Leave No One Behind: The “Why” and “How” of disability mainstreaming in Development Cooperation projects
A personal reflection on “Development Cooperation”
After graduating from university, while I was looking for a job, I sent my CV to a person I knew in one of the specialised agencies of the United Nations (UN) System. The CV mentioned my interest in “Development Cooperation”. However, this UN staff member I knew got back to me asking what this meant, as he was not familiar with the term. I was puzzled by his reaction but it also dawned on me that for some “Development Cooperation” could be a buzz word — used by many but not clearly defined by anyone. For the purpose of this article, I would say that Development Cooperation tries to address national or international socio-economic priorities, is not motivated by making financial profit, focusses on developing countries and aims to increase their ownership.
Global frameworks on disability-inclusive Development Cooperation
While the world was still trying to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) — which made no reference to people with disabilities whatsoever — a truly historic moment for the disability rights movement had come: the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) by the UN General Assembly in 2006, meanwhile ratified by more than 180 Member States.
Galvanized by the CRPD negotiation process, the disability rights movement wouldn’t miss out on making the successor of the MDGs, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), inclusive of people with disabilities.
In addition to the many references to people with disabilities across several SDGs and their targets — including SDG target 8.5 “achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for […] persons with disabilities” — the CRPD’s Article 32 calls upon UN Member States to ensure that their Development Cooperation measures are inclusive of and accessible to persons with disabilities.
Disability gaps persist in all dimensions of socio-economic development
In 2018, the UN Flagship Report on Disability and Development showed that the promise of the 2030 Agenda to “Leave No One Behind” was far from being kept when it comes to the realities persons with disabilities face around the globe.
With the continuing marginalisation and exclusion of persons with disabilities worldwide, disability-inclusive Development Cooperation projects — including those delivered by the UN System — can play a transformative role in creating more equitable societies.
Practice what you preach: the role of the UN System
While the CRPD has been providing a global framework for UN Member States to work on the equitable treatment of persons with disabilities for the last 15 years, the UN System itself adopted its Disability Inclusion Strategy (UNDIS) only in 2019.
UNDIS has two accountability frameworks: one for UN entities and one for UN Country Teams (UNCTs), which are the coming-together of representatives of the UN entities working in a particular country. Both accountability frameworks are clear on disability-inclusive Development Cooperation. UN entities have to mainstream disability issues in a certain percentage of their projects and UNCTs have to mainstream disability inclusion in the majority of new joint projects first, eventually in all of them.
Ok, I am convinced. What do I do now?
With the many reasons for mainstreaming disability inclusion in Development Cooperation projects, the next obvious question is how to do it.
It is particularly important to ensure that Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs) are included in the project stakeholder group, as per the rallying motto of persons with disabilities worldwide “Nothing About Us Without Us”. People with disabilities are experts in their own right. Understood as active agents for positive change and self-advocates, they typically know best what is needed to tackle discrimination and to promote their inclusion instead.
Further, building the capacity of project staff on disability issues is essential. We can’t expect to all become disability specialists, however, there should be a sufficient understanding by those designing and implementing a project about what the key areas of work are to advance the inclusion of persons with disabilities. This ranges from accessibility of project premises, communications and documents to the use of respectful language and the concept of reasonable adjustments.
When a project proposal is drafted, one should think about including reference to disability issues explicitly in project outcomes or outputs. For instance, a certain percentage of project beneficiaries could be beneficiaries with disabilities.
Moreover, project designers need to remember that persons with disabilities are part of any given group that projects are supposed to benefit. Typically, people with disabilities experience long-standing exclusion, so active outreach to beneficiaries with disabilities is key. OPDs can be very helpful in this regard.
As part of the International Labour Organization (ILO)’s implementation of UNDIS through its own Disability Inclusion Strategy 2020–23, I recently discussed with my colleague Esther Gomez in the Partnerships and Field Support department how more of ILO’s Development Cooperation projects can be made disability-inclusive. Enjoy the recording of the chat with her.
Development Cooperation keeps changing and my own understanding of it is certainly different now compared to when I sent my CV to a UN contact in the hope of getting a job. What is now clearer than ever, however, is that persons with disabilities must not be overlooked anymore. They have to get their fair share of the benefits of Development Cooperation — as a matter of human rights and as an ethical imperative.
