Written evidence submitted by Leonard
Cheshire Disability
Leonard Cheshire Disability is a UK-based organisation
that works in disability and development with local partner organisations
in Africa, Asia and the Americas. Our inclusive education project
in Zimbabwe supports up to 1,000 children with disabilities
who would otherwise be denied an education to attend their local,
mainstream schools. This involves facilitating teacher training
to help meet all learners' needs, mobilising communities to identify
and support excluded children, and building accessible classrooms
and sanitation facilities. Our other main programme in Zimbabwe
supports young people with disabilities to create awareness of
the UNCPRD and campaign for its ratification and implementation.
This submission highlights the severe deprivation
faced by many disabled people in Zimbabwe and the need for DFID
to focus on fully inclusive approaches to eliminating poverty
and meeting the Millennium Development Goals. Given the priority
that DFID has placed on reaching vulnerable children in Zimbabwe,
it is crucial that particular attention should be given to disabled
children, as well as to disabled adults who are disproportionately
vulnerable. This would include the provision of basic services,
and support for livelihoods, training and education.
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Leonard Cheshire Disability welcomes
the opportunity to submit evidence to the International Development
Committee's inquiry into the assistance provided by DFID in Zimbabwe.
1.2 Working with disabled people, Leonard
Cheshire Disability aims to deliver a truly inclusive approach
to development and service provision within communities. We believe
that the most effective way to fight exclusion from education
and work, and its attendant poverty, is to provide targeted support
that meets local and individual needs. Our particular expertise
is in inclusive education, livelihoods, advocacy and campaigning.
We also work with local partner organisations to deliver quality
health and rehabilitation services. An evidence base for our policy
work and programmes is provided through the Leonard Cheshire Disability
Inclusive Development Centre, which is run jointly with University
College London (UCL). Leonard Cheshire Disability and our partners
work regularly with DFID both in the UK and in many of the developing
countries in which we operate. This submission incorporates the
informal views of our regional staff from Southern Africa.
2. DISABILITY
AS AN
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
ISSUE
2.1 In developing countries poverty is both
a cause and an effect of disability. Disabled people tend to be
concentrated in the poorest sections of society and it is impossible
to separate the poverty of disabled people in developing countries
from the wider picture of world poverty. According to the UN,
82% of disabled people living in developing countries live below
the poverty line and approximately 90% of disabled children in
developing countries are not in school. However, poverty is not
simply about a lack of income and education but also a denial
of fundamental freedoms and rights as well as the opportunity
to develop as a human being and to be included in society.
2.2 Nonetheless, disability as an issue
is often ignored and was not included in the targets of the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs). In recognition of the fact that the
MDGs will not be met by 2015 if people with disabilities
are not included,[130]
in December 2009 the United Nations General Assembly passed
United Nations Resolution 64/131 Realizing the Millennium
Development Goals for persons with disabilities.[131]
2.3 According to the World Bank and DFID,
on average 20% of the population in developing countries have
some form of disability.[132]
Disabled people are less likely to complete primary education
than their non-disabled counterparts,[133]
which often leads to difficulty securing long-term, sustainable
employment. This situation then both reinforces disabled people's
marginalisation and exclusion and further compounds other people's
negative perceptions of people with disabilities. The plight of
women with disabilities is particularly precarious, as they are
even more vulnerable than other women to harassment, sexual abuse
and exploitation.[134]
2.4 In 2009 the UK ratified the UN
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).
Article 32 of this Convention requires that all international
development programmes are "inclusive of and accessible to
persons with disabilities". Given the commitment that the
UK Government has shown by ratifying this Convention, it is extremely
important that DFID ensures that it is adhering to Article 32 of
the Convention in its programme planning and implementation.
3. THE SITUATION
OF DISABLED
PEOPLE IN
ZIMBABWE
3.1 Disabled people are among the most marginalised,
socially excluded and poorest group in Zimbabwe.[135]
It is estimated that there are 1.4 million disabled people
in the country, but this could be higher because of increasing
poverty levels, the HIV/AIDS pandemic and other prevalent health
conditions.
3.2 As in other countries, disabled people
encounter multiple attitudinal, environmental and institutional
barriers that militate against effective inclusion in society.
It is a common perception within Zimbabwe that disabled people
are passive and economically unproductive and, therefore, constitute
a burden on society.
3.3 Disabled People's Organisations (DPOs)
in Zimbabwe are at a nascent stage of development and lack sufficient
organisational capacity to play a leading role in advocacy for
disabled people's rights. Although Zimbabwe has enacted disability
discrimination legislation, it has not developed the necessary
administrative infrastructure for its effective implementation.
Disabled people are entitled to receive disability grants, but
these are not being allocated because of the country's current
economic turmoil.[136]
Zimbabwe has yet to sign the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons
with Disabilities. (UNCRPD)
4. DFID'S APPROACH
TO DISABILITY
4.1 Leonard Cheshire Disability welcomes
the commitment DFID has shown towards the inclusion of disabled
people in programme activities highlighted in the "How to
Note" on Disability of 2007.[137]
We await developments in the implementation of this document.
4.2 Leonard Cheshire Disability would welcome
the Committee's support in examining in more detail DFID's work
to ensure that the rights of disabled people living in poverty
have been considered in the planning and implementation of development
and humanitarian aid programmes in Zimbabwe and elsewhere.
5. INCLUSIVE
EDUCATION AS
A PRIORITY
5.1 Education is a fundamental and legal
right for children throughout the world. The second Millennium
Development Goal (MDG) calls for universal primary education for
all children by 2015. This goal was also supported by the World
Education Forum held in Dakar in 2000, which stated that Education
for All[138]
must take account of the needs of the disadvantaged, including
those with special learning needs, and the Salamanca Statement
and Framework of Action coming out of the World Conference on
Special Needs Education in 1994. This has also now been enshrined
in Article 24 of the newly adopted UN Convention on the Rights
of Persons with Disabilities. Still we see that children with
disabilities are disproportionately excluded from education and
we call for DFID to address this specifically in their Zimbabwe
programme, where the need for action is urgent.
5.2 People with disabilities should be included
in MDG monitoring mechanisms. For example when governments report
to the United Nations on their delivery of MDG targets, they should
disaggregate statistics for disability. In the case of MDG2—universal
primary school education—measurement tools must count how
many children with disabilities are taking part in primary education.
5.3 Leonard Cheshire Disability has extensive
experience of developing and successfully implementing inclusive
education programmes. We are able to provide evidence of our highly
successful programme in Oriang, Kenya and the education programme
in Bangladesh that DFID supports, for example. If the Committee
is interested in hearing more about these programmes and how they
may be replicated in future DFID work in Zimbabwe, then please
do not hesitate to contact us.
6. ISSUES RECOMMENDED
FOR CONSIDERATION
BY THE
COMMITTEE
Leonard Cheshire Disability would welcome the
Committee's assistance in learning more details about DFID's work
in the following areas. We will also be available to provide information
or support to the Committee should it decide to look into any
of the issues brought up in this submission in more depth.
1. What analyses and baseline studies have been
undertaken by DFID in Zimbabwe to assess the relative poverty
of disabled people? Has there been an assessment of how effective
DFID's programmes have been in reaching disabled people?
2. How has DFID ensured that the rights of disabled
people living in poverty have been considered in the planning
and implementation of their country strategy?
3. What steps has DFID taken to ensure its own
compliance with the new UN Convention on the Rights of Persons
with Disabilities? In particular, what assessment has been made
regarding current compliance with Article 32 on International
Cooperation and what strategy is in place to achieve compliance?
Leonard Cheshire Disability calls on DFID to refer explicitly
to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
in its programme in Zimbabwe and to audit existing programmes
to measure social inclusion of people with disabilities.
4. How best can DFID support Zimbabwean civil
society to advocate for signing and ratification of the UN Convention
on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities?
5. What evidence can DFID provide to show that
it is systematically ensuring all its education programmes include
disabled children?
6. What can DFID do to encourage the inclusion
of disability in disaggregation of data relating to MDG reporting?
7. How would DFID support a post-2015 development
system that is genuinely inclusive?
6 January 2010
130 See www.IncludeEverybody.org, a web site illustrating
how each of the MDGs is relevant to disabled people Back
131
http://www.un.org/ga/64/resolutions.shtml Back
132
How to Note on Disability (DFID 2007): http://www.DFID.gov.uk/Documents/publications/DisguideDFID.pdf Back
133
A Global Report on Education for All, Disability and Inclusion,
Inclusion International and INICO, October 2009 Back
134
Groce N, Trasi R 2004. "Rape of individuals with disability:
AIDS and the folk belief of virgin cleansing." The LANCET,
Vol. 363:1663-1664, May 22 2004. Back
135
Lang, R, Chadowa, G. (2007), Disability Scoping Study in Zimbabwe.
Harare: DFID Zimbabwe. Back
136
Lang, R, Chadowa, G. (2007), Disability Scoping Study in Zimbabwe.
Harare: DFID Zimbabwe. Back
137
http://www.DFID.gov.uk/Documents/publications/DisguideDFID.pdf Back
138
By adopting the Dakar Framework for Action, Education for All:
Meeting our Collective Commitments, the 1,100 participants
of the Forum reaffirmed the vision of the World Declaration on
Education for All adopted in Jomtien, Thailand in 1990. Back
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