Lessons Learned on the Inclusion of People with Disabilities in a Food Security Project for Ultra Poor Women in Bangladesh
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inclusion works! Lessons learned on the inclusion of people with disabilities in a food security project for ultra poor women in Bangladesh By Paulien Bruijn, edited by Judith Mulder-Baart inclusion works! Lessons learned on the inclusion of people with disabilities in a food security project for ultra poor women in Bangladesh By Paulien Bruijn, edited by Judith Mulder-Baart Table of Contents Introduion 5 FSUP Gaibandha proje 5 Used methodology 6 Acknowledgements 6 Chapter 1. The importance of including people with disabilities in food security initiatives 8 Disability is a human rights issue 9 Disability is a poverty issue 11 Disability is a gender issue 12 Disability is a social issue 13 Barriers that block inclusion 13 Chapter 2. Results and impa of inclusion 15 Number of people with disabilities enrolled 15 Increased functional abilities 16 Improved food security and livelihood 17 Improved access to government safety nets 19 Dreaming to send daughter to school 20 Improved social status and participation 20 Increased self esteem and empowerment 20 Chapter 3. Lessons learned from disability mainstreaming 23 Summary of the lessons learned about mainstreaming disability in the FSUP project 23 Consortium development 24 Proposal development 24 Selection criteria 26 Beneficiary selection process 27 Planning and budgeting for inclusion 28 Monitoring inclusion 28 Implementation 29 • Capacity building for inclusion 30 • Awareness raising in women groups 30 • IGA selection process 31 • Household involvement in the income generating activities 32 • Suitable IGA’s for people with disabilities 32 • Inclusion in Disaster Risk Reduction 34 • Accessibility 34 • Disability specific service delivery 34 • Leprosy 37 Sustainability of disability mainstreaming 38 Concluding remarks 39 Annex I. Tools & Resources 41 • Suggested guidebooks & websites 41 • Checklist on inclusion of persons with disabilities in all Project Cycle phases 42 References 44 • List of abbreviations 44 Colophon 44 right, but it is also a very effective poverty reduction Introduction strategy. Here, we also describe the barriers that block inclusion. In chapter two we present the results and positive The inclusion of persons with disabilities and leprosy in impact of the project on the lives of people with a disability. mainstream development programmes is a relatively new The third chapter contains the lessons learned on disability concept in development. This new development is a result of mainstreaming at programmatic level and offers practical the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of tips for organisations who want to make their projects Persons with a Disability, which underlines the rights of disability inclusive. In the annex we give an overview of persons with disabilities to be enrolled in development relevant tools and resources for organisations to start or programmes. The Gaibandha Food Security Project is one of improve the inclusion of people with disabilities. the first programmes that mainstreams disability on a large Additionally, we offer a tool to evaluate the disability scale. With this publication we want to share our results on inclusiveness of your project throughout the whole project the inclusion of people with disabilities, and the lessons that cycle, which can also be a helpful checklist when developing we have learned about mainstreaming disability. a disability inclusive project proposal. Amongst the group of people with disabilities that are When we started the project five years ago, there were included in this project, there are also people that are socially hardly any practical guidelines available on how to include affected by leprosy. People with different kind of disabilities people with disabilities in mainstream development projects, usually face different kind of barriers that restrict them from meaning we had to start from zero. After five years, we can participation. In case of people affected by leprosy there are honestly say that we have learned many lessons about strong attitudinal barriers in the community that prevent disability mainstreaming. With the knowledge we have now, them, and sometimes also their family members, from we can avoid replicating the mistakes we made this time. participation in society. The project was designed in such a The aim of this publication is thus not only to share our way that all people with all types of disabilities, including successes, but also our shortcomings. We want to encourage people affected by leprosy, could participate equally in all other development practitioners to start including people project activities. with disabilities in their (food security) programmes. So take advantage from our learnings and find out yourself that In the first chapter we will highlight the importance of Inclusion Works! inclusion of people with disabilities. Inclusion is not only a group member to set up two different FSUP Gaibandha project IGAs during the project. Next to the income generating activities, the The Gaibandha food security project disaster prone area in the north of women received training on topics was implemented by seven local Bangladesh. The 40.000 women taking such as health and hygiene and partner organizations ( RDRS, GBK, part in the programme were organized disaster preparedness, and also learned UST, CDD, CCDB and TLMB) and into 1600 women groups. Together, how to get access to government supported by ICCO Cooperation, The the women groups formed a safety nets. A disability and leprosy Leprosy Mission Netherlands/ England federation. The women received team provided health education to the & Wales, and LIGHT FOR THE training and assets to perform their women groups about the prevention, WORLD, the Netherlands. The own income generating activities detection and treatment of disability European Union funded the project for (IGAs). They also received input to and leprosy. The team also provided 80%, while the Northern partners start their own homestead gardens. rehabilitation services to the contributed the remaining 20%. The IGAs ranged from chicken, goat beneficiaries and any family members and beef rearing, to tailoring, shop with a disability. Additionally, the The Food Security Project in keeping and fishing. In this project we project included work on disaster and Gaibandha (2009 to 2013) aimed to used the Heifer principle, whereby risk preparedness, for example by improve the food security situation of each women had to give offspring building flood shelters and creating 40.000 ultra poor female headed from the received animals to another early warning systems. households in a densely- populated and group member. The aim was for each 5 Used methodology Acknowledgements The data presented in this publication have been gathered in This publication has been written by Paulien Bruijn, four different ways: Disability Inclusion Advisor at LIGHT FOR THE WORLD the Netherlands. Edited by Judith Mulder- Baart and reviewed by • First of all we have used the data that were already Lieke Scheewe. available in the project monitoring databases, reports and surveys. Based on the research findings and life stories collected by • In 2013, a Dutch student, Faten Almanie, collected 120 Faten Almanie, Bhabatosh Nath and Nasima Akhter. Special stories from more than 50 project beneficiaries and staff thanks to Mallika de Kramer- Werkhoven from Top Innosense members through individual interviews and focus group who helped us with the Sensemaker methodology, and to discussions. The data was collected and analysed with the my colleague Sander Schot for the practical tools. so- called Sensemaker methodology. •Besides this, an external consultancy team from This publication would not have been possible without the Responsive to Integrated Development Services, support of the European Union, who financed this food consisting of Bhabatosh Nath & Nasima Akhter did a security project. Special thanks goes to the ICCO study on the impact, outcome and process of inclusion of Cooperation and The Leprosy Mission Netherlands and people with disabilities in the income generating activities England & Wales and their partner organisations, who were of FSUP. During this study, which was carried out at the our fellow travelers on this journey to inclusion of people end of the project period, the consultants also collected with disabilities. And of course a big thanks to all the project 45 case studies from participants with a disability or a staff of FSUP for their support during the field visits and for disabled family member. Also 16 key informant interviews collecting all the necessary data. Special thanks to the and 13 focus group discussions were carried out. coordination team of RDRS, the project teams at the Center •During an internal evaluation in April 2013, the author of for Disability in Development and The Leprosy Mission this publication evaluated the process of disability International in Bangladesh. With an extra big thank you for mainstreaming with the participating organizations in the Masedul Abedin Khan and Zakaria Ferdous from CDD , and food security project. photographer Shumon Ahmed. The stories of the women with disabilities and the women The biggest thanks of course is for all the women taking part with a disabled family member are the backbone of this in the food security project in Gaibandha! They were so kind publication. It’s all about their experiences, their rights and to share their stories with us: the happy ones and the sad their inclusion! ones. It’s a great honor to share the stories of the women with disabilities who are often overlooked and ignored. Note: the persons shown on the photographs are not necessarily the same as in the related quotes. 6 No longer dependent on their brother Five years ago, Molida and her sister Hena were selected by a fieldworker to participate in the Food Security Project for Ultra Poor women in Gaibandha district. Together with the other beneficiaries in their village, they formed a women group. In the women group they received training on healthy food, how to start their own vegetable garden, and how to generate their own income. Molida and Hena both have a hearing impairment, so communicating with their group members is not always easy.