The Disability Movement and Community in Afghanistan

Disabled people's organizations

Disabled people know best about their priorities and their organizations have a strategic advantage in advocating their rights and influencing public decisions concerning their issues (Kasnitz, 2001). Supporting the development of disabled people's organizations is in line with the universal rights of disabled people for self-representation promoted by the Standard Rules (UN, 1994) as well as the BMF (2003) and the new draft disability convention (UN, 2003).

It is not surprising to note the weak structure of the disabled community in Afghanistan given the communist legacy. The concept of participation and self- representation is not a common practice in Afghanistan. Participation of minority and marginalized groups in government planning has not often been recognized until recently. However, over the past few years much progress has been made to promote democratic governance and increase participation, notably since the UN set up its office in late 2001. An example of this progress is the Loya Jerga, a national assembly that successfully developed the National Constitution with participation from all sections of society.

Moreover, there is a growing awareness among the general public in Afghanistan of the need to organize themselves through certain groups such as NGOs. This is due to the belief that civil society [1] represented by NGOs is more efficient in serving their interests and providing for their needs in their local communities. The fact that there was no active and legitimate government for sometime in Afghanistan has also given credibility to the work of NGOs, notably the international NGOs. Currently, civil society plays a crucial role in the development of modern Afghanistan but with international NGOs leading the process. The participation of Afghan civil society in the development process has remained limited until now as there is little clarity in government policy to promote the role of this sector and support its cause.

The need for active and independent NGOs has also been identified by disabled people in Afghanistan. They have identified their needs for Disabled People's Organizations that can protect their interests and promote their rights especially with regard to funding and employment. The disabled community within the course of planning the national disability policy has identified a number of needs including the need for different types of self-help groups, financial support for such groups, friendly and cooperative government relations, and finally supporting the development of self-help groups into recognized disabled people's organizations including umbrella organizations.

The Comprehensive National Disability Policy (2003) has recognized the right of disabled people to form their own groups and organizations and the role of government in supporting this process. The policy stated that:

"The quality of life of disabled people improves when they actively voice their concerns and participate in decision-making. Self-help organizations provide an effective means through which collective capacity-building and empowerment of disabled people can be achieved, through strengthening their lobbying power to advocate with governmental and other civil society and their active participation in decision-making processes. The development of such groups will be enhanced with the formation of a partnership with the National Disability Commission and administrations in both central and local governments."

The draft UN convention on disability strongly supports this position. Based on article 21 and 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the draft recognizes the right of freedom of assembly and of associations for disabled people. Further, the draft in agreement with article 7 of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, gives disabled people the right to take part in the conduct of public affairs including elections, participation in the formulation of government policy as well as to participation in non-governmental organizations and associations.

Self-help groups of disabled people

While the development of DPO's has been rather slow in Afghanistan, self-help groups of disabled people have been growing in a much faster scale. This is due to the flexible structure of these groups (i.e. can operate from home, without excessive operation cost, etc). The widespread utilization of CBR strategy over the past few years has facilitated the set up of these groups in local communities. The majority of these self-help groups however, don't survive and only a few of them develop into recognized DPO's.

Currently, there are a number of informal self-help groups of disabled people in Afghanistan. These were formed with the vision to become DPOs but remain as self-help groups due to lack of support. These include groups for physically and war disabled people, blind people, deaf people and one group for disabled women. These are located in the capital Kabul although there are other self- help groups forming in the regions.

Self-help groups are independent from the government and have the potential to foster and develop into independent DPOs with potential to lead the 'disability movement' in the future. However, training, awareness raising, financial support, and collaboration with other stakeholders especially the government, are all necessary for the development of this sector. DPI Asia and Pacific has conducted leadership training for these groups in Afghanistan during 2003 and communication continues between DPI and some of these groups to follow up on the Kabul Declaration.

Issues and challenges

The limited resources available to the central government and its concentration on the issue of security and building the infrastructure of the country had led the civil society (NGOs) to play a vital role in the development process in Afghanistan. The political conflict in the country and especially the issue of martyrs, disabled people, and refugees had necessitated the provision of organized services to meet the basic needs of these groups. Given that poverty is another major problem facing the development process in the country, more NGOs have focused their work upon activities that generate income and job opportunities for marginalized groups. A notable initiative is that managed by the disability NGO (AABRAR) - Afghan Amputee Bicycle for Rehabilitation and Recreation - for the economic rehabilitation of physically disabled people especially war veterans.

Increasingly, there are more development NGOs working on building the capacity of poor local communities in Afghanistan. This is in an attempt to achieve sustainable development for those communities. These NGOs often explore means to generate income and improve the general standard of living for these communities. An example is International Assistance Mission (IAM) that has a special program for blind people as well as a credit scheme for their economic development.

Despite this, disability NGO's sector including DPO's confronts various challenges given the complexity of their task. This includes the unplanned emergence of new NGOs, the lack of funding, and the excessive accountability to the government [2], lack of managerial skills in handling the work of these NGOs as well as the lack of coordination and cooperation between NGOs themselves. An example of NGO's lack of coordination is evident even among orthopedic INGO's and results in duplication and a drain on resources.

Despite the contribution of disability NGOs to the development process, they have been largely overlooked by the government and its funding priorities. New policies dealing with this sector are therefore needed. Policies should pay special attention to the role of DPOs in empowering the disabled community and leading the 'disability movement' nationwide. DPOs in Afghanistan have the potential to grow into partners that complement the government's vision for achieving comprehensive and equitable development, especially in rural areas.

Conclusion: the Afghan disabled community and the 'disability movement'

The current democratic environment in Afghanistan has created an unprecedented opportunity for Afghan people including those with disabilities to mobilize themselves into groups and organizations. Based on the above analysis, it could be argued that there is no such thing as a 'disability movement' in Afghanistan with clear structure and operation. What exists are scattered weak organizations and self-help groups of disabled people, all of which are characterized by little political awareness. The absence of a national disability umbrella organization contributes to the weak disabled community in the country.

Existing disability organisations depend largely on donor support, mainly external support. However, the external support has been affected by a general donor fatigue and by the fact that many donors have priority other than disability issues. Therefore, future donor support should focus on increasing the capacity of disabled people's organizations to enable them to lobby the government for taking disability as priority issue and hence increasing the sustainability of DPOs.

There is no unanimously recognised umbrella organisation for disabled people in Afghanistan. A power struggle is going on among the disabled community with physically disabled war veterans fighting to take the lead. The number of organisations claiming to be an umbrella in Afghanistan reflects the competitive and non-collaborative environment within the disability community. The only organisation however, which has a structure and a few regional branches is the National Association of Disabled Afghans (NADA). This organization has a few members in the regions but due to lack of resources, is unable to maintain a proper communication with regional members.

Overall, there is a lack of understanding among DPOs of each other's roles, problems and potentials and this hampers the development of a 'disability movement' in the country. For example, most DPOs are unclear about their mandate or mission and this results in confusion concerning their specific role as advocacy organisation versus service provider (i.e. deaf associations). It is in fact questionable whether 'movement' is an appropriate term in the Afghan context, given that the majority of DPO's are service providers rather than being political players trying to influence the political agenda.

It can be concluded that the unification of a national umbrella organisation, together with capacity building of DPOs especially in terms of leadership training and management skills, and supportive policies are prerequisites for the development of Afghan 'disability movement' in the future.

References

BMF (2003) Biwako Millennium Framework for Action Towards an Inclusive, Barries Free and Rights Based Society for Persons with Disabilities in Asia and the Pacific (BMF). United Nations Economic and Social Council, Otsu City, Shiga, Japan.

CEDAW (1979) The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women.

DPI (2003) The 1 st National Leadership Training Seminar for Persons with Disabilities organized by DPI-Asia Pacific Region, August 16-19, 2003. Kabul, Afghanistan.

DPI (2003) Draft Kabul Declaration: Towards Inclusive, Barrier-free, Rights-based Society for Persons with Disabilities in Afghanistan. DPI Asia Pacific Region, Kabul.

ICCPR (1966) International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). United Nations, New York.

Kasnitz, D. (2001), 'Life Event Histories and the US Independent Living Movement', in M. Priestley (ed.), Disability and Life Course: Global Perspectives, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 67-78.

MMD (2003) The Comprehensive National Disability Policy. URL: www.disabilityafghanistan.org

NCC (2003) The Constitution Making Process. National Constitution Commission, Kabul.

Notes

[1] Civil society here refers mainly to Non Governmental Organizations (NGO's) including international ones.

[2] NGO's however, have to be registered with the Ministry of Planning to be allowed to work only after been certified. The individual NGO has to abide by its own bylaws and the law governing the NGO's in Afghanistan. NGO's in Afghanistan are then affiliated to the ACBAR Network, an umbrella organization which coordinates the NGO's sector in the country.

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