Including people with disabilities in poverty alleviation: why do it, and how.

1. Including people with disabilities in poverty alleviation: why do it, and how. Pauline Kleinitz CBM-Nossal Partnership for Disability Inclusive Development

2. Disability Concepts • Disability present in every community • Disability prevalence… • 10% accepted figure • Census data in developing economies 5–10% of population • Households Impact 20 – 25 % of households affected • Disability is a normal part of the human condition, an aspect of ‘diversity’. There are two types of people… • Disability and Rights • Disabilities comes about through the interaction of the ‘impairment’ and the environment.

3. Defining Disability • An impairment is: “A physical, intellectual, mental or sensory characteristic or condition, which places limitations on an individual’s personal or social functioning in comparison with someone who does not have that characteristic or condition.” • Disability is : “ The disadvantage and exclusion which arise as an outcome of the interactions between people who have impairments and the social and environmental barriers they face due to the failure of society to take account of their rights and needs.” VSO, A handbook on mainstreaming disability, 2006

4. Werner, D. (1999) Disabled Village children: a guide for community health workers, rehabilitation workers, and families. Healthwrights: Palo Alto, CA, USA.

5. Disability • Disability – through exclusion - results in poverty • Why is there a link between disability and poverty? • Disability and poverty cycle The links between disability and poverty remain so strong that unless specific action is taken to tackle disability poverty the goal of ending child poverty will not be met… Guy Parker, Disability, Poverty in the United Kingdom (2008),p.3

6. DfID, 2002

7. Only 1-2% of persons with disabilities in developing countries receive an education (UNESCO, 1998)

8. Care-giving falls disproportionately on women and girls, resulting in even fewer opportunities for them to gain employment or complete schooling. (S.Miles, 1999)

9. Only 1-2% of people with a disability in low income communities receive the rehabilitative services they need (May- Teerink, World Bank, 1999).

10. Poor people are disproportionately disabled… …and people with disabilities are disproportionately poor.”(Holzmann, R. World Bank.)

11. Why do anything and what do we do? It has long been suspected that the costs of economic exclusion outweigh the costs entailed in bringing about economic inclusion.

12. An Economic argument for Inclusion Establish that there is a cost to disability: that doing nothing costs money • the cost of “economic exclusion” Demonstrate that inclusive practices impact positively on economic participation and therefore save money – public good. • the benefits of “economic inclusion”

13. How does exclusion cost? Direct Costs – medical & rehab services, additional transport Indirect costs – time of family Opportunity costs – loss potential, no education, work Exclusion impacts on all these groups • People with disabilities • Family and household • Community • Nation - decreased productivity

14. Research into costs of disability Households: • in Indonesia experience 70% income fall with onset of a disability (Gertler, 2004) • in Uganda with a disabled member are 60% more likely to live in poverty (Hoogeveen, 2004) • in India are likely to spend a quarter of an annual income to attain services for disabled family member (Erb & Harriss-White, 2001) • in Tanzania with a disabled member had a consumption level of less than 60% of the average (White, 2000)

15. Research into costs of disability Communities • Erb & Harriss-White (2001) estimated the cost of disability to a rural economy to be 5.5% calculated as direct, indirect and opportunity costs of disability as a proportion of total village income. (cited in Yeo and Moore, 2003)

16. Research into costs of disability National and Global • If same participation rates for disabled people in Brazil would add 0.6% to national labour earnings (Licona, 2001) • 1.45% of India’s total GNP lost due to blindness alone (Shamanna et al, 1998) • Annual $168 billion lost globally due to blindness alone (Smith & Smith, 1996) • Annual $1.3 -1.9 trillion lost globally due to disability (Metts, 2000) The relevance of disability in the understanding of deprivation in the world is often underestimated… Amartya Sen, The idea of Justice (Allan lane, 2009),p.258

17. Have we demonstrated the cost of doing nothing? • How do inclusive practices bring about economic benefits?

18. Economic Pathways BENEFITS GAINED BY PWD Increased: Participation in life Functional skills Employment skills Education level BENEFITS GAINED BY HOUSEHOLD Increased: Household production Household labour Household income Household consumption BENEFITS GAINED BY COMMUNITY Increased: Labour force Production Income Consumption BENEFITS GAINED NATIONALLY Increased: Productivity GDP Tax take Decreased burden on public funds Inclusionof PWD

19. Economic benefits of inclusion - case examples • The built environment • Vision 2020 – right to sight • Education – human capital formation • Supporting a Livelihood

20. The Built Environment • Study in RSA priced the cost of an accessible community centre using universal design principles and found that these were only 0.47% of overall cost • Compared 2 schools, to retro fit at late stage of building was 1.08% overall cost versus incorporating accessibility at initial planning and this was 0.78% of overall cost. Highlighting the importance of including people with disabilities into the planning

21. Vision 2020 • Frick and Foster (2003) using existing data, eg prevalence, modeled cost of blindness (↓ 60% productivity) to establish a ‘cost of doing nothing’. They then calculated the predictive results of the Vision 2020 campaign. They then subtracted the cost of the campaign from predicted results, compared to ‘cost of doing nothing’ and came up with a estimated $7.5 billion saved each year.

22. How do we bring about ‘inclusion’ of people with disabilities in international development efforts?

23. Solutions… Macro • Nation wide - Policies, PRSP’s • United National Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (UNCRPD) • Mainstreaming across sectors, programs Organisational level (“mainstreaming” at organisational and programming level) Micro – Livelihood focus • MFI’s • Social Enterprise • Open Employment

24. Livelihood Support • Support for livelihood is a key priority for people with disabilities • In developing economies people with disabilities are more likely to be self employed area – 80% vs 3% • A variety of options required as no one approach has worked • Livelihood support is a key tenet of CBR, many livelihood (mainstreamed) projects have been initiated by CBR & DPO or SHG’s.

25. MFI’s • Pro’s & Con’s of disability specific microfinance services and the success of self help group saving schemes • Although 80% ‘self employed’ in developing economies a survey of mainstream MFI’s found between 0-0.5% of clients with disabilities • Barriers present - lots of solutions • Knowledge and attitudes of MFI’s • Informational & Architectural barriers • Group methodologies (stigma) • Self Exclusion

26. Resource Good Practices for the Economic Inclusion of People with Disabilities in Developing Countries Funding Mechanisms for Self Employment Handicap International, 2006

27. Social Enterprise Social Enterprises • For profit • Triple bottom line focused • Trade in goods or services • Profits for ‘business/good’ Common Examples… ICT Agricultural Production of goods Delivery of specific services

29. Engaging with Business For profit sector The ‘business case’ & meeting the ‘corporate responsibility’ Evidence demonstrates that employing people with disabilities • Reliable, safe, productive workers • Unique range of skills and strengths • Minimal costs to adapt • Improvement in workplace culture and morale • Market image- valuing diversity • Open up disability market ILO – advocacy and support - www.ilo.org Workability International - www.workability-international.org

30. Simple recommendations • Job adverts – “People with disabilities welcome to apply” • Adapt tools of the trade to suit the person and not the person to suit the equipment. • Alterations to how things are done – tools, workplace layout, desk heights, eg lengthen garden tool handle • Simple low cost adaptations - replace foot controls with hand controls on sewing machines for a women that does not have use of her legs, a communication board for a deaf shop keeper to talk to hearing people, a Braille ruler for a blind tailor or proper lighting, well positioned over a work bench or strong colour contrasts which can make a carpenter with low vision perform his tasks better. • Universal design principles & Share success stories

31. Why Support Inclusion • Economic costs of disability can be dramatically reduced • One-off nature of many costs, but benefits are ongoing over time • Returns on investment, with likely net gain over the long term • Very cost efficient when inclusive practices applied during the planning and implementation stages • Because it is the right thing to do…

32. What to doSupport Inclusion • Raise awareness regarding disability • Recognise, respect and talk of rights • Talk to people with disabilities & DPOs – ensure they are consulted “nothing about us without us” • Work in partnership • Build capacity of people with disabilities • Identify and address barriers

33. “When we have money they call us by our names not our disabilities” Lizzie Longshaw, quoted in - Lewis, C. (2004) Microfinance from the point of view of women with disabilities: lessons from Zambia and Zimbabwe. Gender and Development, 12,28-39 Thank you pkleinitz@cbm.org.au