Table of Contents

III. Towards Holistic Development: Capacity-building and Localization in Bangladesh

A. Nature of the problem

There are an estimated 13 million people with disabilities in Bangladesh and they are overwhelmingly poor. The link between poverty and disability is undeniable. However, little has been done in the way of systematically examining the linkages between the two. Disability is both a cause and consequence of poverty. The vulnerability of people with disabilities to poverty is multidimensional – impacting on their employment and income earning potential; they are often excluded from participating or taking up opportunities open to others; they are discriminated against at the institutional, social and cultural levels; and they are often marginalized or isolated within their own societies and families. Poverty reduction strategies and basic support services for economic development and capacity building for them is urgently needed. This includes localization of power and ownership of programmes and activities by people with disabilities and their organizations.

B. Main features of the organization

Bangladesh Protibandhi Kallyan Somity (BPKS) was established in 1985. BPKS is a non-governmental, voluntary organization of persons with disabilities in Bangladesh working to ensure equal rights, opportunities and participation of people with disabilities in mainstream development and decision-making. Such rights, opportunities and participation with give them the opportunity to play a responsible and contributive role in the community.

BPKS has designed and is implementing a development strategy entitled, Persons with Disabilities’ Self-Initiative to Development (PSID). This project is being implemented throughout Bangladesh using a human-rights-based approach. The activities under the project assist people with disabilities to organize and develop their organizations to provide traditional physical and mental therapy services and to attain economic advancement, equipment, accessibility and vocational training. They also provide services that increase the capacity of people with disabilities, thus assisting them to mainstream their needs and actualize the development process for all.

The priority goal of BPKS is to ensure that there is an innovative and inclusive process in place that utilizes the power and success of persons with disabilities to streamline and actualize national development for all. PSID is a timely process which empowers persons with disabilities, from the grass-roots level to the national level, to partake in a full, happy, dignified and productive life. PSID ensures the rights, the participation and the actualization of opportunities equally for all persons. PSID strives to eliminate prejudice, discrimination, inhumanity and lack of basic opportunities.

Under the direction and guidance of PSID Centres at local (subdistrict) levels, Self-Initiative to Development Units are established at grass-roots levels. Each Unit and its respective Centre undertakes a three-year implementation phase during which BPKS provides organizational and financial support. During this time members are provided with the necessary skills to manage and further develop their organizations on a self-sustaining basis. Once ownership is handed over to the people with disabilities themselves, BPKS continues to provide technical support including training, information, coordination and technical assistances to the grass-roots organizations. At this point the entire project is fully localized, with the leadership of the organization assuming full responsibility for all financial and programme management. At this stage the organizations gain their own individual legal status and registration to ensure independence. Each PSID project area then becomes known as Disabled Peoples’ Organization to Development (DPOD), customized to recognize local ownership at the district or subdistrict level to include the district name preceding the title, for example Kurigram Disabled Peoples’ Organization to Development (KDPOD).

The strategy of the Self-Initiative to Development Units is as follows:

• Needs assessment

A baseline needs assessment survey is conducted to identify the location of people with disabilities, with whom they reside and their circumstances. Once individual needs and disabilities are identified, a detailed monthly plan is developed for the field. For each new area, BPKS directly works with an average of 2,500 people with disabilities.

• Develop skilled persons (service providers)

Skilled service providers from the community provide home-based therapy, assistive devices maintenance support services and regular referral services for health and preventative measures.

• Enrolment of children with disabilities in general education

This is encouraged by conducting counselling with family and communities. It is also pursued through lobbying and advocacy with education authorities, orientation training for teachers to learn teaching techniques on disability, incentive considerations to install ramps in schools, adaptive materials, tuition and nutrition allowance.

• Facilitate and develop economic opportunities for people with disabilities

This is be done through weekly savings plans, home and/or community-based income-generation skills training, income-generating activities, access to local financial institutions, job placement, tree saplings, and loan support from the savings and Program Acceleration Fund (PAF).

• Access to a safe environment

Safe environments are created by installing safe, accessible sanitary latrines and tubewells, as well as orientation training on hygiene and safe environments.

• Increase self-respect and capacity

This is done by ensuring grass-roots organizations are adequately developed and managed. Strong grassroots organizations should have the capacity to accelerate programmes, provide leadership, and understand the importance of lobbying and advocacy, self-confidence, gender equity, country status, accessibility and localization of power training.

• Research, organize and network

Lobbying and advocating at local and national levels and educating and motivating the relevant government and non-government agencies, engineers, architects, physical planners and development partners is carried out. In addition, the printing and dissemination of community education materials, development of audio-visual materials, organization of campaigns and utilization of mass media materials should be undertaken.

• Engagement as an activist and consultant agency

This can be done at the national, regional and international level for government, non-governmental agencies and donors.

• Sharing of lessons learned

BPKS has shared the system for development and management of the self-help organizations by making its PSID policy available to ADD and ActionAid Bangladesh. The PSID system has also been shared with Caritas-Australia, Australian Volunteers International (AVI), AusAid, USAID, European Commission, Bread for the World (BftW), CordAid, One Family International (OFI) and many others.

• Sustaining the progress

BPKS must continue to set up permanent facilities as a focal point of disability by establishing a training and resource centre at Dhaka (BPKS Complex) and at the local level (district and subdistrict). It must mobilize local resources, both financial and in-kind, to support the activities of coordination, professional capacity building and skills training. Networking, human care and referral, assistive devices production, information and referral, setting and conducting meetings, employment exchange, and marketing of products made by persons with disabilities should also be conducted.

• Network and coordination systems developed

This should be done at national and grass-roots levels, consisting of self-help organizations, women with disabilities, health professionals and facilities, government departments and services, non-governmental organizations, other disability organizations and private business organizations.

C. Achievements

Significant results have been achieved by BPKS both prior to, and since the introduction of, the PSID project in 1998. Prior to 1998, about 10,000 persons with disabilities benefited directly from BPKS services. By the end of the year 2002, 38,556 people had been added. With the inception of the Persons with Disabilities’ Self-Initiative to Development, 12 new self-help organizations have been established since 1996. There are now 7,840 individual members enrolled and responsible for each organization. Policy, skills and resources are transferred and localized to people with disabilities and their respective organizations, giving them the ability to manage and run their activities.

Localization of power, programme and ownership by people with disabilities has been achieved by the development of each organization and extensive capacity building. People with disabilities now serve as the organizers and decision makers, and as community and disability leaders. They are also responsible for providing services, and give voice to their success in actualizing and accelerating the overall development of the nation.

The programme approach has developed a systematic process of awareness building about disability among the general public as well as people with disabilities themselves. This in turn has helped mobilize local resources. PSID ensures the building of capacity to develop, provide, supervise and monitor skills training that ensures the stability of the services. In addition, studies on disability and development issues are conducted to measure and ensure the sociocultural viability and appropriateness of the programme.

Members associated with the self-help organizations develop their own resource base, composed of savings, management and development funds, utilizing these resources for their income-generating activities and the further development of self-help organizations and networks.

D. Key lessons learned

Persons with disabilities are directly involved in planning, decision-making, implementing and managing the organization and the PSID programme – from the grass-roots level to the national level. In essence, they own the organization and are fully responsible for it. Economic empowerment is an important component of PSID for people with disabilities who face many challenges in a country with extreme levels of poverty.
Positive behavioural change within communities is beginning to take hold, resulting in greater opportunities for education, employment and leisure activities. These changes in thinking, attitudes and practices pave the way for integration of people with disabilities into mainstream community life, stimulating the self-initiatives of people with disabilities to improve the quality of their lives with support and technical cooperation of local self-help organizations.

This two-fold developmental approach succeeds by focusing both on people with disabilities and their growth, as well as the changes within the community, thus assuring both internal and external strength. As people with disabilities become more self-confident and attain increased skills, they gradually ensure full access and equal rights in their societies, which substantially changes the perception and resultant acceptance. No longer will “disability” equate with “difference”, and the commonality of human beings, both those with, and those without visible disabilities, will be accepted.

E. Sustainability

BPKS views sustainability in four areas – management, technical, knowledge-based and financial. Additionally, however, behavioural change in communities and understanding of people with disabilities is a sustainable requisite for full integration of people with disabilities into society. All BPKS senior management staff are locally hired, most with disabilities themselves. This reality has helped ensure management sustainability for the agency.

BPKS will continue to improve and expand its PSID programme until every district has active and successful self-help organizations, with people with disabilities retaining control and direction of their organizations.

BPKS will continue to:

• Promote the rights of people with disabilities;
• Support the development of expanded and more accessible opportunities for people with disabilities to improve their own quality of life;
• Raise awareness other development agencies on issues related to the needs of people with disabilities;
• Provide technical cooperation in networking, coordination, fund-raising, sustainability, poverty reduction and strengthening the capacity of people with disabilities and their organizations;
• Support advocacy activities for the inclusion of people with disabilities in national development plans and strategies; and
• Seek opportunities to share the PSID model with other countries.

As indicated in this case study, BPKS has achieved the significant goal of assisting people with disabilities integrate into society and increase their visibility within their communities. This visibility has the wider effect of engendering a more positive understanding in the community in general, lessening negative and anti-social attitudes and behaviours, while providing a role model for others to form their own institutions similar to the PSID project. With these realizations, there will be a shift from disability to the recognition of ability, both internally and within the wider community.