“15 percent for 15 percent”: a gamble? No, a political commitment!

At the Global Disability Summit in Berlin (2-3 April 2025), international cooperation questioned the future of its actions and a shared vision for building a more inclusive global culture.

At the third international summit on disability, together with 4,500 participants from 100 countries, there was also a small delegation representing the cooperation relationship between Italy and Kenya, composed of Luca Ramigni, head of the cooperation sector of the Fontana Foundation and Kinyua Wachira, director of L’Arche Kenya. Absent was core-member Francis Maiki, a person with disabilities, who should have been present, but was unable to follow his colleague due to the denial of a visa by the German Embassy.

L’Arche Kenya is a partner of Inclusion International, one of the 14 major global networks that are part of the International Disability Alliance (IDA), the organizing organization of the Global Disability Summit (GDS) which aims to involve, at all geographical scales, actors who share the same goal and the same vision for the inclusive development of disability through international cooperation relations.

This summit is an extraordinary event! Since 2017, the year of its birth, only two have been organized. The first was hosted in London in 2018 by the Department for International Development of the United Kingdom (now Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, FCDO) and the Government of Kenya, attracting around 1,200 delegates. The second, however, was held virtually in 2022 in Oslo due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, hosted by Norway and Ghana. This year, the governments of Germany and Jordan are taking charge of the event.

Dual authorship reflects the meaning and the way in which a complex system of advocacy takes shape, which passes through cooperation between states, civil society, the private sector, the donor community and organizations of people with disabilities. As Wachira and Ramigni argue, coming together and discussing inclusive practices “is certainly an opportunity to share what you are doing, but even more so to discover that you are not alone and that together you can have a greater political weight. It demonstrates the strong will of people with disabilities and their organizations to contribute to the global political debate and not to be simple spectators. The request to be included in decisions, ‘without us you can’t’ has been reiterated over and over again”.

It is through the continuous action of development stakeholders that the idea of ​​inclusive disability can take root ever deeper, involving the movement for the rights of people with disabilities and its supporters. This action translates into strengthening international cooperation, improving the development of inclusive policies for people with disabilities, promoting inclusive development and implementing the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) which will celebrate its twentieth anniversary in 2026.

The effort we are aiming for is not only to take charge of or take care of disability, but above all to put people with disabilities at the center, making them protagonists of the decision-making process that concerns them, of the pressures, of the struggles for human rights that aim to eliminate all forms of discrimination, allowing everyone to participate adequately in social, cultural, political and economic life. This is also what is hoped for by Agenda 2030 and sustainability goal 10.

The principle that underpins this movement for democratic inclusion is “Nothing about us, without us”. Nihil de nobis, sine nobis, a motto used to communicate the idea that there should be no policy established without the full and direct participation of members of a group or groups affected by that policy. Specifically, it means that there can be no disability policies taken without the participation of people with disabilities who wish not to be considered a problem to be solved, but a resource to transform themselves and others.

Among the issues discussed during the summit, the lack of precise information on the situation of people with disabilities in different countries and the difficulty of collecting data that represent a key element in political pressure and fundraising emerged strongly. Including, in fact, does not only mean taking into consideration, but activating opportunities for active participation in the places where decisions are made, this applies to minors with disabilities, women, etc., who have something to say on major issues such as the environmental issue (earthquakes, famines, floods, etc.) or conflicts to implement inclusive strategies.

From discussion to discussion, the two days berlin led to the publication of the Amman-Berlin Declaration on the Global Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities. It is perhaps the most significant outcome of the GDS 2025 and represents an important milestone for the promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities worldwide. It contains strong commitments to disability-inclusive international development cooperation and humanitarian interventions through meaningful engagement by all, especially specialized organizations, and the promotion of effective partnerships.

For international development cooperation, the Declaration means first and foremost a commitment to ensuring that all programs designed and implemented are inclusive and accessible to persons with disabilities, actively contributing to inclusion, full equality and non-discrimination, and causing no harm. Along with this, the various organizations take responsibility to ensure that at least 15% of the programs implemented pursue the inclusion of persons with disabilities as a priority commitment.

15 percent for 15 percent is the main goal of the Amman-Berlin Declaration. For the first time, a quantifiable goal has been set for disability inclusion on a global scale. 15 percent of projects for 15 percent of the world’s population, the largest minority group on planet Earth. The focus is on concreteness to go beyond awareness-raising and individual commitments, which are necessary but not sufficient conditions to generate measurable change. The ambition is to reach the goal by 2028, the year of the next GDS.

On which commitments of the Declaration will Fondazione Fontana and L’Arche base their future cooperation relationship? For Wachira and Ramigni, the Amman-Berlin Declaration has encouraged them to continue and improve their collaboration and work towards an inclusive society, which has seen the two organizations engaged for 25 years in Nyahururu, Kenya and in Italy.

“Promoting and supporting inclusive education, employment for all and equitable health must continue to be our priorities. As well as involving people with disabilities in decision-making processes. However, these cannot be achieved without political pressure on which we certainly must and can do more.

Supporting, developing and improving the capacities of networks of people with disabilities to prepare and assume leadership. Working with the registration office of political parties to conduct civic education for people with disabilities in order to stimulate and promote their active participation in local and national elections. Organizing discussion groups at provincial and national level for people with intellectual disabilities. Promoting the training of core-members (people with disabilities who live together so that they are able to represent themselves in debates at national and county levels”.

The work will be carried out with “respect for the inherent dignity, individual autonomy, including the freedom to make one’s own choices and the independence of people”.