A Conversation with Charlotte McClain-Nhlapo

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Description:

Jonathan Martinis speaks with Charlotte McClain-Nhlapo, an attorney who played pivotal roles during the negotiations for the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). They discuss her experience acquiring a disability, the growth of global disability rights policies, and other important issues that impact the lives of people with disabilities around the world.

Ms. McClain-Nhlapo describes some of her previous disability rights work with the South African Human Rights Convention and her current position at the World Bank. She lays out the pillars of disability inclusion, including analysis of practices and information, collaboration among teams, and partnerships among organizations and corporations to spread information on successful disability inclusion practices.

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Summary

• Explains her role in the negotiations for the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
• Her experience acquiring a disability, the growth of global disability rights policies, and other important issues that impact the lives of people with disabilities around the world.
• McClain-Nhlapo describes some of her previous disability rights work with the South African Human Rights Convention and her current position at the World Bank. S
• She lays out the pillars of disability inclusion, including analysis of practices and information, collaboration among teams, and partnerships among organizations and corporations to spread information on successful disability inclusion practices.
• She points out that disability inclusion is anything but simple. The benefits of inclusion outweigh those costs, and the most important things are ensuring that resources are not taken from the disability community and that more resources are allocated to meet the needs of people with disabilities.

More about Charlotte McClain-Nhlapo, Global Disability Advisor at The World Bank

Charlotte V. McClain-Nhlapo is Global Disability Advisor of the World Bank Group. As Disability Advisor, she focuses on working with and supporting operational teams across the institution to ensure that Bank policies, programs and projects take people with disabilities into consideration. Before joining the World Bank, she served as USAID’s coordinator for disability and inclusive development, appointed by U.S. President Barack Obama in 2011 to lead the government’s efforts in disability inclusive development, from developing policies and country strategies to technical assistance for program implementation.

Prior to that, she worked as a Senior Operations Officer at the Bank to integrate disability inclusive development into operations in the East Asia Pacific and Africa regions. Earlier in her career, she was appointed by President Nelson Mandela to the South African Human Rights Commission focusing on social and economic rights, disability rights, and child rights. From 1996 to 1998, she also served as a project officer on child protection for UNICEF. She holds a Master’s Degree in international law and administration from the University of Warsaw, Poland, and an LLM from Cornell Law School.