As strong as the weakest link: An incentive to development organisations and governments to make disability an integrated element of policy and action

Generally speaking, disability is 'invisible' in development cooperation. In the Netherlands, hardly any policy is being developed to incorporate and integrate disability in development cooperation. But no development target will be attainable if disability is not incorporated in the mainstream of every development policy and every action. How else can we achieve the Millennium target of reducing poverty by half by 2015, or the target of providing education to all children on earth by 2015? Truly inclusive policy must be developed, for people with a disability or a chronic illness, but also for their families and the communities to which they belong. For everyone, in short.

There is increasing attention for disability in countries near The Netherlands. In Germany, Austria and England, departments for development cooperation are drafting new types of disability policies. In Norway and Italy policy documents have already been written which aim at inclusive policies. The Scandinavian countries, which are even farther ahead, inclusive policies are being evaluated. The World Bank appointed a disability advisor in 2002, the European Committee has taken steps in this field with the publication of a Guidance Note and the United Nations are preparing a convention on disability and human rights. But The Netherlands are lagging behind. That is a pity, because it is precisely the Netherlands that has been a pioneer in the field of development cooperation. The country now has the opportunity to link up with the international trend to establish and assert its prominent role in poverty reduction in this field as it has in others.

Disability: DCDD prefers to use the broader concept of 'disability' instead of the word 'handicap', which is more commonly used in Dutch, one reason being that the concept of disability includes chronic illness. Disability denotes a limitation in a person's functioning and/or activity resulting from a physical or mental disorder and/or a chronic disease. DCDD defines disability along the lines of the social model, according to which limitations must be stood in an environmental sense: it is not human beings who are imperfect, it is their environment that is not adapted to limitations. In Dutch, it is hard to escape the use of the word 'handicap', even if it regarded as stigmatising. We may sometimes use the word 'limitation', a word that is not yet current in this connection.
Inclusive policy: The opposite of exclusion would be inclusion, but that word is not commonly used in Dutch in the sense we mean. The terms 'inclusion' and 'inclusive' are used in English. We have adopted these terms and so speak of 'inclusive policy'.
Mainstreaming: We speak of 'mainstreaming disability' to refer to integration of disability in policy. Mainstreaming means to integrate into, literally, the main stream (the interests of) all people, with regard to policy as well as action.

According to WHO statistics, 10% of the world population is disabled in some way. Worldwide, the great majority of people with disabilities live below the poverty live. Disability is inextricably connected with poverty, being the cause as well as the result of poverty.

People with disabilities are trapped in a vicious circle: Because they disabled, they are often excluded from all kinds of social processes. Being excluded from, notably, education, health care and the labour market, situation will actually deteriorate.

Representation of interests at the local and national levels is required to make disability visible and to build a truly inclusive society. People with disabilities should be able to make themselves heard. Without the input of (organisations of) persons with disabilities, decision-makers will not take note of their interests. It happens all too often that decisions are taken to improve the conditions of disabled people without their being consulted. Which is why 'nothing about us without us' is an important policy principle.

Women with disabilities are often doubly affected. They rarely participate in schooling projects or employment creation projects. There are signs that, while HIV/Aids infection is going down on average, the trend is the reverse in women with disabilities.

UNESCO figures show that the large majority of children with a disability or a chronic illness have no access to education. Worldwide, the number of girls that do not go to school is about as large as the number of children with disabilities who do not receive education. Accessibility, physical and in terms of resources, plays an important role here, but social and cultural factors may also prevent children from participating in education. Children with disabilities do not receive formal education because their environment thinks that it is not worthwhile. 'Education for all' is unattainable without including children with disabilities.

Recently, the results of a study among organisations in development cooperation became available. The goal of the study, which was commissioned by DCDD, was to obtain insight into the manner in which organisations incorporate disability into their policies and activities. In view of the Millennium targets, and with the UN convention on disability and human rights in the offing, DCDD thought it important to take stock of the situation in the Netherlands. The respondents of the study were general development organisations and specialised NGOs, that is to say, NGOs that have chosen disability as one of their fields of activity.

The general picture that emerges from the study is that disability is not very visible in the policies of Dutch development organisations. Is that a cause for concern? Do not all organisations carry out useful work, also with regard to disability? They do, but from the answers to the questionnaire employed in the study, it appears that the absence of disability as a theme in policy agendas causes many blind spots.

Most organisations do not include disability in their mission or vision statements. In some cases, the reasons are obvious. For example, one would assume that health care organisations by their nature include the disability dimension. But is that really the case? It appears that, in actual practice, many health care provisions are not accessible for people with physical limitations. To prevent such omissions, the position and interests of people with disabilities should be taken into account in policy development at an early stage: when selecting partner organisations, for instance, or when applying for EU subsidies, in the process of preparatory research, or in the development of expertise.

Another example: organisations that mention poverty reduction as part of their mission will normally have regard for the role of disability, as a cause of poverty and also as an element in its continuance. Yet, for these organisations too, to include the disability theme in their policies, whether with regard to their own targets or as part of the assessment criteria for projects or partner organisations, would increase their range and effectiveness. A substantial number of people with disabilities is able to work and so, not only to provide for themselves but also to contribute to the development of their region and country. However, being more or less 'invisible', people with disabilities are not reached by poverty reduction programmes. Women worldwide are defined as a marginalised group and form a target group for micro-financing programmes, for example. But alas, persons with disabilities are too often ignored or overlooked, and so are denied access to micro-credit.

If no concrete targets are formulated, people with disabilities often are not included in programmes. For instance, when building a maternity clinic, has it been laid out, and fitted and furnished to accommodate disabled women? Is information available in HIV/Aids projects for deaf and blind persons? Do educational programmes guarantee participation of children with disabilities? Are partner organisations sought among self-organisations of people with disabilities? And so forth.

Are there any specific programmes or activities for people with disabilities?

Most effective in disability matters is the twin-track approach, i.e., to include disability in mainstream policy and activities while also developing projects that specifically target disability. Disabled people also benefit from specific types of projects, such as empowerment projects for disabled people's organisations, setting up workshops for the production of assistive resources, and Braille courses.

Practical strategies that are applicable in communities, such as Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR), are necessary to work, in collaboration with people with disabilities and their communities, to reduce or eliminate restrictive circumstances and to create access to provisions for everyone.

Are effectiveness measurements or evaluations in place specifically with regard to disability?

If disability is not an assessment criterion, it will not become clear to what extent disabled persons and their families are reached through actions or policies. Here too, there is a vicious circle that has to be broken. In the present situation, a development organisation will only take action or develop a disability policy when its partners asks it to. But because people with disabilities are often invisible for partner organisations as well, that question will not readily be asked.

Evaluations and effectiveness measurements are of crucial importance to increase activities in the field of disability. After elections have been held, the question may be asked: did people with disabilities have an equal chance to participate? When a water project has been set up, ask if it is accessible to persons with physical limitations. After a disaster or in a war situation, did people with disabilities share equally in the emergency aid provided? Has it been investigated how people with disabilities are discriminated against? How do information projects deal with prejudices and stigmata regarding impairments? And so forth.

The pertinent question is: why are people with disabilities as invisible as they are in general poverty reduction programmes? People with disabilities can contribute to society and be an economic factor. People who could be self-sufficient are written off unjustly. If everybody has equal rights to participation in society, why are people with disabilities not prioritized? Is the chain not as strong as its weakest link?

DCDD has developed a vision on mainstreaming disability for Dutch development organisations. In the ideal case, disability is a guideline and a benchmark in every phase of any policy. Like gender, disability should be a theme running through all policy, evident in the development, definition, execution and evaluation of policy. Care should be taken that mainstreaming of disability becomes just a word without any concrete meaning, an excuse for not targeting it specifically.

DCDD will follow up the study and publish about trends and changes in the field of development cooperation in relation to disability. DCDD is also preparing publications on subjects such as Education and disability in development cooperation and Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR).

DCDD works indirectly to improve the situation of people with disabilities in developing countries. DCDD is an activating network; we bring together organisations and key persons in the fields of development cooperation and disability, we facilitate exchange of information, organise meetings, and work purposefully to influence policies and awareness-raising activities. DCDD's activities are developed on a project basis by working groups and committees. Volunteers contribute on the basis of their expertise and availability. DCDD itself does not carry out development projects, nor does it finance them.

DCDD enables you to get information and to come into contact with people who can help you to devise more inclusive policies, or set up inclusive projects.

The manner in which Dutch development cooperation organisations pay attention to disability. The study report of a baseline measurement, commissioned by DCDD. This report can be downloaded from: www.dcdd.nl?2447 (in Dutch language only)

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