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Disability Rights Fund Makes Grants to 33 Organizations
By Andrea Shettle, MSW | January 21, 2009
PRESS RELEASE
Disability Rights Fund Makes Grants to 33 Organizations in 7 Countries
November 3, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BOSTON, MA – The Disability Rights Fund (DRF) – a groundbreaking collaborative to support the human rights of people with disabilities around the world– today announced funding decisions from its first request for proposals. A total of $800,000 will be gifted to 33 organizations in seven countries. The grants will support work to raise awareness about the rights of people with disabilities, build coalitions and networks, and develop advocacy and monitoring activities, in connection with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
DRF grantees share the goal of advancing the rights of people with disabilities at the country-level. Recipients include:
• A Ugandan organization of lawyers with disabilities.
• An emergent Peruvian group of people with psycho-social disabilities.
• A grassroots network in Bangladesh of women-led disabled persons’ organizations.
The full grantee list is posted on the DRF website, www.disabilityrightsfund.org/grantees.html and is available upon request.
“As the disability rights movement gains new impetus through the UN Convention we are delighted to play our part by placing new funding in the hands of DPOs to enable them to advance rights at country level,” stated DRF Co-Chair, William Rowland. DRF Director, Diana Samarasan, added “It is an auspicious day to put money in the hands of organizations run by people with disabilities. The first Conference of States Parties to the Convention is being held at the UN; the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is being elected. The work of translating the Convention from paper to practice is before us.”
Grantees were selected after a rigorous review process which included review by DRF’s Steering Committee, a committee composed of donor representatives and people with disabilities from the Global South.
DRF’s donors include: an anonymous founding donor, The Sigrid Rausing Trust, the Open Society Institute, the UK’s Department for International Development, and the American Jewish World Service.
A grantee list can be requested from DRF by writing to dsamarasan@disabilityrightsfund.org. Or you can consult the Grantee web page at the Disability Rights Fund website.
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Readers may also wish to consult the Disability Rights Fund website to learn about upcoming funding opportunities from their organization for projects to promote the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Readers may also wish to consult their extensive resource listings to find resources that can help them learn how to raise funds, find funding sources, and use the CRPD to promote the human rights of people with disabilities in their country.
Topics: Fundraising, News |
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