Putting Disability KaR into context

Independent consultant Isabel Ortiz was commissioned in 2004 to examine how the work of the Disability KaR Programme fits within the Department for International Development's overall poverty agenda. Ben Simms of the Programme Advisory Group looks at her report.

Isabel Ortiz's report Assessing connections to DFID's poverty agenda ripples with compelling statistics, quotes, concepts and ideas about mainstreaming disability in development. It is both a 'call to arms' - demonstrating how nascent a field disability is within DFID thinking - and a tour d'horizons, presenting lessons that can be learned from other agencies, notably the World Bank.

The statistics alone are compelling. According to the UN, two-thirds of the world's population of disabled people live below the poverty line; DFID itself states that one in five of the world's poor is disabled.

The story so far

Ortiz credits the disability-related work DFID has done to date, in particular the publication of the Disability, poverty and development Issues Paper in 2000, the Partnership Programme Agreement signed with Action on Disability and Development in 2002, the funding of the Disability KaR Programme, and the numerous micro-grants given to disability projects. Ortiz stresses that this work fits well with DFID's existing pro-poor, rights-based, Millennium Development Goal-aligned agenda. In fact, this agenda provides fertile ground for work of this nature.

Shortcomings in DFID's work are also highlighted. Many non-DFID people (and some, perhaps, from within) will agree that mainstreaming disability 'will require efforts to redress some of the current activities, to ensure that they bring disability to the forefront of the development agenda.' Many, too, will agree with the description of the Issues Paper as a 'first attempt to introduce disability to DFID' and the call to convert this into a Strategy or Policy paper - something that would carry greater authority within DFID thinking, not least by providing more guidance on how disability can be mainstreamed in its work.

The mainstreaming challenge

The Ortiz report is at its best in providing practical ideas about how such mainstreaming can be achieved. Proposals are made across four main areas:

• At the country level, there is a need to prioritise disabled people's own voices within aid instruments such as Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers and Comprehensive Development Frameworks, and a need to make explicit references to disabled people in Country Strategy Programmes. The piloting of mainstreaming initiatives within specific countries is suggested.

• At the level of development interventions, DFID could continue its own 'twin-track' approach, as outlined in its Issues Paper, using its influence to address inequalities between disabled people and non-disabled people on the one hand, and to support specific initiatives to enhance the empowerment of disabled people on the other.

• At the institutional level, DFID could consider strategies used by other agencies, such as the World Bank's appointment of a Disability Advisor, and think about how more disabled people can be recruited to work inside DFID.

• Finally, at the level of knowledge initiatives, the Disability KaR Programme could be further shaped to assist DFID in achieving its goal of mainstreaming disability.

In addition, the report analyses the relevance of disability to a number of development aid instruments and proposes the KIPAF (Knowledge, Inclusiveness, Participation, Access and Fulfilling Obligation) framework as a way of assessing the relevance of specific projects to a broader poverty reduction agenda.

These proposals are by no means exhaustive; they leave space for further suggestions. And there are certain gaps in the references made - for example, to the European Union's guidelines on disability, and to the work of the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation. Some of these ideas are picked up in the KaR mapping report by Philippa Thomas.

Looking to the future

Overall, Assessing connections to DFID's poverty agenda is a positive, forward-looking document (particularly valuable if read in conjunction with the mapping report). It will give DFID staff an opportunity to take stock of the place of disability within DFID's priorities and to consider how these issues might be taken further. This process might then enable DFID to formulate a clearer policy statement on disability and practical guidance on how to mainstream disability into development activities.

Ben Simms is Programmes Development Manager at Sense International, and represents the BOND Disability and Development Group on the KaR Programme Advisory Group.

Assessing connections to DFID's poverty agenda can be read in full in the policy project research section.