The grants have been awarded to to DPOs, Parent’s Advocacy groups or other disability-led initiative groups in Colombia as part of the USAID-funded Building an Inclusive Development Community project. The small grants are intended to support inclusive development projects carried out in partnership with a development organization.
The projects we are supporting in Colombia include:
SURCOE, the National Association of the Deafblind of Colombia, who will carry out leadership training for 10 Deafblind activists in partnership with a Colombian displacement and human rights organization, CODHES. Through the training, SURCOE will work closely with CODHES to promote inclusion within the work they do.
FUNDAMENTAL Colombia, an organization run and led by people with psycho-social disabilities, is partnering with the International Office of Migration (IOM) to implement a leadership training program on self-advocacy for people with psycho-social disabilities. FUNDAMENTAL will also provide training for IOM staff on inclusion of people with psycho-social disabilities in IOM’s programs, focusing on gender, displacement, and internal violence.
The Center of Attention for Individuals with Spinal Injuries (CALEM), will implement leadership training for women with disabilities in partnership with an international women’s organization (Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom/LIMPAL) in order to work with gender and development actors on the importance of including women with disabilities in development. Through the leadership training program, women leaders will work towards developing a network of women with disabilities which currently does not exist in Colombia.
The Colombian Association for Down’s syndrome (ASDOWN) will carry out research on the effectiveness of UNICEF and UNESCO's investments in inclusive education in Colombia. ASDOWN will partner with Inclusion International, a global federation advocating for the human rights of people with intellectual disabilities. ASDOWN will gain technical support for their research and offer Inclusion International assistance with its own research frameworks on inclusive education in Colombia. The findings will be presented to families, development actors, educators, and members of government at a conference in Bogota.
MIUSA is excited about the wide range of cross-disability projects and looks forward to providing ongoing support.
Click here to see the slide show of the recent MIUSA training visit
