Building an Inclusive Development Community -- Including People with Disabilities in International Development Programs: Mobility International USA
By Cindy Lewis and Karen Heinicke-Motsch, Mobility International USA
MDG #8: Develop a global partnership for development
Mobility International USA (MIUSA) is a non-profit organization based in Eugene, Oregon, USA that is dedicated to empowering people with disabilities to achieve their human rights through international exchange and international development. Through the Building an Inclusive Development Community project, funded by the United States Agency for International Development, MIUSA provided three years of technical assistance to five US-based development organizations, to include people with disabilities in their projects and programs.
The inclusion of people with disabilities is an issue that crosscuts development, and is essential to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, and the eradication of poverty. People with disabilities, particularly women and girls with disabilities, consistently rank among the poorest of the poor, yet continue to be overlooked. Up to fifteen percent of the world’s population consists of people with disabilities, and more than two-thirds of those individuals live in developing countries, yet their inclusion in development programs has been limited. Until recently there has been little research or consensus on how to include people with disabilities in programs.
Today a growing number of organizations have improved outreach to and inclusion of people with disabilities. There is also a growing body of legislation, policy directives and guidance notes generated by donor countries and development networks that focus on ensuring that women, men and children with disabilities are included in the development process.
With funding from USAID and in partnership with five international development organizations (American Friends Service Committee, Church World Service, Holt International Children’s Services, Mercy Corps International and the Trickle Up Program), MIUSA set out to turn inclusive standards into policy and practice within these organizations and the programs they support around the world.
While MIUSA’s technical assistance and resource materials were available at no cost to project partner organizations, our partners did not receive funding for their participation in this project, yet each organization achieved tangible results toward inclusion of people with disabilities. The shifts in conceptualizing and planning, and adaptations to program implementation that made the results possible were not cost-intensive.
Technical Assistance Strategies
Although technical support was tailored to each individual organization, the framework for MIUSA’s work with was consistent across organizations. Technical assistance strategies that worked for MIUSA included:
- An initial face-to-face training that focused on a human rights framework, the fundamental principles of inclusion and relevance to each organization’s mission.
- The development of an action plan for inclusion within each agency that set measurable targets for success.
- Provision of useful resources including checklists, videos, manuals, guidelines and sector specific information.
- Ongoing technical assistance through face-to-face meetings, telephone calls and email communication.
- Providing partners with referrals and introductions to disabled peoples organizations in their geographic areas of work to foster partnerships in the field.
- Technical assistance to project partners in the field in cooperation with local leaders in the disability movement.
Each aspect of MIUSA’s technical support addressed inclusion of women and girls with disabilities. A particularly exciting strategy for technical assistance was the Gender, Disability and Development Institute (GDDI), a component of MIUSA’s International Women’s Institute on Leadership and Development (WILD). At the GDDI women with disabilities from southern countries and international development professionals worked together to identify issues, strategize solutions and create collaborative plans to promote inclusion of women with disabilities in development programs. Lasting collaboration between WILD women and project partners developed from the experience.
Building an Inclusive Development Community: A Manual on Including People with Disabilities in International Development Program is a unique resource for comprehensive information, resources and recommendations on how to include people with disabilities in international development. The Manual offers a toolkit for development agencies and others concerned with the inclusion of people with disabilities, on topics including: budgeting for inclusion, international policy, accessibility issues, and practical strategies for inclusion in programs and services, disaster and emergency relief, gender and disability, health, microfinance, civil society and much more. The Manual was produced with support from USAID as part of the Building an Inclusive Development Community project, as well as other resources, can be ordered through MIUSA's website: www.miusa.org/publications
Action Steps
Each organization’s action plan for inclusion was created independently, within the framework of agency’s mission and scope. Nevertheless, a number of common strategies were cited as having been effective across all five partners. These included:
- Communication or organizational commitment to inclusion by CEO and senior management.
- Designation of key staff within the organization as catalysts for networking and discussion.
- Annual targets for inclusion set and reviewed.
- Baseline assessment and evaluation data collected and disaggregated to measure actual (vs. anecdotal) participation of women and men with disabilities.
- Images of people with disabilities, including women and girls, as active program participants incorporated into organizational materials.
- Disabled peoples’ organizations sought out for technical assistance to field offices and local partners for outreach, staff training and project implementation.
- Reasonable costs of disability-related accommodations planned for and incorporated into project or organizational budgets.
- Universal design principles incorporated into new construction projects.
- Inclusion highlighted through ongoing communications in project team reviews, trainings and in-services, newsletter articles, communications between headquarters and field staff, etc.
Accomplishments
While each of the partners on this project had some prior experience with disability-specific programs, the partnership provided the platform for organizations to plan for, implement and measure the results of the inclusion of people with disabilities both within organizations and in the programs they support. Each organization was successful in meeting benchmarks toward inclusive policy and practice.
A review of project outcomes includes:
- Vital work was initiated or expanded as a result of partnerships with disabled peoples’ organizations in Latin America, Africa and throughout Asia.
- Accessibility was incorporated into construction projects, resulting in improved access to roads, buildings, health facilities and schools.
- Women and men with disabilities gained access to microfinance services and established successful businesses.
- People with disabilities were able to vote and to have access to legal aid.
- Children with disabilities were enrolled in local schools in field countries.
- Youth with disabilities were involved in sports activities and in community action groups.
- Women with disabilities participated in reproductive health programs.
- Organizations of people with disabilities were strengthened by capacity building support.
- Partner agency websites are more accessible, and offer information about the inclusion of people with disabilities in humanitarian assistance and development work.
- Partner organizations have policies and procedures in place to promote the inclusion of people with disabilities in partner agencies.
- Partner organizations increased accessibility of their own facilities, materials and events.
The experiences and lessons learned through the course of this project not only strengthened each partner organization’s commitment to inclusion, but will also serve as lessons learned for others in the development community intent on insuring that the development goals we set out to achieve are inclusive of all humankind.
In 2005, MIUSA began the next phase of the Building an Inclusive Development Community project. Working closely with USAID Missions in three countries, Albania, Ecuador and Guatemala, MIUSA provided intensive technical assistance, training and support to Mission staff and USAID contractors and grantee organizations on inclusion of people with disabilities. In field visits to each country, MIUSA provided technical assistance to disabled peoples’ organizations, to increase their capacity to promote participation of people with disabilities in development. In addition, MIUSA facilitated relationship building between USAID Missions, development agencies and disabled peoples’ organizations.
For comprehensive information, resources and recommendations on how to include people with disabilities in international development, including MIUSA’s Building an Inclusive Development Community: A Manual on Including People with Disabilities in International Development Program and other resources available at www.miusa.org.
About Mobility International USA
Mobility International USA (MIUSA), established in 1981, empowers people with disabilities around the world to achieve their human rights through international exchange and international development.
Contact:
Mobility International USA
132 E. Broadway, Suite 343
Eugene, OR 97401
Tel/TTY: (541) 343-1284
Fax: (541) 343-6812
Email: development@miusa.org
Web: www.miusa.org
American Friends Service Committee
1515 Cherry St
Philadelphia, PA 19102
Tel: (215) 241-7208
Email: info@afsc.org
Web: www.afsc.org
Church World Service
28606 Phillips St
Elkhart, IN 46514
Tel: 574-264-3102
Toll Free: 1-800-297-1516
Fax: 574-262-0966
Email: info@churchworldservice.org
Web: www.churchworldervice.org
Holt International Children’s Services
1195 City View St
Eugene, OR 97402-3325
Tel: (888) 355-HOLT
Email: info@holtinternational.org
Web: www.holtintl.org
Mercy Corps
3015 SW 1st Ave
Portland, OR 97201-4707
Tel: (503) 796-6800
Email: info@mercycorps.org
Web: www.mercycorps.org
TrickleUp Program
104 W 27th St # 12
New York, NY 1001-6210
Tel: (212) 255-9980
Email: info@trickleup.org
Web: www.trickleup.org
