Seven research projects were commissioned by the Disability KaR programme.
Identifying the areas for research began with a consultation on research priorities with representatives of the disability movement from Europe, Africa and Asia.

Ideas were also gathered at the Malawi roundtable in November 2004 (see Malawi roundtable section for more information). Here participants, many of whom were from Southern-based NGOs and DPOs, defined a number of research priorities and identified principles for how the work should be completed.

The full research priority list can be downloaded as a Word document (1 page, 25 KB).

The research projects (use the left-hand menu for more information on each project) directly involve disabled people and are informed by the social model of disability. Many of the projects have been implemented by disabled researchers in the South or are North-South collaborations involving DPOs and disabled researchers. The projects signal a new way of working, which challenges the traditional research paradigm and places disabled people firmly at the centre of disability research.

As Mark Harrison, the Disability KaR Programme Director says of the programme: "The challenge has been to connect the practice of the programme to the principles of human rights and disability equality. This has meant we have worked to open up the programme activities to disabled people from the South and the North in a new way. To begin this process the policy project consulted members of the disability movement from Europe, Africa and Asia on the agenda for research. This engagement was deepened at the Malawi roundtable , where participants articulated a clear research agenda and principles for how disability research should be carried out.

"It was this agenda that informed the commissioning of research in the policy project, the thematic research projects and the research prospectus. This process has produced an exciting set of collaborations between disabled researchers from across the globe. Based on the principles of emancipatory research, this work has produced a number of valuable insightful reports.

"By collaborating with researchers in developing countries, many of whom are active in the disability and development movement, the programme aims to provide a realistic representation of where disability and development is at the present time, examine the opportunities that exist for disabled people to become engaged with the development process, and to positively influence DFID’s overall research goals."

In conclusion there was consensus that traditional research often involves wealthy non-disabled outsiders questioning people about their lives which is not a reliable way of getting information. Researchers concluded that it is essential that disabled people are fully involved in future research, including setting the agenda.

The Disability KaR programme is only a first step in addressing the traditional methods by which disability and development research is carried out. Of central importance was involving disabled people from the South as equal partners in either leading the research or as members of the research or as members of the research teams. There remains a great deal yet to do.

If you would like to discuss any of the seven thematic research projects in more details please contact Katharine Trott at the Overseas Development Group, at the University of East Anglia, UK: K.Trott@uea.ac.uk

Read the research prospectus invitation prepared by ODG (Word doc 9 pages, 80 KB)