The first roundtable discussion took place in Lilongwe, Malawi from the 2 to 4 November 2004. The forum was organised by the Federation of Disability Organisations in Malawi (FEDOMA) and Healthlink Worldwide.

Over 35 participants attended from across Africa, India, South East Asia and Europe. Representatives included disabled people's organisations (DPOs), government and donors, and other organisations working with disabled people.

The discussions aimed to make explicit the links between disability and poverty and highlight the role DPOs play in working towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Opportunities for the Disability Knowledge and Research Programme (Disability KaR) were discussed and steps were taken to prioritise areas for research.

Opening ceremony
The Principal Secretary of the Malawi Ministry of Social Development and Disability Issues, Mr Ngongondo, opened the roundtable. He spoke of the Malawian government proposals to help improve the lives of disabled people and their families in the country which include initiatives such as the development of a National Disability policy, legislation for mainstreaming disability, and teacher training for inclusive education. He urged fellow governments to support initiatives for disabled people.

MDGs - a hot topic
The roundtable hosted a lively discussion on the relevance of the MDGs to the disability agenda. Knowledge of the MDGs varied among the group and basic assumptions were challenged.The whole debate highlighted the gap between grassroots organisations and policy makers, and the lack of processes to ensure the MDG framework reaches DPOs.

The participants were interested in a number of issues, including:

• The primary motivation for the MDGs and which organisations decided on the goals and the targets
• Links between the MDGs and Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs)
• How to ensure disabled people were represented in programmes developed to achieve the MDGs and reduce poverty.

The discussion was later followed up with group work looking into practical links between the work of DPOs and the MDGs. Key issues that arose were:

• Many participants had not previously thought about their work in relation to the MDGs
• Many DPOs were contributing to the achievement of the MDGs.
• Much of the work was already being done before the MDGs were ‘created’.

A comment from the group discussion was:

“Take away the ‘M’ and you are left with Development Goals – and we all work to those.”

Challenges to engage decision makers
The roundtable sought to find ways to highlight the challenges that DPOs face when trying to engage decision makers with disability issues. This was no easy task, as one participant stated:

“Decision makers can be anyone from parents right up to Kofi Annan.”

After group work and a plenary discussion consensus was reached on a number of challenges:

• Lack of knowledge – disability is seen as a low priority by policy makers. A lack of consultation with DPOs means governments can miss out on opportunities to support creative programmes and strategies.
• Poor resource allocation – the low priority given to disability by donors and governments results in limited resources. DPOs often lack the capacity to develop successful funding proposals, while governments lack of transparency and accountability can result in donors being unwilling to remit funds. This affects the ability of the disability movement to influence national and international policies.
• Disabled people can lack confidence - this affects disabled people's ability to represent themselves and influence and confront decision makers.
• Lack of DPO capacity and unity - causes difficulties for DPOs to raise awareness and lobby for change.
• Policy – practice gap - policies are not communicated down to the grassroots level and donor requirements make it difficult for local organisations to access funds
• Mainstreaming disability – disability issues are still regarded in isolation, seen as a special issue and are seldom mainstreamed in programmes and within government structures.
• Loss of skilled activists to politics - prominent activists take up political posts and are replaced by less exprienced members, which decreases the capacity of DPOs to represent themselves and lobby for their rights.

And in response…
A range of solutions to those challenges were discussed, including:

• Capacity building for DPOs in relation to lobbying, advocacy, programme planning, management, evaluation, and fundraising.
• Development of networks and co-ordinating bodies to support DPOs.
• Increased lobbying of politicians for the development and implementation of disability legislation.
• Awareness raising of how policies affect disabled people and their communities.
• Skills building for DPOs to write funding proposals and set up small-scale demonstration projects.

These responses were developed into a framework for action for both national and international levels. Participants were encouraged to continue to share their contributions and experiences after the roundtable.

Full framework is available to download here (Word doc. 22KB, 2 pages).

Research priorities
The participants spent some time investigating research areas that would help support their work. Ten areas for priority were identified:

After the roundtable the priorities identified were used to develop the Disability KaR ‘research prospectus’, inviting bids to address these research topics.

The research prospectus is available to download here (Word doc 68KB, 8 pages).

Group work statements
On the last day the participants worked together to produce two written statements from the roundtable:

• A press release for the participants to circulate with their networks and media contacts
• A statement to be released in time for the United Nations International Day of the Disabled 2004 on 3 December.

The statement for the International Day of the Disabled 2004 voiced the importance of a rights-based approach towards disability and development and concerns that poverty alleviation strategies in developing countries and the achievement of the MDGs had not, so far, included the full participation of disabled people. Participants called for measures to be taken to facilitate in-depth, participatory research on the key issues identified at the roundtable in order to contribute to lasting change.

The full statement and press release are available here to download:

Statement for UN International day of disabled persons, 2004 (Word doc, 28 KB 2 pages).

Press release written by participants (Word doc, 28 KB, 2 pages).