A/HRC/16/38 40. International cooperation also occurs between civil society organizations and between civil society organizations and research institutes and universities. In Italy, civil society organizations such as the Associazione Italiana Amici de Raoul Follereau (AIFO) and Disabled Peoples’ International (DPI) have promoted the inclusion of a focus on persons with disabilities in master’s courses on development. As a result, several Italian universities have adopted specific training modules on the rights of persons with disabilities48. AIFO and DPI have carried out a research project assessing the impact of 10 years of two Community-Based Rehabilitation (CBR) programmes in Mandya District, India, reaching out to more than 22,000 persons with disabilities. This research project involves DPOs, federations and university academics as well as local communities and it takes a quantitative and a qualitative approach. Persons with disabilities and local groups control and decide the research priorities and assess the impact of CBR from their own point of view, with technical support from DPI and disabled university academics. 41. Another example of civil society actors cooperating internationally is the joint initiative between the Mental Disability Advocacy Center (MDAC) and the Central European University, which organized a summer school on “mental disability law in practice”, focusing on the Convention. Through presentations, moot courts and other methodologies, capacity of practising lawyers, activists and academics from Europe and Africa was strengthened in the field of mental health and disability rights. Some of the participants are continuing to work with MDAC to advance the rights of persons with intellectual disabilities and persons with psychosocial disabilities in their countries. Similarly, MDAC held a workshop for litigators from European countries to build their capacity on the individual complaints procedure under the Optional Protocol to the Convention. MDAC is currently in the process of developing a network of lawyers interested in working on mental disability law. 42. Finally, international cooperation takes place between civil society organizations and international and regional organizations. The ILO, UNESCO and the International Disability and Development Consortium (IDDC), in close consultation with other key stakeholders on disability and development, produced the Community-based rehabilitation guidelines (CBR)49. The guidelines – which had been in preparation since 2004 – are designed to empower persons with disabilities by supporting their inclusion in health, education, employment, social skills training and other community services. They were launched at the fourth CBR Africa Network Conference (CAN) in October 2010 in Nigeria50. 43. Similarly, the World Bank established the Global Partnership for Disability and Development (GPDD), as a global alliance composed of national governments, development banks, United Nations agencies, DPOs, NGOs, universities, foundations, and enterprises, all committed to the GDPP objective to combat the social and economic exclusion and impoverishment of persons with disabilities and their families in developing countries51. This initiative is also an international forum for exchange and sharing of practices; it facilitates learning and cooperation, including South-North exchanges, and stimulates donor coherence in the implementation of the Convention. The World Bank is supporting GPDD through a Development Grant Facility and a Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) established by Italy, Finland, and Norway. GPDD and the World Bank have implemented a number of activities supported by MDTF, including: (a) a study on 48 49 50 51 14 The Universities of Modena, Reggio Emilia, Bologna and La Sapienza of Rome. See submission of AIFO/DPI at www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/disability/docs/study/ITALY_AIFO_and_DPI.doc. See www.who.int/disabilities/cbr/en/. See www.ilo.org/skills/what/events/lang--en/WCMS_146003/index.htm. . See www.gpdd-online.org/.