9. Specific support to the stakeholders for disability inclusion
According to the EC's PCM Guidelines (p. 118), the four pillars of participation are: Empowerment, Capacity Building, Effectiveness, and Efficiency. In addition, Empowerment and Capacity building are a pre-condition for effectiveness, efficiency and the sustainability of development initiatives.
The capacities of stakeholders for disability inclusion in general, and disabled people's organisations (DPOs) in particular, should be enhanced to ensure that they can effectively participate in development dialogue and have their perspectives included throughout the project cycle (1).
The reinforcement of specific services is also essential to enable persons with disability to equally participate in the project dialogue. These are services which remove barriers and empower persons with disabilities to participate, and include sign language interpretation; Braille and large printing; adaptation of buildings; audio texts, etc.
However, the first step is to recognise the importance of including the disability stakeholders. Once you initiate a project you can assess together with them what support may be needed.
Possible areas of support for stakeholders for disability inclusion
This section divides the stakeholders for disability inclusion according to the levels described in the last section 'who are the stakeholders for disability inclusion', and gives examples of possible areas of support at each level
1 - Support of government departments and ministries
Ex: Ministry of Social affairs /Ministry of Health/Ministry of Education, National Department of Statistics
Example of key roles and functions that require support (2):
- For setting standards and monitoring implementation in terms of the rights of persons with disabilities
- For ensuring that public services are accessible to persons with disability (eg health, education, social welfare and housing, transport, judicial services, etc)
- For developing the national data and statistics system, including a disability dimension
2 - Support to local governments and municipalities for developing disability inclusive services
Example of key roles and functions that may require support (3):
- For developing and improving services for persons with disabilities that reduce the impact of impairments (such as rehabilitation services, educational or livelihood services)
- For developing and providing general services free of barriers and thus fully accessible to persons with disabilities
3 - Support to DPOs for representation of their constituencies and participating in the project cycle dialogue
Example of key roles and functions that may require support (4):
- For representing persons with disabilities
- For advocating and lobbying for the rights of persons with disabilities
- For being part of the dialogue with the different types of stakeholders, from international to national/local level.
4 - Support services
Participation of persons with disabilities may require the development or reinforcement of existing support services. The absence of sign language interpretation for instance can dramatically reduce the chances for people who are deaf or hearing impaired to participate in activities or to access services.
Other examples of support services are Braille printing, audio texts, adaptation of buildings and accessible transport. Development of support services can also be seen as an opportunity to promote of small-scale firms and job creation.
Case studies
Case study -Support to DPOS- Balkans and Madagascar : Word (3 Mo) - PDF (199 Ko)
Case study - Including persons with disabilities in National Statistics: Morocco : Word (5 Mo) PDF (308 Ko)
(1) DFID: How to note, a DFID Practice Paper ; Working on Disability in Country Programmes. 2007. http://www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/DisguideDFID.pdf
(2) Inspired from Thomas, P: Disability, Poverty and the Millenium Development Goals: Relevance, Challenges and Opportunities for DFID. June 2005. http://www.disabilitykar.net/docs/policy_final.doc
(3) Thomas, P: 2005 (op.cit.)
(4) Thomas, P: 2005 (op.cit.)
