
The third session will link the conceptual understanding of community
living/ageing in place for all to the Structural Funds. It is crucially important
that ideas and concepts of community living (and international law) inform the
Structural Funds so that one of the European Union’s more important financial
instruments is harnessed to achieve better outcomes for European citizens. The
current regime for regulating/implementing and monitoring the Funds will be
made plain. The current negotiations in as much as they cover older people and
people with disabilities will be made plain. And European expert guidance on
community living will also be broached. The programme will also link US
developments to EU developments by looking at how US Federal Funds are now
been used to achieve community living for both older people and people with
disabilities.
The fourth session will involve a structured dialogue between major
stakeholders on how best to link conceptual developments with the new round
of the EU Structural Funds. These stakeholders include European civil society as
well as European-level service providers, European National Human Rights
Commissions, European philanthropy (to the fore in social innovation) and
others. This will enable a strong conference message on the future use of the
Structural Funds to emerge from our conference rapporteur (Soros-Open Society
Foundation).
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PROGRAMME
08.30-09.00 Registration
09.00
Welcome: President Jim Browne, National University of Ireland,
Galway.
09.10
Ministerial Opening - Minister Kathleen Lynch, Minister of State
for Older People, People with Disabilities, Mental Health &
Equality, T.D.
09.20
Short Video Message of Support: Máire Geoghegan-Quinn,
European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science (DG
Research & Innovation).
09.25
Session 1 – Setting the Scene.
Chair: Senator Katherine Zappone, Senate of Ireland.
Keynote Address: ‘The Concept of Community Living for All –
Values, Practice and Outcomes.’
Prof Jerome Bickenbach, University of Lucerne, Switzerland.
Responses: The importance of Community Living across the
Lifecourse,
10.30
-
Prof Mark Priestley, University of Leeds & Director EU
ANED.
-
Prof Thomas Scharf, Professor of Social Gerontology and
Director of the Irish Centre for Social Gerontology, NUI
Galway.
Session 2 - Disability and Ageing –
Community Living and Ageing in Place – a
Shared Agenda.
Chair: Martin Naughton, European Network for Independent
Living.
10.35
10.50
Ideas – The Centrality of the Concept of Community Living.
What does it mean in disability context: Camilla Parker, Just
Equality, London.
What does it mean for older people: Professor Meindert Haveman,
University Technische Universität Dortmund, Germany.
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11.05
11.20
11.35
11.50
Practical Innovation covering both in Ireland: Madeleine Clarke –
(GENIO Trust, Ireland).
People – The Voice of European Civil Society & Community
Living.
Pat Clarke (Executive Committee Member, European Disability
Forum).
Louise Richardson (Vice President, AGE Platform Europe).
Policy: The Evolving European Policy Context.
‘The Right to Community Living – European policy perspectives’,
Inmaculada Placencia Porrero. Deputy Head of Unit, Rights of
Persons with Disabilities Unit, DG Justice.
12.30 – 13.00
Q&A
13.00 – 14.00:
Lunch - Friars Restaurant
14.00
Session 3 – The Added Value of the EU
Structural Funds, Past, Present and
Future.
Ministerial Chair: Brian Hayes, Minister of State for Public Service
Reform and the Office of Public Works, T.D.
14.00
The Regulation of the Structural Funds & Current Negotiations,
Andor Ürmös, Policy Analyst, DG Regional and Urban Policy.
14.15
Current Negotiations – What’s at Stake for Older People & People
with Disabilities, Professor Gerard Quinn, National University of
Ireland, Galway.
14.30
Linking the new Structural Funds Regulations to Evolving European
Standards: EU Expert Group Common European Guidelines on
Transition to Community Living (2012)’, Ines Bulic, European
Network on Independent Living (ENIL) and the European Expert
Group on the Transition from Institutional to Community-based
Care.
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14.45
Successful Transatlantic Experience: Linking Federal Funding to
Federal Policy of community living for older people and people with
disabilities in the US; The New US Administration for Community
Living (ACL).
15.00
Session 4 – Dialogue on Getting the
Maximum Added Value from the new EU
Structural Funds Regulations to Aid
Community Living and Activation
Through Employment.
Dialogue led by: Hywel Ceri Jones (co-chair, European
Foundation Centre).
Civil Society: European Disability Forum (Pat Clarke), European Age Platform
(Louise Richardson), European Association of Service Providers for Persons with
Disabilities - EASPD (Kirsi Konola).
International Human Rights: Jan Jarab, UN OHCHR (Europe Regional Office),
Ludovica Banfi, EU Fundamental Rights Agency.
European Human Rights Commissions: European Group of National Human
Rights Institutions (led by the Human Rights Commission of Scotland, Duncan
Wilson), Northern Irish Human Rights Commission (Prof Michael O’Flaherty).
European Philanthropy: European Foundation Centre, Miguel Ángel Cabra de
Luna.
Key Messages of Conference. Conference Rapporteur, Raluca Bunea,
Senior Program Officer - Open Society Mental Health Initiative, Budapest.
17.30 Close.
Background to the Organizers.
The event is jointly directed by Senator Katherine Zappone, member of the
Senate of Ireland and the Centre for Disability Law & Policy directed by
Professor Gerard Quinn. It is generously co-funded by the European Foundation
Centre (EFC, Brussels) consortium of foundations on human rights & disabilities.
Senator Katherine Zappone is one of Ireland’s foremost thinkers and
legislators on equality issues. She was formerly a member of the Irish Human
Rights Commission (2002-2012) and currently serves on the Irish Parliamentary
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delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). She
took a leading role in the pioneering Irish Senate hearings on the rights of older
people which published a landmark report in March 2012 (‘Report on the Rights
of Older People’). The Irish Senate was one of the first parliamentary bodies in
the world to consider the human rights of older people. Her previous work with
the Joint Equality and Human Rights Forum of Ireland (North & South) on
multiple identities established her as one of Ireland’s foremost thinkers on the
overlaps between identities such as disability and age (‘Re-Thinking Diversity:
the Challenge of Diversity’, 2003).
The Centre for Disability Law & Policy (CDLP) at NUI Galway, Ireland, was
founded by generous support from Irish philanthropy (Atlantic Philanthropies)
in 2008 to develop innovative policy solutions based on best international
practice on the rights of persons with disabilities. Its members were directly
involved in the drafting of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of
Persons with disabilities and are very closely involved in European-level debates
about the development of effective pan-European strategies.
The CDLP is a founding member of the Lifecourse Policy Institute at NUI Galway
which encompasses age (Irish Centre for Social Gerontology), children and
families (UNESCO Child & Family Research Centre) as well as disability
(CDLP). The Institute aims to develop coherent policy options from an
integrated lifecourse policy perspective. This event was in part a result of active
collaboration and consultation between the CDLP and the Irish Centre for Social
Gerontology – one of the many tangible benefits of moving to an integrated
policy perspective on ageing and disability.
The European Foundation Centre was established in 1989 and is an
international membership association of foundations and corporate funders.
From an initial group of 7 founding members it has now reached 231. Its mission
is to strengthen the independent funding element of European philanthropy
through robust cooperation with an array of partners. It has a vision of a resilient
infrastructure from which European philanthropy – with its unique embrace of
innovation, dynamism and cooperation – can advance the public good in Europe
and beyond. It has a Disability Thematic Network (DTN) which aims to promote
synergies between funders and serve as a hub for knowledge exchange amongst
EFC members working on disability issues. The objectives of the DTN is to:
• Share and build knowledge on funding in the field of disability,
• Build capacity of foundations working on disability,
• Mainstream disability within Foundations’ work and programmes,
• Provide strategic input to the European Disability policy agenda,
• Be an innovation incubator for Foundations developing pilot projects
that can be scaled up or replicated.
As a product of the Disability Thematic Network, the European Consortium of
Foundations on Human Rights and Disability aims to bring together funders and
other stakeholders committed to promoting the implementation of the UN
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Consortium’s overall
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aim is to breathe life and vigour into the application of the Convention, to make a
distinctive contribution and to mobilise the foundation sector to play a catalytic
role to ensure that European governments and other relevant stakeholders
commit to and support both ratification and implementation of the
Convention. Both Miguel Ángel Cabra de Luna and Hywel Ceri Jones are cochairs of the Consortium.
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