Speaker: Marzia Fontana, Research Associate at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS)
Chair: L. Alan Winters, Co-Director of the Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy (CITP) and Professor of Economics at University of Sussex
This webinar presents a report commissioned by Finland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, authored by Marzia Fontana and Sophie Mitra, on how trade policies and programmes could best promote the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities in low- and middle-income countries. To date, debates on inclusive trade have paid limited attention to the many barriers that people with disabilities face in participating in economic life. Marzia discusses her work to address this lack of visibility by building a framework for understanding the multiple channels through which greater trade integration can affect people with disabilities. She also offers suggestions on how development assistance can be designed to promote disability inclusion in the context of trade expansion.