Minister of Gender and Family Zenysha Shaheed Zaki has underlined the most important tool to ensure inclusivity and equality is smart cities.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of Promoting Disability Inclusive Development held at Hotel Jen, Minister of Gender and Family Zenysha Shaheed Zaki highlighted the gradual changes in the lifestyle of Maldivians with the introduction of latest technology and services. Gender Minister Zenysha stated Maldivians make the best use of technology saying it is important to establish a city that is technologically advanced.
Moreover, Minister Zenysha noted the importance attached by the government in promoting smart cities and the numerous discussions held to establish a smart city. The smart city concept is designed in regard to universal designs which are important to enable the easy living of disabled population, expressed Minister.
Meanwhile, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative to Maldives Shoko Noda lauded the projects initiated by government to ensure every individual is accepted in the society. The Promoting Disability Inclusive Development forum is held under the Smart Cities Project, partnered by Ooredoo Maldives, Hulhumalé Development Corporation (HDC) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Maldives.
The smart cities project was launched in June 2017, focusing on Hulhumalé as a pilot zone. One of the key aspects of the project is to ensure the technological solutions introduced in a smart city remains inclusive and accessible to all its population. The forum aims to review and improve accessibility and inclusivity of Persons with Disabilities.
Evidence and experience show that Persons with Disabilities continue to experience barriers to participation in all aspects of society. When barriers to their inclusion are removed, Persons with Disabilities are empowered to participate fully in societal life, and the entire community benefits. Even though the Maldives Disability Act enacted in 2010 emphasises on accessibility, there remains shortfalls and challenges in implementation.
The forum will assist in nurturing a culture where multiple stakeholders will take into account the various challenges faced by persons with disabilities and find ways on removing these barriers. The focus of the forum was highlighting challenges being experienced by persons with disabilities in exercising the rights as equal citizens, raising awareness of enabling mechanisms and opportunities that reduce these challenges and enable persons with disabilities to participate as equal citizens in mainstream society, reflecting on progress made in the implementation of policies, programmes and legislation that seek to improve the quality of life of persons with disabilities and also developing recommendations and roll out plan to eliminate barriers to accessibility and improve quality of life, to be used as priorities for action.
The ceremony held to inaugurate the forum was attended by Minister of Gender and Family Zenysha Shaheed Zaki, Chief Executive Officer of Ooredoo Maldives Najib Khan and UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative Shoko Noda.
Apart from participants from various sectors, in attendance at the forum were members from civil society organisations advocating for the rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the Disability Goodwill Ambassadors of Maldives.