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Using a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach to explore economic empowerment for youth with disabilities in rural Uganda

GREENWOOD, Margo
BECHANGE, Stevens
EMONG, Paul
KYOSABA, Winnie
NSSAJA, David
THE PEERS RESEARCHER TEAM
August 2023

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This paper presents findings from a community-based participatory study exploring the lived experiences and key livelihood changes post-intervention of a vocational skills training for young people with disabilities in rural Uganda. Twenty-four youth with disabilities (13 female, 11 male) who had previously taken the vocational training were trained to become peer researchers and conducted 72 in-depth interviews with a more recent cohort of youth with disabilities. 

 

Social Sciences & Humanities Open, Volume 8, Issue 1, 2023, 100647

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2023.100647

Amplifying the voices of women and girls with disabilities in Zimbabwe

UNESCO OFFICE HARARE
LEONARD CHESHIRE DISABILITY (ZIMBABWE)
AFRICA COMMUNITY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTRE
2020

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This qualitative study on the aspirations, needs and concerns of women and girls with disabilities in Zimbabwe seeks to contribute to the growing knowledge on women and girls with disabilities globally, as well as to contribute to the ongoing dialogue on advancing the implementation of the CPRD in Zimbabwe

 

The specific aims were to:

  • Assess the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of women and girls with disabilities
  • Identify the aspirations of women and girls with disabilities from marginalized areas
  • Describe the needs and concerns of women and girls with disabilities for equitable participation in public life
  • Assess how current development interventions are responding to the needs of women and girls with disabilities, specifically SRH and GBV services delivery
  • Hear from women and girls with disabilities on practical recommendations for the advancement of disability rights and improving justice, SRH and GBV service delivery that meets their needs

 

The approach and methodology were designed with a view to gathering first-hand information and verbatim from an estimated 261 women and girls with disabilities, and from other stakeholders interviewed in marginalized areas, namely caregivers, OPDs, NGOs, traditional leaders, community cadres, and government officials. The study design was also guided by a range of participatory approaches that enabled women with diverse disability types to effectively participate in the qualitative study.

Innovate for Inclusion. Four cases of application of the social innovation lab methodology to enhance disability inclusion in mainstream settings

MAARSKE, Anneke
NEDERVEEN, Matthijs
BAART, Judith
2019

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This publication reflects back on four co-design processes undertaken by Light for the World’s Disability Inclusion Lab during the past few years. These different journeys in solution development have demonstrated the power of this methodology to create genuine inclusion in livelihood programming while striving to empower persons with disabilities to achieve economic success. In this publication the social innovation lab methodology is described as a unique approach to inclusive programming, highlighting four cases: The Livelihood Improvement Challenge in Uganda, the lab in the EmployAble programme in Ethiopia, the AgriLab in Cambodia, and the InBusiness pilot in Kenya. Lessons learnt are described.

Mainstreaming persons with disabilities into disaster risk reduction

VERMA, Colonel N. M.
KADAM, Smita
March 2015

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This case study presents Saritsa Foundations work in India. Saritsa Foundation has been organizing capacity building workshops for persons living with disabilities since June 2000, in rural and urban areas in nine states of India. About 10,050 persons living with disabilities have been given opportunities to develop skills to respond to disasters and protect themselves

The World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR), HFA Case Study
 

Challenging perceptions of disability through performance poetry methods: the ‘Seen but Seldom Heard’ project

HODGES, Caroline E M
FENGE, Lee-Ann
CUTTS, Wendy
2014

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This paper considers performance poetry as a method to explore lived experiences of disability. We discuss how poetic inquiry used within a participatory arts-based research framework can enable young people to collectively question society’s attitudes and actions towards disability. Poetry will be considered as a means to develop a more accessible and effective arena in which young people with direct experience of disability can be empowered to develop new skills that enable them to tell their own stories. Discussion of how this can challenge audiences to critically reflect upon their own perceptions of disability will also be developed.

Reflecting on education for sustainable development through two lenses : ability studies and disability studies

WOLBRING, Gregor
BURKE, Brigid
May 2013

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The call for papers asked to cast “a critical eye on the practice and purpose of sustainability-focused education, and its successes and failures, thus far”. We approach this task in this paper through two lenses that have not yet been very visible in the education for sustainable development (ESD) discourse. One is the lens of disability studies which is the inquiry around the lived reality of disabled people; the other is the lens of ability studies which among others investigates (a) which abilities are seen as essential in a given context; (b) the dynamic of how an ability expectation consensus is reached, if it is reached and (c) the impact of ability expectations. We conclude that (a) no consensus has been reached within ESD discourses as to the process of how to identify essential abilities and as to a list of abilities seen as important and (b) that disabled people are invisible in the formal and informal ESD discourse. We expect the paper to be of interest to disabled people, ESD scholars, teachers of ESD in different educational settings, students of ESD training, NGOs involved in ESD as well as policy makers involved in ESD.

The key informant child disability project in Bangladesh and Pakistan

MACTAGGART, Islay
MURTHY, GVS
2013

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The Key Informant Method (KIM) has previously been tested by CBM, LSHTM and others, and found to be a valid method for the identification of children with severe visual impairment and blindness in Bangladesh, using community volunteers in the place of a door-to-door survey. This report outlines a study that set out to expand this and test whether voluntary, community-level Key Informants (KIs) could be trained to effectively identify children with moderate or severe physical impairments, sensory impairments (visual and hearing) or epilepsy in Bangadesh and Pakistan, and if so whether this process could be used to assess prevalence and plan appropriate referral services for children meeting these criteria

Getting to know cerebral palsy|Working with parent groups : a training resource for facilitators, parents, caregivers, and persons with cerebral palsy

INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR EVIDENCE IN DISABILITY (ICED)
et al
2013

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This manual aims to increase knowledge and skills in caring for a child with cerebral palsy. Research highlighted the significant needs of the caregivers, and how they can gain a huge amount of support from meeting with each other in an understanding environment. The manual is divided into 11 modules and promotes a participatory learning approach with an emphasis on the empowerment of parents and caregivers. It provides an opportunity for parents to organise themselves and to consider strategies at the community level to address some of the issues which affect them and their child
Note: An online community that aims to support practitioners share their learning and experiences around the parent training manual is available from the weblink. Members can share questions and perspectives, news items and resources with eachother via email or through a community website

African indigenous knowledge and research

OWUSU-ANSAH, Frances E
MJI, Gubela
2013

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This paper seeks to heighten awareness about the need to include indigenous knowledge in the design and implementation of research, particularly disability research, in Africa. It affirms the suitability of the Afrocentric paradigm in African research and argues the necessity for an emancipatory and participatory type of research which values and includes indigenous knowledge and peoples. In the predominantly Western-oriented academic circles and investigations, the African voice is either sidelined or suppressed because indigenous knowledge and methods are often ignored or not taken seriously. This paper posits that to be meaningful and empowering, African-based research must, of necessity, include African thought and ideas from inception through completion to the implementation of policies arising from the research. In this way the work is both empowering and meaningful for context-specific lasting impact.

Stakeholder consultations on community-based rehabilitation guidelines in Ghana and Uganda

WICKENDEN, Mary
MULLIGAN, Diane
FEFOAME, Gertrude O
KATENDE, Phoebe
2012

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Background: The focus of this paper is the new broadened conceptualisation of community-based rehabilitation (CBR), which promotes the empowerment and inclusion of people with disabilities (PWDs) in diverse ways within their communities. New guidelines for CBR were launched in October 2010 by WHO/ILO/UNESCO/IDDC, and this paper describes part of the process by which these were produced using participatory approaches involving International Non-Government Organisations (INGOs) and local partners. The paper reviews the evolution of CBR and describes how grassroots consultation by INGOs working with key stakeholders in the disability arena can influence policy on disability issues, and reciprocally how policy change can inform organisations’ practice and research activities. This ongoing bidirectional influence is illustrated with data from the participatory consultation process about the new CBR guidelines carried out by Sightsavers in Uganda and Ghana

 

Objectives: To consult with key stakeholders in the disability arena in Uganda and Ghana, in order to gain their opinions and suggestions for improvements to the then draft CBR guidelines, as part of a wider global participatory process of consultation on the document.

 

Methods: The INGO Sightsavers gathered qualitative data through focus group discussions and questionnaires in both countries.

 

Results: The participants’ critiques of the draft guidelines carried out in multiagency participatory processes were analysed thematically and fed back to the CBR guidelines editorial team.

 

Conclusion: The paper concludes that stakeholders in diverse communities can actively contribute to shaping policy and practice through participatory consultations. Local and national government and non-government organisations and other key informants can inform the development of national and international guidelines and policies. This participatory approach can be successfully facilitated by INGOs. In turn, these processes have prompted organisations to adapt their own policies and programmes in order to be more responsive to the local needs and concerns of PWDs.

Making Kenya ODF

MUSYOKI, Samuel
March 2012

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This community-led total sanitation (CLTS) blog outlines progress on CLTS in Kenya, noting the difference in approach in Ghana and Ethiopia, and highlights the new approaches taken by some disabled people, working towards the goal of making Kenya open defecation free (ODF)

Mainstreaming disability into disaster risk management in Indonesia and Philippines : lesson learned from the project

SUPROBO, Novina
2011

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This report compiles the lessons learned during Handicap International’s initiatives to mainstream disability into disaster risk management (DRM) through programmes implemented in Indonesia and Philippines.  It presents an overview of the programmes and the lessons learned that were identified and selected with a potential for replication or adaptation by other actors in other contexts, either as a full approach or with a focus on a specific component.

The lessons learned were identified through the development of case studies highlighting important steps of the project, a review of all available documentation, including project reports, proposal and Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with project partners; notes of workshops, trainings and meetings; as well as interviews with key stakeholders.

This document was developed to accompany a training manual for DRM stakeholders, which provides practical tools and modules on how to implement disability-inclusive DRM. Both documents can serve as resources for DRM stakeholders aiming at mainstreaming disability in their initiatives

People with disabilities in the suburban areas of Maputo and Matola : local assessment

REDE PARA ASSISTÊNCIA ÁS VITIMAS DE MINAS (RAVIM) Handicap International Mozambique
Eds
April 2010

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"This report outlines the analyses and recommendations arising from the local assessment of the situation facing people with disabilities in nine of the capital’s suburban areas, performed by RAVIM and Handicap International between April 2009 and April 2010, as part of the "City and Disability" project. This assessment aimed to provide more information about the social representation of disability in the area, the socio-economic situation experienced by people with disabilities, the conditions for accessing health and social services, and lastly the operation of the local stakeholders system"

Going to scale with community-led total sanitation : reflections on experience, issues and ways forward

CHAMBERS, Robert
2009

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Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) is a revolutionary approach in which communities are facilitated to conduct their own appraisal and analysis of open defecation and take their own action to become open defecation-free. This report presents CLTS approaches in six countries which differ organisationally with contrasting combinations of NGOs, projects and governments. Practical elements in strategies for going to scale have included: training and facilitating; starting in favourable conditions; conducting campaigns and encouraging competition; recruiting and committing teams and full-time facilitators and trainers; organising workshops and cross-visits; supporting and sponsoring Natural Leaders and community consultants and inspiring and empowering children

 

Practice Paper, Vol 2009, No 1

Community led total sanitation (CLTS) : an evaluation of the WaterAid’s CLTS programme in Nigeria

BURTON, Salma
August 2007

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Since establishing a programme in Nigeria in 1995, WANG and partners have tried several approaches to promoting sanitation which have not yielded sustainable changes. In its attempt to seek a more sustainable methodology, WANG initiated the pilot testing of the Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) approach which aimed to facilitate a participatory process of empowering local communities to improve their sanitation situation. This evaluation report assesses the efficiency, effectiveness and relevance of the CLTS programme, and recommends ways of improving and scaling up the programme in Nigeria. The evaluation provides wide ranging evidence that that CLTS is an effective approach to establishing hygiene and sanitation practice in Nigeria, but the effectiveness varied depending on certain conditions which will need to be taken into consideration when scaling up the initiative

Youth-adult partnerships show promise : youth involvement expands from local projects to institutional levels

SONTI, Smita
FINGER, William
March 2003

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This paper examines how youth can participate more broadly in projects, for example in policy, management and evaluation issues. Anecdotal evidence on the value of including youth perspectives in these more challenging areas is beginning to emerge, for example the Barcelona YouthForce at the XIV International AIDS Conference in Barcelona in July 2002. The paper concludes with a list of elements that help to make effective youth-adult partnerships. These elements cover organisational capacity; attitude shift; selection, recruitment and retention of youth; and level of participation

Positive women : voices and choices. Zimbabwe report

FELDMAN, Rayah
MANCHESTER, Jo
MAPOSHERE, Caroline
2002

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This report is from a project led by HIV positive women, to explore the impact of HIV on their sexual behaviour, well-being, and reproductive rights, and to promote improvements in policy and practice. The report demonstrates that HIV positive women continue to have sexual feelings and enjoy sexual relationships after HIV diagnosis. Some had a strong desire to become mothers when they did not already have children at the time of diagnosis. The study also showed that most women had little or no knowledge of HIV transmission or risk before diagnosis. Most did not recieve adequate pre-test counselling and had encountered stigma from health care workers. A major achievement of the project was that the research process empowered the team leaders who carried out the project. All were women living with HIV and were elected from HIV support groups in Zimbabwe

Creating space for children's participation : planning with street children in Yangon, Myanmar

DORNING, Karl
O'SHAUGHNESSY, Tim
2001

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This paper is about a two-week empowerment evaluation that took place in April 2001 with World Vision's Street Children and Working Children Program (SWC), which is based in Yangon, Myanmar. The process allowed the children to be the primary evaluators. They spent time interviewing various stakeholders in the programme and analysed the information gathered. The evaluation described in this report was an experience that had a great impact on all involved. It brought about a fundamental shift in the way project staff viewed the children and, equally importantly, in the way the children viewed themselves

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