Three Strategies for Inclusive Development: an interview with John Lancaster, National Council on Independent Living

MDG #2: Achieve universal primary education

John Lancaster is the Executive Director of the National Council on Independent Living in Washington, DC.  He spoke with us about the need to increase viable employment opportunities for disabled people in the global south, and how to make that happen.

“One of the most successful programs that I’ve seen was in Vietnam,” says John Lancaster when asked about inclusive employment projects in the global south.  “It was started by the Veterans of America Foundation; they developed self-help groups around Vietnam in many of the provinces.  They were doing training programs for young people with disabilities who had shown potential in leadership, development or self-help work. They trained core people with disabilities and they used these folks to spread the word in the provinces. It’s been very successful because the primary focus is on organizing to support people with disabilities in income generation and access to education and support systems.”

In order for an international aid organization to be inclusive, Lancaster explains, it needs to integrate opportunities for people with disabilities into its project goals instead of creating separate goals and projects for disabled people.  He outlined three major strategies for inclusive development:

“Number one, people with disabilities need mainstream employment,” Lancaster stresses.  “They need to be getting into whatever is relevant to the rising economy of that country.”  Participation in the economy provides agency and empowerment that is sustainable instead of dependent on a development program.   “People with disabilities need to be involved in major poverty reduction strategies and infrastructure projects, anything that is mainstream-funded.”

“Secondly, we need to strengthen the grassroots disability community through leadership programs, through organizing them at the very local level and supporting them to start making demands of their government and aid organizations operating in their countries. Local governments and aid organizations feel pressure from all kinds of groups: women’s groups, environmental groups, economic development groups, but they don’t ever hear anything from disability groups.  The grassroots voice of people with disabilities needs to be developed and supported so they are demanding this work in their own countries.”

Strengthening this voice, says Lancaster, has to begin with young people, which leads to his third point: “I would strongly encourage looking at activities that are aimed towards youth and children with disabilities. There will always be a younger generation coming up, so [the priority should be] inclusive education, access to higher education and access to vocational training programs. All youth leadership programs should include young people with disabilities. It’s definitely possible.”

Contact:

National Council on Independent Living
1710 Rhode Island Ave, NW 5th Floor
Washington, D.C. 20036
Voice: (202) 207-0334
Fax: (202) 207-0341
TTY: (202) 207-0340
Toll Free: (877) 525-3400 (V/TTY)
E-mail: ncil@ncil.org
Web:  www.ncil.org