« International Diploma in Mental Health Law and Human Rights | Home | Bonn Declaration on Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Emergency Situations »
On-line Resource Fights Poverty Among People with Disabilities
By Andrea Shettle, MSW | September 14, 2008
The following press release about a helpful resource for people who fight poverty among people with disabilities in developing countries is being circulated by Handicap International, Christian Blind Mission, and GTZ. Efforts to include people with disabilities in the fight on poverty and efforts to implement the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) could be coordinated. For example, many Poverty Reduction Strategies call for universal access to primary school education: this cannot be achieved until children with disabilities have access to education, as called for in Article 24 of the CRPD.
Press release – 07 April 2008
In 1999, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) introduced the concept of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP). One of its basic ideas is that highly indebted poor countries develop comprehensive strategies how to reduce poverty within the country. Civil society should participate in the formulation, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the poverty reduction strategy (PRS).
Poverty is a cause and a consequence of disability. Although this is evident, people with disabilities had to realise that PRSPs and the proposed measures did not regard their needs and interests so far. In addition, people with disabilities and their organisations rarely have the possibility to participate in the formulation and implementation of PRSPs.
On behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Handicap International, the Christoffel-Blindenmission (CBM) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH (German Technical Cooperation) implement pilot projects in Cambodia, Tanzania and Vietnam to address the shortcomings of the PRS processes. These projects are based on the handbook “Making PRSP Inclusive”, published by Handicap International and CBM in 2006, initiated by the World Bank and financed by a German Trust Fund (with financial support of the German government). New experiences made in the projects in 2007 contributed to the revision and update of the handbook.
The key experiences from the projects show that capacity development and networking of local organisations of and for persons with disabilities are crucial for the inclusion of disability in PRS processes. For this reason “Making PRSP Inclusive” introduces subjects around disability and PRSP and at the same time includes basic techniques like project management and lobbying. The handbook also offers a toolbox with participatory methods for the implementation of workshops and projects. In addition it presents case studies from Honduras, Bangladesh, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Vietnam and Cambodia.
The updated version is available as online-handbook at www.making-prsp-inclusive.org. The medium internet offers the opportunity for continuous updating. The website has an accessible design for persons with visual impairments. The handbook is currently available in English; the French translation will be published in a few months.
The organisations:
Handicap International is an international charity working in 60 countries worldwide in the fields of rehabilitation, inclusion of disabled people and in disability prevention. Handicap International stands up for the rights of people with disabilities and is also engaged in the framework of the UN Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities.
Christoffel-Blindenmission (CBM) is an independent, interdenominational Christian relief organization committed to help people with disabilities to live as independently as possible - in more than 1,000 projects in developing countries. Medical help, rehabilitation and integration into society are the main goals, for instance through the support of eye hospitals or hospitals with eye departments, schools for blind persons and special programmes for hearing impaired and physically disabled people.
As an international cooperation enterprise for sustainable development with worldwide operations, the federally owned Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH supports the German Government in achieving its development-policy objectives. It provides viable, forward-looking solutions for political, economic, ecological and social development in a globalised world. Often working under difficult conditions, GTZ promotes complex reforms and change processes. Its corporate objective is to improve people’s living conditions on a sustainable basis.
The three organisations are members of the World Bank imitative “Global Partnership for Disability and Development” (GPDD).
Information:
Ursula Miller, Handicap International, +49 8954 76 06 23, umiller@handicap-international.de
Andreas Pruisken, Christoffel-Blindenmission, +49 6251131 307, andreas.pruisken@cbm.org
Andreas Gude, GTZ, +49 6 196 79 1517, andreas.gude@gtz,de
Dorothea Rischewski, GTZ, +49 6 196 791263, dorothea.rischewski@gtz.de
Handicap International e.V.
Ganghoferstr. 19
80339 München
GERMANY
Tel.: +49 89 54 76 06 0
Fax: +49 89 54 76 06 20
www.handicap-international.de
Christoffel-Blindenmission Deutschland e.V.
Nibelungenstraße 124
64625 Bensheim
GERMANY
Tel.: +49 6251 131-0
Fax: + 49 6251 131-199
www.christoffel-blindenmission.de
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH
Dag-Hammarskjöld-Weg 1-5
65760 Eschborn
GERMANY
Tel.: +49 6196 79-0
Fax: +49 6196 79-1115
www.gtz.de
This press release also has been posted at the We Can Do blog.
Topics: Disability Rights -- General, International Disability Organizations and Web Sites, Useful Sites |
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.