New Delhi, India:
Brookfield Properties today announced its commitment to increasing disability inclusion by making all its office parks universally accessible. It has joined The Valuable 500, a global campaign which strives to ensure businesses recognize the importance of the world’s one billion people living with disabilities.
The campaign, launched at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Summit in Davos in January this year, aims to get global business leaders to commit to accountable action on disability inclusion, by taking a simple first step and adding the topic of disability to their board agendas.
This social movement under the campaign #valuable, aims to get commitment from 500 private sector organizations to support disability inclusion and equality. More than 150 companies are signed up to the Valuable 500 globally from 20 countries with a further 150 companies in the process of joining.
Mr. Alok Aggarwal, Managing Director &CEO -India Office Business, Brookfield Properties said: “We have successfully launched key disability inclusion initiatives and infrastructure upgrades across our campuses. We want to do more and raise the bar, for impactful change. We are privileged to share the news that we are bringing disability inclusion onto our agenda as we join The Valuable 500.”
The announcement comes few weeks before Brookfield Properties is set to host a disability focused event in association with CII IBDN and EnAble India (Valuable 500, India Partner) to sensitize and create awareness on the issue and drive Disability inclusion as Board Room agenda of organizations.
The event, “India Inc. | Valuable 500 – Drive Value through Disability Inclusion” will bring together business leaders and influencers to help commit to more inclusive workplaces. Nearly 50 CEOs and 100 professionals at various leadership positions will take the pledge towards sensitizing this important drive.
Caroline Casey founder of The Valuable 500 will be leading the discussion along with other industry champions like former SBI chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya, Gopal Singaraju (COO, RBS India) and many more.
“Organisations like Brookfield Properties and others like Accenture, Mahindra, Unilever, Microsoft, Barclays, Fujitsu, Cinepolis, have the power to make a real difference in their respective sector,” Caroline Casey, founder of The Valuable 500, commented.
“There’s momentum building in India, and it is fantastic to see that business leaders here are equally committed as global leaders, to speak for those who have been routinely ignored in business and society. Undoubtedly this is a sign that the world is waking up to the current inequality crisis. We applaud them for taking a definitive stand on inclusion and giving a voice to disabled people through their boardrooms. We also hope such events will encourage other business leaders and brands to follow suit in committing to The Valuable 500.”
To date, businesses employing well over two million employees globally have signed up to put disability inclusion on their board agendas. Some prominent names which have this pledged to make this a board room agenda in India include professional services firms Allegis, Mahindra, ANZ, Dr. Reddy’s, DTSS, Laguna Clothing, Lalit Hospitality, Mphasis, Refinitive, Sansera, Vindhya & Lemon Tree Hotels.
Brookfield Properties has demonstrated its commitment to creating a supportive and comfortable environment and infrastructure for people with disabilities through a wide range of initiatives.
Disabilities inclusion initiatives include:
- Enhancing the physical accessibility in its campuses across India
- Ensuring universal accessibility guidelines are followed
- Partnering with organisations globally.
- Running and driving awareness programs and events.
About Brookfield Properties
Brookfield Properties is a fully-integrated, global real estate services company that provides industry-leading portfolio management and development capabilities across the real estate investment strategies of Brookfield Asset Management — a global alternative asset manager with over $500 billion in assets under management.
Brookfield Properties develops and manages premier real estate with a focus on maximizing the tenant experience in addition to the investment and operational performance of the asset. The company’s focus is on integrating leading-edge real estate technologies to be at the forefront of innovation and sustainability – benefiting its tenants, residents, business partners and also communities in which it operates.
In India, company started its business operation in 2009 and manages approximately 30 million sq.ft. of IT/ITeS and commercial properties in major cities including Mumbai, Gurugram, Noida and Kolkata. Recently added assets to the portfolio are Waterstones, Mumbai and Hotel Leela venture to increase its presence.
For more information about Brookfield Properties approach to operating and developing best-in-class real estate, please visit https://www.brookfieldproperties.com.
About #valuable
Launched by Binc, #valuable is a campaign working to ensure businesses globally recognise the value of the one billion people around the world living with a disability. We believe that building a global society that recognises the value of the 1 billion people living with a disability starts with business. We’re on a mission to make sure businesses across the world recognise the value of the one billion people living with a disability.
Binc was founded by social entrepreneur and activist Caroline Casey in 2015, with a mission to ignite a historic global movement for a new age of business inclusion. Binc is capitalising on Caroline Casey’s 18-year track record of success engaging over 450 organisations and working with 500,000 business leaders. Binc fundamentally believes that inclusive business creates inclusive societies and is initiating a new approach to business that genuinely includes the 1 billion people living in the world with a disability. Binc is the founding team behind valuable, an ambitious global campaign to put inclusivity on top of the business agenda around the world in 2019. Binc is using a tried and tested formula that has worked in the past for gender, race and LGBT to leverage the exponential rise of The Diversity and Inclusion Agenda.
Definition of disability:
#valuable uses the definition provided by the UN Convention on Rights of Persons with disabilities, which defines a person living with a disability as ‘those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.’
1 http://www.who.int/disabilities/world_report/2011/chapter8.pdf
2 WHO
3 Return on Disability, 2016
4 Scope and Landman, Enabling Work – https://www.scope.org.uk/Scope/media/Images/Publication%20Directory/Landman_Report.PDF? ext=.pdf
Disability and the Sustainable Development Goals
The need to advance disability inclusion around the globe is essential to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Disability or ‘persons with disabilities’ are specifically referenced 11 times in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with a further six references to ‘persons in vulnerable situations’. Principally with reference to: promoting inclusive economic growth that allows disabled people to fully access the job market and guaranteeing equal and accessible education through the creation of inclusive environments.
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