Who we are

AIFO , DPI Italy , EducAid and FISH formed the Italian Network on Disability and Development – RIDS – which expresses community of interest and the belief in mutual cooperation aimed at implementing initiatives and joint events , at national and international levels, in the field of development cooperation addressed to people with disabilities.RIDS’s activities of training, information and consultancy in the area of protection and promotion of human rights of persons with disabilities, fit into the scenarios outlined in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – CRPD – fully implementing articles 11 and 32 in the view of fostering a development cooperation system which is attentive to disability from an inclusive standpoint.

The awareness that CRPD’s real sustainability will only be possible where the voice of people with disabilities and their organizations is strong and competent, therefore able to interact with public and private institutions and civil society , makes it so that empowerment is RIDS’s guiding principle. The network is made up of important Italian organizations , rooted in the territory and extensively involved in the definition of policies and programs on disability in cooperative activities, including Italian and foreign institutions .

Founded by AIFO, DPI Italia onlus, EducAid and FISH, RIDS stems from the desire to create a synergy of their respective powers and capacities , creating a network based on the exchange of appropriate practices in publications , on the circulation of experiences and expertise on the promotion of tools, methods and projects that support the implementation of the CRPD in all countries of the world.

AIFO – Associazione Italiana amici di Raoul Follereau (Italian Association of Friends of Raoul Follereau) is a non-governmental organization (NGO) working in the international cooperation and socio-sanitary field. It is a non-profit organization, recognized as eligible for development cooperation activities by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the European Union and ECHO. It is official partner of the World Health Organization and participates in the World Health Assembly, which includes Ministers of Health of all countries of the UN. AIFO is present in 22 countries in Africa, Asia and South America, with 84 health cooperation projects. In Italy AIFO leads opinion campaigns and conducts information and development education. AIFO was constituted in Bologna in 1961 and its projects deal mainly with physical, mental and socio-economic rehabilitation and community development, following the approach of the Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR). All initiatives abroad tend to self-development, with particular attention to sustainability.

AIFO–Associazione Italiana Amici diRaoul Follereau – c.f. 80060090372 – via Borselli 4/6 – 40135 Bologna -Tel. 051 4393211 – Fax 051 434046 – Green line 800550303 www.aifo.it – www.aifo.it/en – info@aifo.it

DPI Italia onlus (Non-Profit organization) is the Italian section of Disabled Peoples‘ International, a worldwide organization present in 135 countries and recognized by major international and European agencies and institutions. DPI works to promote and protect human and civil rights of persons with disabilities.

DPI is also a movement of social and cultural nature, whose constitutive principle is based primarily on the direct leadership of persons with disabilities. The Assembly of DPI Italy ONLUS was born October 16, 1994, while Italy was still a provisional member of DPI since 1990.

DPI ONLUS Italy adheres to the following organizations: FISH (Italian Federation for Overcoming Handicap), CND (National Council of Disability), DPI (Disabled Peoples ‘International) Europe and Disabled Peoples‘ International. In addition, through the CND is part of EDF (European Disability Forum).

Disabled Peoples’ International Italia onlus – Via dei Bizantini, 97 – 88046 Lamezia Terme (CZ) –

www.dpitalia.org – info@dpitalia.org

EducAid is an NGO working in the field of international cooperation to prevent and reduce, through educational and social work, disadvantages and difficulties of persons with special and cultural needs. Active since 2000 in a dozen countries in the Middle East, Africa, Central America, the Balkans and Central Asia, through projects co-financed by the European Union, Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, United Nations Agencies and Local Authorities, Educaid has the primary objective to favor the pedagogical and social innovation and skills development of individuals and institutions who have responsibility for education, care and aid.

Among the priorities for action is the promotion of inclusive education with the addition of the promotion of social work methodology designed to address all forms of social exclusion and institutionalization of people with disabilities and children without parental care.

Educaid also operates through the active involvement of partners and close collaboration with the Faculty of Education of the University of Bologna.

Educaid – Via Vezia, 2 – 47900 Rimini – Tel. 0541.28022

www.educaid.it – www.educaid.it/en – info@educaid.it

FISH – Federazione Italiana per il Superamento dell’Handicap (Italian Federation for Overcoming Handicap), founded in 1994, is an umbrella organization comprising a number of the most representative associations operating at national and local levels, in policies aimed at social inclusion of people with different disabilities. The principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities constitute a suitable manifesto for the Federation and the associative network that recognizes and identifies FISH as their unified voice towards the main institutions of the country.

Through collaboration with the Italian Forum on Disability (FID), the body that represents Italy within the European Disability Forum (EDF), it connects the national policies with those at transnational level. E.net Agency is the statutory instrument which the Federation uses to design and manage their projects and initiatives, taking as reference the strategies developed by the FISH Board and acts according to the methods of work for the network and participatory planning. The Agency is made up of local groups, active in various regions, and a national coordination.

FISH Onlus – Federazione Italiana per il Superamento dell’Handicap – Via G. Capponi 178 – 00179 Roma

www.fishonlus.it – presidenza@fishonlus.it