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Community-based rehabilitation workers’ perspectives of wheelchair provision in Uganda: A qualitative study

SEYMOUR, Nikola
GEIGER, Martha
SCHEFFLER, Elsje
2019

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Background: The challenges of wheelchair provision and use in less resourced settings are the focus of global efforts to enhance wheelchair service delivery. The shortage of professional wheelchair service providers in these settings necessitates the collaboration of multiple stakeholders, including community-based rehabilitation (CBR) workers, whose role needs to be further understood.

 

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine what CBR workers in three areas of Uganda perceived as (1) the challenges with wheelchair provision and use, (2) the factors contributing to these challenges, (3) the role they themselves can potentially play and (4) what facilitators they need to achieve this.

 

Method: This qualitative study in the transformative paradigm comprised focus group discussions to gather perceptions from 21 CBR workers in three areas of Uganda, each with an operational wheelchair service, participant observations and field notes. Thematic analysis of data was implemented.

 

Results: Community-based rehabilitation workers’ perceptions of challenges were similar while perceived causes of challenges differed as influenced by location, historical and current wheelchair availability and the CBR workers’ roles. Their main responsibilities included assistance in overcoming barriers to access the service, transfer of skills and knowledge related to wheelchairs, follow-up of users for wheelchair-related problem-solving, and user and community empowerment.

 

Conclusion: Community-based rehabilitation workers can contribute in various ways to wheelchair service delivery and inclusion of wheelchair users; however, their capabilities are not consistently applied. Considering the diversity of contextual challenges, CBR workers’ range of responsive approaches, knowledge of networks and ability to work in the community make their input valuable. However, to optimise their contribution, specific planning for their training and financial needs and effective engagement in the wheelchair services delivery system are essential.

 

 

African Journal of Disability, Vol 8, 2019

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.

Training social facilitators in personalised social support: Trainers’ booklet

LAFRENIERE, Annie
RELANDEAU, Audrey
KIANI, Shirin
December 2015

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This booklet is the gateway for a training kit on personalised social support (PSS). The aim of this training course is to train social facilitators either in the personalised approach only, or in how to carry out a complete PSS process. The aim of this booklet is therefore to impart the methodological and educational components required to use the content of this training course to Handicap International’s (now Humanity and Inclusion) future PSS trainers. It therefore takes another look at the entire content of the PSS training course, explains the educational choices, presents the modules and other teaching tools created, and above all, provides advice/recommendations for future designers and trainers/facilitators on this theme. Throughout this booklet, internet links provide the reader with quick access to the content of training courses and other relevant resources

Facilitating disability inclusion in poverty reduction processes: Group consensus perspectives from disability stakeholders in Uganda, Malawi, Ethiopia, and Sierra Leone

MACLACHLAN, Malcolm
MJI, Gubela
CHATAIKA, Tsitsi
WAZAKILI, Margaret
DUBE, Andrew K
MULUMBA, Moses
MASSAH, Boniface
WAKENE, Dagnachew
KALLON, Frank
MAUGHAN, Marcella
2014

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This paper addresses the challenge of how to get disability on the development agenda in four African countries. We explored perceptions of what initiatives would most help in achieving disability inclusion in Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs), and identified factors that can either promote or hinder these initiatives. Stakeholders from Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs), other civil society organisations (CSOs), development agencies, researchers and government ministries, participated in the Nominal Group Technique and Force Field Analysis procedures across Malawi, Ethiopia, Uganda and Sierra Leone. While each country had specific contextual factors, common ideas for promoting greater disability inclusion in PRSPs focused on policy action, the need for a stronger evidence-base, mechanisms for directly influencing the PRSP process, as well as strengthening central government and DPOs’ capacity in this regard. Common facilitators for these actions were seen as the existence of a national disability umbrella body, disability-specific legislation, named Ministries for Disability, ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), and the fact that disability was already mentioned (albeit inadequately) in some PRSPs. Common inhibitors included negative attitudes towards disability, poor capacity in DPOs and government ministries, poor policy implementation, little ‘domestication’ of the UNCRPD, little political will or consultation with people with disabilities, as well as aggregating disability with other vulnerable groups, a lack of research in the area and poor coordination between DPOs.

 

Disability and the Global South (DGS), 2014, Vol. 1 No. 1

Disability and the Global South (DGS), 2014, Vol. 1, No. 1

2014

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Articles include:

  • EDITORIAL :  Introducing Disability and the Global South (DGS): we are critical, we are open access!
  • Youth with Disabilities in Law and Civil Society:  Exclusion and inclusion in public policy and NGO networks in Cambodia and Indonesia
  • Performing the Stare in Indra Sinha’s Animal’s People  
  • Disability Sport in Sub-Saharan Africa: From Economic Underdevelopment to Uneven Empowerment
  • Does Africa Dream of Androids?
  • Mendicidad y discapacidad en la Ciudad de Buenos Aires: un síntoma de nuevas formas de  vulnerabilidad social
  • Facilitating Disability Inclusion in Poverty Reduction Processes: Group Consensus Perspectives from Disability Stakeholders in Uganda, Malawi, Ethiopia, and Sierra Leone
  • Disability, poverty and Education: perceived barriers and (dis)connections in rural Guatemala 

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.

Mainstreaming disability in the new development paradigm : evaluation of Norwegian support to promote the rights of persons with disabilities

INGDAL, Nora
NILSSON, Annika
2012

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"This report is the result of an external and independent evaluation of the Norwe¬gian Support to Promote the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the last 11 years. The intention of the evaluation is to analyse the results of targeted and mainstreamed initiatives towards achieving the rights of persons with disabilities...The methodology included field visits in the four case countries: Malawi, Nepal, the Palestinian territory and Uganda to obtain a deeper understanding of how the rights of persons with disabilities have been promoted, and estimate the possible contributions of the Norwegian support. Afghanistan was included as a desk study"
Note: The report is available electronically and in printed version. A braille copy can be downloaded from the web. The four country reports, written in English, are available electronically. The summaries of the country studies are made available electronically, with translations to the relevant local languages Nepali, Arabic and Chewa. In addition an easy-read version in English and Norwegian of the main report is available electronically

Disabilities, human rights and international cooperation : human rights-based approach and lived experiences of Ugandan women with disabilities

KATSUI, Hisayo
2012

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"This study investigated human rights--based approaches of international and development cooperation towards the equality of persons with disabilities in Uganda...A case study method as well as a participatory research approach among others was applied to create evidence-based and in-depth knowledge on the theme, particularly from the viewpoint of women with disabilities and deaf women on the grassroots"
Publication series number 8

Another way to learn : case studies

UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION
2007

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These case studies come from an initiative that supports non-formal education projects in Africa, South Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America. The long-term goal of these projects is to develop sustainable livelihoods for low-income, low-literate populations by addressing vulnerability to HIV and AIDS and drug misuse, a lack of education and social exclusion. Central to all of these projects are the creative and innovative methods used to communicate in a meaningful way, engage people and encourage their participation. The projects all focus on capacity building, empowerment, and creating learning opportunities. A DVD has been produced to accompany this publication

Economic empowerment of disabled people : lessons from northern Uganda about developing the market for enterprise-based skills development services

ALBU, Mike
January 2005

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This paper presents the results of a three-year action-research project which aimed to improve access to enterprise-based training services and credit for disabled people in northern Uganda. There is a brief description about the project, a description of the results achieved and highlights of the general conclusions and lessons learned. This is a useful resource for practitioners interested in voacational training and small enterprise development in Uganda

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