Memorandum submitted by VSO
THE CASE
FOR AID
TO INDIA
Reducing poverty in India is critical to tackling
global poverty. India has the highest number of people living
in extreme poverty in the world: 25% of the world's poor, with
350 million people (35% of the total population in India) living
below the International Poverty Line of $1 per day (UNDP). Without
effective intervention in India, DFID will have no hope of halving
the number of people living in absolute poverty by 2015 as set
out in the Millennium Development Goals.
DISABILITY, HIV &
AIDS AND POVERTY
While meeting the broad ambition of the MDGs
is clearly important, huge numbers of people are suffering from
multiple levels of disadvantage and are being marginalized from
the development process. This is especially true in India where
disabled people and people living with HIV and AIDS are suffering
double and triple forms of marginalization and discrimination,
leading to greater disadvantage.
"According to the United Nations, one
person in 20 has a disability. More than three out of four of
these live in a developing country. More often than not, they
are among the poorest of the poor. Recent World Bank estimates
suggest they may account for as many of one in five of the world's
poorest." DFID Issues Paper Disability, Poverty and
Development (Feb 2000).
The World Bank further estimates that up to
20% of the poorest sections of society are disabled people (2002).
Disabled people are therefore disproportionately represented amongst
those living in extreme poverty.
In India, it is estimated that 70 million people
(6% of the population) have an impairment of some kind, giving
India the largest population of disabled people in the world.
Disabled people in India are particularly disadvantaged, for example:
only 8% of disabled children are in full-time education, compared
with a national enrolment rate of 56%. (National Centre for Promotion
of Employment for Disabled People, India)
Where HIV and AIDS is concerned, approximately
40 million people (1 out of 150 people worldwide) are living with
HIV and AIDS today and 95% of these people are in developing countries
(UNAIDS).
India has the second highest number of people
living with HIV in the world (between 3.9 and 4.5 million adults
as of 2002). While the overall prevalence rate is low, given the
large size of India's population, many different groups within
India are affected, especially those in the poorest sectors of
society.
However, very little is being done by donors,
NGOs and national governments to promote development that is genuinely
inclusive of disabled people and people living with HIV and AIDS.
Such marginalization creates a significant risk that disabled
people and people living with HIV and AIDS will not be among the
millennium development goal's 50% pulled out of poverty by 2015.
VSO'S APPROACH
TO ADDRESSING
THE NEEDS
OF DISABLED
PEOPLE AND
PEOPLE LIVING
WITH HIV AND
AIDS IN INDIA
In VSO's own work in India, we believe that
it is essential to build the capacity of organisations of disabled
people and people living with HIV and AIDS to: advocate for their
own rights more successfully; strengthen their membership (in
terms of numbers, geographical coverage and diversity of representation
from individuals affected by double and triple levels of disadvantage);
speak with unity, cohesion and clarity; and run their organisations
more effectively and professionally. In this way, we hope to increase
the confidence, effectiveness and credibility of these groups
so that their concerns are not only heard, but listened to and
acted upon thereby creating a far greater impact than individual
service delivery programmes.
The rationale for working with organisations
of disabled people and people living with HIV and AIDS is part
ideology, part sustainability and part cost-efficiency. Ideologically,
disabled people and people living with HIV and AIDS must be involved
in decisions that affect their lives. This is a widely accepted
principle that is aspired to in almost every aspect of development.
Secondly, strong, representative, professional
movements of people living with HIV and AIDS, and of disabled
people, will be able to engage more effectively with governments,
donors and all aspects of society. The mutual respect and understanding
gained will help ensure the sustainability of rights and services
that will help lift them out of poverty.
Thirdly, in a country the size and scale of
India, where the combined total of all ODA makes up only 0.35%
of India's GDP, the need for identifying opportunities to maximise
the impact of development inputs is crucial. The nascent movements
of disabled people and people living with HIV and AIDS provide
just such an opportunity. Focusing strategically on these two
vulnerable groups enables us to leverage greater impact for reducing
poverty and disadvantage in India.
Many of VSO's partners and potential partners
are disabled people's organisations and organisations of people
with HIV and AIDS. These are: the National Centre for the Promotion
of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP); Hemophilia Federation
of India; Action For Autism; the Positive Women's Network; En-Joy
(the West Bengal Network of Positive People); the Deaf Way Foundation;
the Indian Network of Positive People; All India Confederation
of the Blind; and Swabhiman (disability in Orissa).
DFID'S RESPONSE
TO DISABLED
PEOPLE AND
PEOPLE LIVING
WITH HIV AND
AIDS IN INDIA
India is DFID's second largest programme of
bilateral assistance, after Iraq. Despite its high levels of support
and poverty focus in India, DFID has been unable to develop strategic
approaches that deal with multiple levels of disadvantage and
genuinely seek to bring the most marginalized groups into the
development process. Two groups that suffer particularly from
these forms of discrimination are disabled people and people living
with HIV and AIDS.
DFID's Issues Paper, Disability, Poverty
and Development, published February 2000 ". . . assesses
the significance of disability as a key development issue, and
its importance in relation to poverty, human rights, and the achievement
of internationally agreed development targets. It also sets out
ways in which development co-operation, including DFID's own work,
can help incorporate the rights and needs of people with disabilities
into the mainstream of poverty reduction work and the achievement
of human rights." (p1)
Despite Disability, Poverty and Development's
recognition that disability is a cause and consequence of poverty,
DFID's Country Assistance Plan (CAP) for India 2004-08, launched
9 March 2004, makes no mention of disability or disabled people.
HIV/AIDS fares slightly better with an acknowledgement
in the CAP that "more than four million people are infected
with HIV/AIDS in India, and while there are pockets of higher
prevalence, the overall rate is less than 1%."
While there are no explicit references to disability
in DFID India's CAP, DFID is implicitly addressing such concerns
through its Poorer Areas Civil Society (PACS) programme. DFID
has also expressed interest in establishing a mini-PPA (programme
partnership agreement) with VSO India. Such initiatives, however,
are essentially opportunistic and random and based on individual
priorities. What is needed is a firmer mandate, with clarity,
coherence and an institutional commitment to engage with disability
and HIV & AIDS on an organisational basis and as clear cross-cutting
themes.
March 2004
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