in English - Handicap International

A Basic Manual for
Inclusive
Development
INCLUSIVE DEVEOPMENT FOR
WELL- BEEING OF ALL

Written by: Luis Fernando Astorga Gatjens;
Inter-American Institute on Disabilities and Inclusive Development (IIDI)
Drawings: Francisco Torres
Production coordination and editing: Sanna Laitamo, Handicap International (HI),
Central America Program
Focal group participants:
Nicaragua: Alma Nubia Baltodano, Thalia Dixon, Perla Garcia, Karla Madrigal,
Marcos Méndez, Dennis Molina, Maria Felix Morán, Maria Eugenia Picado, Olga
Maria Ruiz, Rosa Salgado and Plácida Sánchez.
Costa Rica: Teodoro Bermúdez Valencia, Irene Coen, Julie Chan Jiménez, Gabriela
Chaverri, Jesús Hernández, Katia Marín, Madeline Matarrita, Leonardo Rodríguez,
Leonardo Segura and Francisco Villalta.
Managua, Nicaragua, February 2007
This manual may be reproduced in part or in its entirety for pedagogic purposes, as
long as the original source is cited.
For more information, please contact: Handicap International:
discapacidad@handicap-international-ac.org
Tel: (505) 2266-1364 / 2266-8419 or the Inter-American Institute on Disabilities and Inclusive
Development: luferag@ice.co.cr Tel. (506) 2253 7562

A Basic Manual for
Inclusive
Development
Nicaragua
2009

CONTENTS
FORWARD...................................................................................................................................5
CHAPTER I: “FROM PATIENT TO CITIZEN”: CHANGING THE APPROACH TO
DISABILITIES…........................................................................................................8
1. A brief history of disability paradigms…………………………...........................................8
a. The traditional paradigm or model...............................................................................9
b. The biological or medical paradigm..............................................................................10
c. The human rights paradigm.........................................................................................12
2. Shaking things up and changing them...........................................................................16
Questions for evaluation and reflection/ Chapter I…….......………………………………..17
CHAPTER II: WHAT ARE HUMAN RIGHTS?................,,,,,,,........................................................18
1. Definition and features of human rights..........................................................................18
2. Types of human rights…………..…....................................................................................19
a.Civil and political rights……...........................................................................................19
b.Economic, social and cultural rights….........................................................................21
c.Third-generation rights…….............................................................................................21
3. What are the rights of a disabled person?.....................................................................22
4. What are human rights violations?..................................................................................23
a.A human rights violation.................................................................................................23
b.When are the rights of people with disabilities being violated?................................24
.
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5. The interdependence of rights of people with disabilities...............................................26
6. Human rights and the type of environment.......................................................................27
Questions for evaluation and reflection/ Chapter II…..........................................................29
CHAPTER III: EXCLUSION, INCLUSION AND POVERTY LINKED TO DISABILITY.............................30
1. What are exclusion and inclusion?......................................................................................30
2. What is poverty?....................................................................................................................31
3. Poverty and social participation.........................................................................................33
4. Disabilities and additional expenses...................................................................................34
5. Exclusion of people with disabilities.....................................................................................36
6. A diagnostic appraisal..........................................................................................................38
Questions for evaluation and reflection/ Chapter III.............................................................40
CHAPTER IV: INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT........................................................................................41
1. Development models...........................................................................................................41
2. Sustainable human development......................................................................................42
3. In relation to disability...........................................................................................................43
4. Inclusive development.........................................................................................................45
5. How can the vicious circle be broken?.............................................................................50
a. Building capacities and creating opportunities.............................................................50
b. Social security programs...................................................................................................51
6. The relationship between human rights and inclusive development............................51
7. Instruments and spaces for inclusive action......................................................................52
a. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.............................................52
b. The UN Millennium Development Goals.........................................................................53
c. The Decade of the Americas for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.....................54
d. Other important arenas....................................................................................................54
Questions for evaluation and reflection/ Chapter IV…........................................................56
2
CONTENTS

CONTENTS
CHAPTER V: POLITICAL ADVOCACY AND THE RIGHTS OF PEOPLE WITH
DISABILITIES.............................................................................................................57
1. Political advocacy as a tool for change........................................................................57
2. What is advocacy?...........................................................................................................59
3. Differences between advocacy and political advocacy...........................................61
4. Planning political advocacy: the eight steps of the process.......................................64
Step 1. Identify and analyze the problem......................................................................65
Step 2. Formulate the proposal........................................................................................68
Step 3. Analyze the decision-making space..................................................................69
Step 4. Analyze channels of influence (power mapping)............................................70
Step 5. Do a SWOT analysis...............................................................................................72
Step 6. Design advocacy strategies................................................................................76
Step 7. Develop an activity plan......................................................................................83
Step 8. Continuous evaluation.........................................................................................92
Questions for evaluation and reflection/ Chapter V........................................................96
3

CONTENTS
CHAPTER VI: POLITICAL ADVOCACY TO PROMOTE PUBLIC POLICIES FOR INCLUSIVE
DEVELOPMENT..........................................................................................................................97
1. What are public policies?.................................................................................................................97
a. Definition.........................................................................................................................................97
b. How are public policies made?.................................................................................................100
2. Steps for drafting and implementing a public policy..................................................................103
3. What should be done to promote inclusive development?......................................................105
Questions for evaluation and reflection/ Chapter VI.......................................................................107
BIBLIOGRAPHY.............................................................................................................................................108
4

FOREWORD
Foreword
We are very pleased to present the second edition of A Basic Manual for Inclusive Development.
This manual was designed for leaders of organizations of disabled persons, and
for other individuals and social organizations that are interested in the issue of inclusive
development in Central America.
Our hope is that this manual will be used as a training resource, to help generate a better
understanding of the meaning of inclusive development—both its theoretical and practical
underpinnings—and how such an approach can be used in different development
settings. We also hope it will provide a useful tool for designing and planning lobbying and
advocacy actions.
This initiative grew out of a training process about this topic that was developed in Nicaragua,
whose main beneficiaries have been the leaders of organizations of disabled persons
in this country. The process has been promoted and supported by the World Bank (WB)
and implemented by Handicap International (HI).
Following this training process, Handicap International decided to produce this manual for
pedagogic purposes, which we hope will assist organizations when they are training other
leaders and members of organizations of people with disabilities, or any other interested
group or individual. Although this effort began in Nicaragua, the manual is equally useful
for training purposes in the rest of Central America.
The topic of inclusive development is very much linked to the topic of human rights, and
we believe that the best way to effectively comply with the rights of disabled people is
through adopting development practices that are guided by an inclusive development
approach. In today’s world, we already have a very valuable tool for promoting inclusive
development: the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. We are convinced
that these two issues can only gain ground through effective advocacy efforts on the part
of organizations of people with disabilities and other allied groups, aimed at building or
modifying the corresponding public policies, plans, programs, projects and actions.
5

The manual’s content is organized into a series of topics that follow a certain developmental
logic. There are six chapters, and we recommend that they be read in the same
sequence
in which they are presented. However, the chapters also have their own integrity as separate
units, and each of them can therefore be used independently. This second edition,
which is being published in English for the first time, has been revised to include an important
chapter that was not contained in the original version. This is Chapter V, which covers
political advocacy and lobbying.
The learning objectives of each thematic unit are presented at the beginning of each
chapter. At the end of each chapter, we include questions and ideas for exercises that
can be used to verify how well the content has been understood and assimilated, or to
stimulate group discussions and further explore and consider each theme.
It is important to point out that we have utilized illustrations (drawings, diagrams and tables)
to make the manual’s content more amenable to being easily read and understood.
When using this guide in workshops, seminars, schools, etc., each organization or trainer
can create their own methodological approach, adapting it to the target public studying
the manual and making any necessary adjustments required. We are aware that there
are more exhaustive guides and books about the topics of human rights, the Convention,
and political advocacy work, and we encourage you to seek them out to complement
this text.
This manual will be published in a print version in English, and will also be available in a digitalized
version to make it accessible to the blind.
The manual may be freely reproduced as long as the original source and edition are cited.
The manual’s overall production was coordinated by Sanna Laitamo from HI, and its
technical content was overseen by Luis Fernando Astorga Gatjens from the Inter-American
Institute On Disabilities and Inclusive Development (IIDI), who also wrote the manual.
6

To obtain input for the manual—both its form and content—from the viewpoint of people
who would possibly be using it in the future, two focal groups were organized, one in Nicaragua
and the other in Costa Rica. These groups made important observations and
contributions, most of which were incorporated into the manual’s final text. We would like
to thank all of those who participated in this effort for their valuable contributions.
We hope you will find the manual useful, and that it will help you to multiply the kinds of
practices that can build, in a sustained manner, a fairer and more inclusive Central America!
Managua, Nicaragua, November 10, 2009
Emmanuelle Rioufol,
Program Director
Handicap International
Central America Program
Luis Fernando Astorga Gatjens,
Executive Director/San José Office,
Inter-American Institute on Disabilities
and Inclusive Development (IIDI)
7

Chapter I
“From patient to citizen”:
Changing the approach to disabilities
CHAPTER I
After concluding this chapter, the reader should be able to distinguish between the different
ways our societies approach disabilities, and how some tend to perpetuate discrimination
and exclude people with disabilities, while others try to overcome and resolve
these problems.
- People with disabilities have been discriminated against and excluded by different human
societies throughout history. The disabled have been viewed as inferior, and as
dependent upon their families, charity and state assistance.
- In practice, even today, most societies—including those of the Central American region—do
not consider people with disabilities as citizens.
1. A brief history of disability paradigms
What is a paradigm?
A paradigm is a model or example that serves as a norm. Here’s a simple example that
can help us grasp the idea of a paradigm. Everybody has seen the metal molds that
are used by bakeries to bake bread in a square form. Well, this metal mold insures that
all of the bread that is baked in it has the same shape. Something similar occurs with a
society’s ideas. “Molds” or paradigms are constructed from the ideas that are passed
down from generation to generation. We could also define a paradigm as a group of
beliefs that provide a frame of reference for behaving in certain ways.
8

To avoid your suffering,
we better get rid of you.
Throughout history, people with disabilities have been seen and treated
differently than people who don’t have disabilities. Different writers
agree that there are three basic paradigms that reflect the way that
people with disabilities have been viewed.
The so-called traditional paradigm or model predominated during the
longest period of history, and was then followed by the biological paradigm
(which is associated with a medical or rehabilitative approach).
Currently, a third conception has been gaining ground, which is the human
rights and social development paradigm.
Let’s take a closer look at each of these:
a. The traditional paradigm or model
The traditional paradigm is associated with a viewpoint that sees and
treats people with disabilities as inferior. Or stated in another way, people
are looked down upon because of their disability. They are not considered
“normal,” but instead as incapable of doing things like other people.
According to this paradigm, people with disabilities are situated among
those who are considered strange or abnormal, from the time they are
born until they die. They are viewed as dependent on the charity of
others.
Often, those who see disabilities from this perspective associate deficiencies
with divine punishment or intervention. Some societies that held this
traditional view of disabilities simply eliminated people whose condition
made adaptation difficult. This was common in Sparta or Rome, almost
two thousand years ago.
This paradigm has exited since ancient times, and is still very present in
our societies, although it co-exists with the biological paradigm and the
more recent human rights paradigm that has begun to emerge.
9

According to this traditional paradigm, people with disabilities are considered
objects of pity rather than people with rights or who are entitled to rights. This
conception gave rise to different derogatory names for people with disabilities:
invalid, crippled, paralytic, “blindie,” “deafie,” mongoloid, moron, crazy,
stupid, exceptional, special, etc. All of these imply “poor
thing.” This approach tends to infantilize the disabled, or characterize them as
children even when they are adults.
Even today, when they realize that their child has been born with some type of
deficiency, parents ask themselves:
• “What did we do wrong?”
• “What did we do to deserve this?”
• “What are we paying for?”
• Or some other similar question, rather than seeing that their child’s condition
has a scientific explanation, and that they will need to work hard to
make sure that this quality does not limit their child’s development and inclusion
within society.
This is the legacy of the traditional paradigm in our society today.
b. The biological or medical paradigm
The biological paradigm centers the problem in the person with the deficiencies
or limitations. To overcome the patient’s functional limitations, a range of
professionals and specialists offer the person various services and treatments.
This approach sees the person as a passive recipient of institutional support.
Specialized clinics and rehabilitation centers usually provide this support.
Here, the person is considered a patient who requires the intervention of rehabilitation
professionals in order to adapt to the surrounding environment (social
and physical). In this case, the change that is needed is centered more in the
“patient” than in the environment.
10

EMPLOYMENT
We will give you
rehabilitation so you
will no longer face
barriers!
The main idea of this model is that the “patient” recovers his or her health
and functionality to the greatest extent possible, in order to carry out the
activities of daily life and to work in some productive activity (a job). According
to this paradigm, the disability is resolved through rehabilitation,
as if the person had no other needs. Or stated another way: the disability
is seen mainly as a health problem.
In the view of this biological model (also known as the medical or rehabilitation
model), the person who receives rehabilitation must follow
the recommendations and orientations of the professional team, without
questioning anything. This model has utilized and continues to utilize
concepts such as “normalization” and “integration” of people with disabilities.
“Normalization” is the idea that people with deficiencies should achieve
(often, as stated by professionals) “an existence as close to normal as
possible.” Moreover, the concept of “integration” associated with disabled
people arises mainly in the school environment. “All children have
the right to attend a regular school near their home, without exception.”
Over time, the principle of integration moved beyond the educational
realm and expanded into other fields. This led to the idea of disabled
people’s “social integration” and “employment integration.”
It’s important to note that this biological model was adopted by most
professionals working in some way with disabilities, who have had a great
influence on this field. Thus, many laws, policies and actions in our countries
have the seal of the biological model, even though many of the
attitudes and much of the behavior in our societies correspond to the
conceptions associated with the traditional model.
11

Finally, there is no question that rehabilitation is important for improving people’s
health conditions, skills and abilities. It would be illogical to oppose rehabilitation
in any way. However, it is incorrect to view every disabled person only as
a patient, or to restrict their ability to decide what they need or limit their rights
in any way. Less emphasis should be placed on their health, and more needs
to be focused on other human needs. Otherwise, they receive incomplete
assistance and support.
c. The human rights paradigm
The human rights paradigm centers on intrinsic human dignity. In other words,
the dignity that comes simply from the fact of being human, independent,
or possessing other conditions or traits: being a man or a woman, the color
of one’s skin (black, copper, yellow, white, etc.), one’s age, height, disability,
social status, etc.
According to this approach or paradigm, a disability is just one more trait found
among the entire range of human beings, rather than the trait that defines a
person’s entire existence, that sums up a person’s life in a framework of discrimination
and exclusion.
In the view of this paradigm, a disability is a social outcome that results when
people with deficiencies interact with attitudinal and environmental barriers
that restrict their full and effective participation, their inclusion, and their development
in the society where they live, under equal conditions as those enjoyed
by others.
According to this model, the “problem” of the disability is located in the sociocultural
and physical domain, and is derived from a lack of state and societal
awareness about the difference represented by a disability.
12

Consequently, the state is obligated to address socially created obstacles,
in order to promote and guarantee full respect for the dignity and
equal rights of all persons.
Here, the person with a disability shifts from being a recipient of assistance
and rehabilitation (an “object”) to being a “subject” who has rights and
obligations. The disabled person can develop an independent life, can
freely go anywhere because societies have eliminated obstacles and
have been built on the basis of accessibility, can participate actively in
his or her community and country, can vote or be nominated for electoral
office, has access to inclusive education, to health care, to jobs, to recreation
and to sports. In other words, the disabled person develops his or
her life under the same conditions as people who do not have a disability.
In general, this model is regulated by the following principles:
- Respect for the inherent dignity of human beings and all of their rights.
- Equality among all human beings, without discriminating on the basis of
disabilities.
SCHOOL
- Respect for human diversity (and the view that a deficiency is just one
condition or trait that makes up this diversity).
- Respect for personal autonomy and independence (living an independent
life).
- Self-representation and the freedom to make decisions about one’s own
life.
- Participation and full and effective inclusion in society.
- Equal opportunities and building the capacities needed to make use of
such opportunities.
13

- Affirmative action as a means to insuring the social inclusion of people with
disabilities, and the enjoyment of equal opportunities.
- Accessibility, in physical environments, to information and communications,
and to services.
This paradigm has been developing since the end of the last century and has
continued developing in the first years of the 21st century. The human rights
approach has been increasingly present in the normative structures of different
countries, but its application—especially in developing nations—has been
limited.
The Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities
(United Nations, 1993) are inspired by this model, but since they are not
obligatory, States may either apply them or not. The Convention on the Rights
of Persons with Disabilities, which the United Nations approved on December
13, 2006, is also based on the human rights model. Its advantage, however, is
that its provisions are binding; in other words, States Parties will be obligated to
apply them.
When this important Convention enters into force (after having been ratified
by at least 20 countries), the human rights paradigm will have a legal basis
for obligatory universal application. Thus, this paradigm will be the one that
predominates legally, over the biological model and the traditional view of
disabilities, which continue exerting the greatest influence in our societies and
on policies and actions related to disabilities.
We should also be aware of other rules such as the Inter-American Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities,
approved by the Organization of American States (OAS) in Guatemala in June
14

1999. This treaty is now in force; however, the OAS has been delayed in
convening the Anti-Discrimination Committee which, once established,
should request a report from member governments about the discriminatory
conditions faced by disabled persons in the different countries of the
American continent.
Although legal and judicial aspects are clearly very important in our societies,
we are also aware that such legislation is just a first step. Even more
important will be compliance with this legal framework, and its conversion
into real and concrete actions and programs that improve the living conditions
of people with disabilities.
Finally, it is also important to remember that this human rights paradigm
has been developed and strengthened through the struggles of disabled
people, their organizations, and other sectors working to promote the
rights of all people.
Special class for students
with disabilities.
INCLUSIVE CLASS
15

Integration is associated with the biological paradigm, while inclusion is directly linked to a human rights and social development
approach. The following table compares INTEGRATION and INCLUSION, illustrating the main characteristics of both models.
INCLUSION
Inclusion: Total and unconditional insertion (for example,
the insertion of children with disabilities into regular
schools).
Inclusion: Demands the complete transformation of
systems.
Inclusion: Changes that benefit all people.
Inclusion: Not defined only by the presence of people
with or without disabilities in the same environment,
but rather by adaptations to the environment to make
room for diversity.
Inclusion: Safeguards the rights of ALL people, whether
or not they have disabilities.
Inclusion: Brings “excluded” groups into different systems,
and simultaneously transforms these systems so
that they provide quality services to EVERYBODY.
Inclusion: The adjective “inclusive” is used when seeking
quality for ALL people, whether or not they have
disabilities.
Inclusion: Based on the understanding that we are ALL
different, and that the concepts of “special,” “normal”
and “exceptional” do not exist.
INTEGRATION
Integration: Partial or conditional insertion (for example,
children with disabilities “are trained” in special
schools or classes to be able to partially integrate into
regular schools or classrooms).
Integration: Seeks concessions or more flexibility from
different systems.
Integration: People with disabilities adapt to already
existing models, and these are only adjusted.
Integration: The simple presence of people with and
without disabilities in the same environment tends to
be sufficient for using the adjective “integrative.”
Integration: Safeguards the rights of people with disabilities.
Integration: Inserts “the excluded people who can prove
that they are apt” into groups (for example, quota
systems).
Integration: The adjective “integrative” is used when
quality is sought in structures that only attend to
people with disabilities (considered apt) in schools,
workplaces, etc.
Integration: Motivates people with disabilities to adapt
to dominant models, without valuing diversity (for
example, genuine forms of communication such as
sign language).
Adapted from Claudia Werneck, Manual do Midia Legal, WVA Editora, 2003.
2. Shaking things up and changing them
When we examine the three models, we realize that all three co-exist in our societies, which can lead to differences
when actions are being developed and can generate disagreements. We are living in a time of transition between
previous models and the human rights model. As with any change in our societies, the one linked to disabilities is so important
that it shakes things up, like the tremors after an earthquake. Let’s look at the ways the three models are present
in our countries:
16

Evaluation I
Questions for evaluation and reflection/ Chapter I:
1) In your own words and based on your own experiences with disabilities, define:
a. The traditional model_________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________.
b. The biological model_________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________.
c. The human rights model______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________.
2) Give an example of how each model is applied to situations that you know about or have experienced:
3) Indicate which model pertains to each of the situations described here:
a) A special classroom is being built in your school for the “disabled.”
Model: ____________________.
b) A Municipality is obligated to build access ramps for the main public buildings, to comply with
current regulations and because of pressure exerted by organizations of disabled persons. Model:
_____________________.
c) A place was set up where Juanita, a deaf girl, can beg more successfully.
Model:____________________.
4) How would you define a citizen with a disability? _____________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________.
17

Chapter II
What are human rights?
CHAPTER II
After finishing this chapter, readers should fully understand the concept of human rights and
be able to identify the main features of these rights, distinguish between different types of
rights, and evaluate the importance of human rights to people with disabilities.
1. Definition and features of human rights
- Human rights are freedoms, faculties or basic values that guarantee a dignified life, which
are possessed by all people based on the simple fact that they are human beings. It is the
responsibility of governments to respect, guarantee, or satisfy such rights. (Morales Gil de la
Torre, Héctor).
- Human rights are also legal guarantees that protect people and groups of people against
acts by governments that might compromise fundamental rights and human dignity.
- Human rights regulations obligate governments to do certain things that favor people and
the full enjoyment of their rights, and that impede others from limiting, restricting or conditioning
the enjoyment of such rights.
- The following are some of the features of human rights:
• They focus on human dignity,
• They are legally protected,
• They are internationally guaranteed,
• They protect people and groups of people,
• They obligate States and state agents,
• They may neither be the object of exceptions nor be eliminated,
• They are equal and interdependent,
• They are universal.
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Two very important features of human rights that merit emphasis are their interdependence
(in exercising them, rights depend on each other), and indivisibility (they are separated
from one another to make them more understandable, but they should be understood as
a unified whole). Consequently, living fully and achieving development not only requires
that a person’s civil and political rights are respected, but also their economic, social and
cultural rights. For example, it is very difficult for a person to enjoy freedom (a civil right)
when they are starving (the provision of food: an economic and social right). These two
features are very important when we evaluate the rights of people with disabilities, as we
will see later.
2. Types of human rights
Human rights can be grouped into different categories. The most common distinction is
between civil and political rights, on the one hand, and economic, social and cultural
rights, on the other.
a. Civil and political rights
These protect a human being, individually, against any type of aggression or abuse by any
public institution.
The guarantee of civil and political rights is immediate; therefore, these rights can be demanded
at any time and in any place, except under emergency circumstances that
permit certain restrictions on some civil and political rights.
19

We are not going to enumerate the entire range of human rights here. However, we should
remember that civil and political rights include:
- rights related to a person’s life, integrity, liberty, and security,
- rights related to the administration of justice,
- the right to privacy,
- a person’s legal capacity,
- the rights of freedom of religion or beliefs, and of opinion and expression,
- the right to freedom of movement,
- the right to a nationality,
- the right to associate and meet, and
- the right to citizenship and political participation (the right, through suffrage, to elect one’s
government, or to be elected to public office).
The following are some examples of civil and political rights, and the ways they can be violated:
Rights:
The right to personal integrity.
The right to due process and justice.
The right to privacy.
A person’s legal capacity.
The right to freedom of movement.
The right to suffrage and to vote.
The right to be elected to public office.
Examples of ways these rights are violated:
A policeman detains someone and uses excessive
force, including hitting them.
A person is deprived of their freedom without having
been judged or convicted.
An authority opens someone’s correspondence and
reads it without authorization.
A person’s inheritance is taken away from them on
the basis of being “crazy” and therefore lacking “legal
capacity.”
Someone who uses a wheelchair wishes to enter a public
building and there are no ramps, only steps.
A person with a disability cannot enter a polling place
to vote because it is inaccessible.
A law specifies that deaf and blind people cannot run
for the office of mayor.
20

. Economic, social and cultural rights
SUPERMARKET
Economic, social and cultural rights are part of second-generation rights.
Their main objective is guaranteeing economic well-being, access to work,
education, and culture. In other words, they assure people’s development.
These are collective rights, because they benefit groups of human beings
but not one person in particular. We say that these rights are progressively
achieved, because they can only be demanded to the extent that the
State has resources to guarantee them. However, this does not mean that
the State can use its lack of resources as an excuse for not meeting its obligations
when in reality it has such resources available, or when it does not
make the necessary effort to obtain them.
Economic, social and cultural rights include:
- the right to work;
- the freedom to organize trade unions;
- the right to an adequate standard of living, including food, clothing, and
adequate housing;
- the right to health and medical care;
- the right to education,
- the right to recreation and leisure, and
- the right to participate in cultural life.
c. Third-generation rights
Civil and political rights are also referred to as “first-generation rights,” since
they were the first rights to be consecrated in international conventions.
Economic, social and cultural rights are referred to as “second-generation
rights.” To some extent,
21

hese denominations indicate that some rights are more important than others.
There is a third group of rights: the so-called “third-generation” rights or people’s rights, which
have been promoted since the 1970s to encourage social progress and improve the standard
of living of all people. Some of the more prominent of these are related to:
- The use of scientific and technological advances;
- The solution to food, demographic, educational and ecological problems;
- The environment;
- The common heritage of humanity;
- Development, in support of a dignified life;
- Peace.
3. What are the rights of a disabled person?
The same as the rights of any other human being. People with disabilities do not have special
rights. What happens is that social and cultural environments undervalue, discriminate against
and exclude people with disabilities, and inaccessible physical environments and services repeatedly
violate the human rights of people with disabilities.
Thus, we can say that there is no “right to accessibility” per se, as people sometimes say. Physical
accessibility, or access to information, is something that the State should guarantee, so that
people with physical or sensory disabilities can exercise their right to freedom of movement
or the freedom of expression and the freedom to seek, receive and impart information. Thus,
things like ramps are not a right; they are tools that allow a right to be enjoyed. We could say
the same about Braille, and about sign language.
22

4. What are human rights violations?
a. A human rights violation
- A Human Right is violated when a public functionary and/or authority abuses his
or her power, and threatens to deny or by omission infringe upon our human rights
and/or constitutional guarantees, which are enshrined in the national Constitution
and in the human rights conventions, treaties, pacts and declarations which
a nation has signed and ratified.
- “Human rights violations” include any governmental transgressions related to
the rights that are guaranteed by national, regional or international human rights
norms and regulations, and any acts or omissions directly imputable to the State
that assume its non-compliance with the legal obligations derived from these.
- A violation occurs when a law, policy or practice infringes upon or deliberately
ignores the State’s respective obligations, or when these do not reach the level
of conduct or results that are required. Human rights violations also occur when
the State withdraws or eliminates existing protections of human rights.
- All human rights—civil, cultural, economic, political and social—impose three
types of obligations on governments: respect, protection and compliance. Any
omission in this respect committed by a government constitutes a human rights
violation.
- It is important to emphasize that in general, human rights violations always imply
the intervention of a State agent (a soldier, a policeman, a public functionary,
etc.) in the case of direct violations. For example, in the case of a policeman
who detains a person and deprives them of their freedom without merit (in other
words, arbitrarily). But the State can also be responsible for human rights violations
“by omission”—in other words, for failing to do what it is supposed to do. For
example, in the case of a husband who physically assaults his wife, and the police—because
of male chauvinist attitudes—do nothing when the wife reports it.
In this case, the State is responsible for this rights violation (against the woman’s
security and physical integrity), because its agents did not fulfill their duty.
23

It is important to distinguish the fact that although individuals have general responsibilities
to their community, and at a minimum should respect the human
rights of others, it is the State that is obligated to guarantee human rights.
b. When are the rights of people with disabilities being violated?
- When the State does not generate the necessary socio-cultural conditions to
eliminate undervaluing, discrimination, and exclusion.
I´M FREE TO GO WHERE
I WANT
- When the State continues creating barriers to physical access and to communication
and information, and allows private institutions providing public services
to also create such barriers.
- When the State generates regulations and norms that recognize the rights of
people with disabilities, but does not design plans, programs, policies, projects
and actions, or does so only in a very limited manner, so that disabled people
can only participate marginally in development, and not as full citizens.
Three examples of rights violations of people with disabilities:
- For people with motor and sensory disabilities, the right to liberty of movement—
something that is not restricted for people in general in any of our cities—is restricted
and discriminates against them. People with such disabilities need adequate
and secure ramps, and urban settings that are free of obstacles and barriers in
order to mobilize freely. Given that we are referring to
Right to personal mobility
24

public spaces, their construction and maintenance is the responsibility of the State
(either the Ministry of Public Works in the case of the central government, or
municipal governments). Insuring the right to free circulation means that the State
needs to create adequate conditions so that people with motor disabilities can
enjoy this right just like anyone else, and this is only possible through eliminating urban
obstacles and installing ramps and other facilities that insure accessibility. In
other words, physical accessibility is a means for guaranteeing that people with
disabilities can exercise their right to freedom of movement.
THEY SAY THAT I´M FREE TO GO
WHERE I WANT BUT I CAN´T
TAKE THE BUS BECAUSE IT DOES
NOT HAVE A RAMP OR LIFT.
Right to personal mobility?
- A blind person visits a public library and requests a copy of the Constitution of
the Republic in Braille, or in another format that would make it accessible, and
is told that only printed copies are available. Here, the right to receive information
is being violated. In this case, the means for exercising this right on an equal
basis with people who can read a print version of the Constitution would include
insuring the availability of a version in Braille, or audio tapes, or the provision of a
computer that is programmed to provide the text to a blind person.
25

We are here to serve
everyone.
- If a deaf person visits a public office and cannot carry out the business that
he or she came to do because the functionary in charge cannot communicate
with them (since they cannot speak in sign language) and cannot in
some way work out this problem with communication, this signifies a violation
of the deaf person’s rights. This is because the deaf person is not receiving the
same service as a hearing person; in other words, the deaf person is receiving
discriminatory treatment. In this case, the rights being violated are, first of all,
the freedom to seek, receive and impart information, and secondly the right
to freedom of expression. The ability of public servants to communicate in sign
language, or to use an alternative means of communication to resolve a deaf
person’s need for information and communication, are the means that guarantee
the exercise of the above-mentioned rights.
5. The interdependence of rights of people with disabilities
When speaking in general about civil and political rights, or about economic,
social and cultural rights, many authors insist that the interdependence of these
groups of rights is key to their enjoyment and exercise. Such a conception
commits the State to immediately guaranteeing the first group of rights, and to
make greater efforts to guarantee the second group.
Nonetheless, this interdependence takes on an even greater importance
when we refer to the rights of people with disabilities, since their civil and political
rights (immediate, as indicated) cannot be insured unless adequate conditions
are created through actions that are linked to insuring their economic
and social rights.
26

EXCLUSION
Underestimation
INVISIBILITY
DISCRIMINATION
SEGREGATION
It has been written: “Disability is one of the best areas in which to assert
and prove the indivisibility and interdependence of civil, political, economic,
social and cultural rights. People with disabilities must be afforded
freedom, but also the means to take advantage of it. This can be done by
providing relevant social supports and, in particular, by respecting economic,
social and cultural rights.” (Human Rights and Disability, Gerard Quinn
and Theresia Degener).
- If there are no ramps or accessible public transportation, I cannot enjoy
freedom of movement!
- If the polling places are not accessible, my political right to elect my representatives
is being restricted!
- If the text of this law isn’t available in Braille, I cannot enjoy the freedom
to receive information!
6. Human rights and the type of environment
INCLUSIVE
SOCIETY
As already stated: BEING DISABLED is the result or product of the relationship
between a PERSON WITH DEFICIENCIES and a DISABLING ENVIRON-
MENT (cultural, social, economic, political).
Since the State and its institutions are RESPONSIBLE for this environment,
they must also play a key role in making it inclusive and accessible. This
means creating the conditions that insure that people with disabilities can
fully enjoy their human rights. What has predominated to date is a DISA-
BLING ENVIRONMENT.
This environment that undervalues, segregates, excludes, and makes the
disabled person invisible is an environment that also multiplies the violations
of disabled people’s human rights.
27

The development of a human rights paradigm has defined this relationship between a discriminatory and excluding
environment and human rights violations, which affects people with disabilities in an ongoing manner.
The following table illustrates this relationship:
Person with a Deficiency
(physical, sensory,
mental)
DISABLING CULTURAL AND SOCIAL ENVIRON-
MENT
CAUSE OR AGGRAVATING FACTOR
Person with
a disability
-Made invisible,
-Underestimated,
-Discriminated against,
-Segregated,
-Excluded,
-Converted into an object of pity and charity,
-Converted into a patient,
-Annulled or restricted rights,
-Loss of citizenship,
-Impeded or limited participation,
-Object of assistance and social protection,
-Excluded from the national development agenda.
AN ENVIRONMENT THAT MULTIPLIES HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
• In other words, a DISABILITY (D) is a variable that results from the interaction between a variable that
has to do with a person’s functionality (FL: Functional Limitation) and another variable that is related to the
environment (E) and social organization.
• To illustrate the impact that the environment has on the relationship between a disability and a functional
limitation “mathematically,” we use the following equation (Marcelo Medeiros, 2005):
D = FL x E
More barriers, more disability: If we assign a value of “zero” to an imaginary environment that has no barriers,
the product of this equation will always be zero, regardless of the value assigned to a person’s functional limitation.
However, as the value assigned to the environment increases, the greater the functional impact that
the disability has on the life of the person. As we see here:
FL 1 x E 0 = D 0 FL 5 x E 0 = D 0
FL 1 x E 1 = D 1 FL 5 x E 5 = D 25
28

Evaluation II
Questions for evaluation and reflection/ Chapter II:
1) Provide a clear and concise answer to the following questions:
a. What are human rights? ______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________.
b. Write down three features of human rights, and explain them briefly ____________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________.
c. What are civil and political rights, and economic, social and cultural rights?
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________.
2) Is there a difference between general human rights and the rights of people with disabilities?
3) Explain ways that the rights of people with disabilities are violated.
4) Why do we affirm that the interdependence and indivisibility of rights are so important
when it comes to disabled people exercising their rights? Give examples to support your
explanation.
29

Chapter III
Exclusion, Inclusion and Poverty linked to Disability
CHAPTER III
After a careful reading of this chapter, the reader should be able to understand
the concepts of exclusion and inclusion, why poverty is associated with
disability and vice versa, why people with a disability are often poorer than
other poor people, and the actions that need to be developed to break the
vicious circle of poverty and disability.
INCLUDED
1. What are exclusion and inclusion?
In human societies, there are people who enjoy an elevated standard of living,
whose residences are good or very good quality, and who have access to all
services that development offers. In other words, they are surrounded by material
conditions and services that allow them to live well, with access to health,
education, income from their investments or good jobs, recreation, etc.
There are other people whose standard of living isn’t so high, but who have
adequate living conditions. They have access to basic services. They are situated
between the minority in our societies who live extremely well, and other
segments of the population who live (or barely survive) in bad or very bad conditions.
This is the middle class.
Then there are other sectors—generally the majority in our countries—who live
in the midst of very difficult material conditions, without access to many basic
services. When they do receive such services, they are not the best quality.
These are the poor and very poor.
EXCLUDED
We could say that the first group is included, the second group has an intermediate
level of inclusion, and those on the bottom would be situated among the
excluded or most excluded. Excluded from what? Well, from economic and
social development.
30

In other words, exclusion and inclusion are conditions or features related
to the degree to which people have access to goods and services, and
to the development of the society they live in. Examples of goods are
homes, refrigerators, electric stoves, washing machines, etc. Services include
electricity, potable water, health, a job, education, telephone and
Internet service, etc.
Thus, exclusion is the condition experienced by people who do not have
sustained access to the enjoyment of economic and social development,
or who only have it in a very limited manner. On the other hand, inclusion
is the condition enjoyed by those who have access to the goods and services
generated by the social development of a given society.
Moreover, exclusion is manifested in the full enjoyment or denial of citizenship,
access or lack of access to income and other resources, and to
social development programs, etc.
In the societies of Central America, a large number of inhabitants live in
conditions of poverty and exclusion. According to data from a recent
study by the Latin American School of Social Sciences (FLACSO), a little
more than half of the almost 40 million Central Americans live in conditions
of poverty and extreme poverty.
2. What is poverty?
Poverty is a condition experienced by families or people whose income
does not manage to satisfy their basic needs for food, and other needs
such as health, education, housing, clothing, transportation, etc.
31

THERE IS HARDLY MONEY FOR
FOOD; THE CHILDREN WILL HAVE
TO GO TO SCHOOL WITHOUT
SHOES
There are different ways of defining who is poor and who isn’t.
For example, in Costa Rica, the poverty line method is used to determine
who is poor. This method consists of:
“Calculating a poverty line, which represents the minimum income that
allows a household to have sufficient resources to attend to the basic
food and non-food needs of its members.” (INEC, Costa Rica)
Using this method, poor households are defined as those whose income
per person is equal to or less than the one defined as “the poverty line.”
At the same time, extremely poor households are those whose income per
person does not cover (or barely covers) the costs of basic food, or the
so-called “basic food basket.”
Here is an example:
• Let’s suppose that a 4-member household in a rural zone of one of
our countries has a monthly income of 1,000 pesos.
• This means that the income per person is 250 pesos, which we derive
from dividing the total income by four.
• If the per-person income for the poverty line is 300 pesos, this rural
family will need more than 1,200 pesos of monthly income to not be classified
as poor.
a) Poor family
TODAY THE CAT
IS LAYING ON THE
STOVE BECAUSE
THERE IS NOTHING
TO COOK
b) Extremely poor family
32

3. Poverty and social participation
Although poverty is clearly manifested in income and available resources, it
should not be reduced to only this material dimension. Poverty has concrete
manifestations and consequences in terms of social participation.
The search for resources to meet family needs obligates poor people to
spend most of their time engaged in such efforts, which generally diminishes
their social participation. There is also a tendency among political and
government institutions to underestimate poor people, both in terms of their
involvement in political processes, and in community consults and processes
related to social programs.
It is no coincidence that in most of our countries, poor people are viewed
as objects to be utilized in electoral processes. During electoral campaigns,
promises are made to improve living conditions so that citizens will deliver
their votes, but once elected, governments do not fulfill, or barely fulfill, any
of their campaign promises. Many political parties that are elected manipulate
the needs of the poor, in what we refer to as “clientelism.” They
assure the votes of poor citizens by handing out food or building materials
that are acquired with public resources.
In recent years, there has been a clear trend toward attributing greater
importance to citizen participation as an expression of democratic development,
and as an adequate means for promoting social development.
For example, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) affirms that
“participation is an essential component of human development,” and that
people “desire permanent progress toward more complete participation.”
As noted by Bernardo Klinksberg, “participation generates much better social
results than other more traditional organizational models, such as bureaucratic
and paternalistic models.”
The better results that participatory models yield in social programs are due
to a series of comparative advantages. The following are three of these:
33

(1) No one understands someone’s problems and needs better than those
who are actually affected by them. Thus, the community or a particular
sector is really the best source of such information.
(2) Community participation can be the key factor in insuring a program’s
good development and operation. The same is true for avoiding corruption
or the inadequate management of social programs. Social control
will undoubtedly create a better basis for accountability.
(3) The people most indicated for evaluating the final results and impact
of social projects are those who benefit from them. In other words, the
recipients of these projects. Participatory evaluations produce better assessments
of “effectively obtained results, deficiencies, unexpected favorable
and unfavorable effects, and key elements for future designs”
(Klinksberg, Bernardo).
Consequently, we may conclude that sector, community and citizen participation
are an effective means of fighting poverty and promoting social
development. The states and governments that seriously promote this
type of participation (especially that of the poorest sectors) demonstrate
a greater commitment to the eradication of poverty.
4. Disabilities and additional expenses
This is very important! When studying poverty that is associated with disabilities,
Amartya Sen, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1998,
noted: “The poverty line defined for people with a disability should take
into account the additional costs incurred when their income is translated
into possibilities for living well.”
People with disabilities face additional costs for satisfying the same needs
as people without disabilities.
GENERAL
EXPENSES
GENERAL EXPEN-
SES AND SPECIFIC
EXPENSES DUE TO
DISABILITY
34

Amartya Sen affirms that in the United Kingdom, 23.1% of disabled people
are poor compared to an overall index in the country of 17.9%. However,
when the additional expenses associated with having a disability are considered,
the poverty index for people with a disability shoots up to 47.4%.
In the following table, we see the needs and demands of the population without
disabilities, and the specific needs that people with disabilities require
in order to live in equal conditions as others and satisfy the same needs. Normally,
governments should respond to these needs through public policies.
Needs / Demands
Population without disabilities
HEALTH
FOOD
HOUSING
CLOTHING
EDUCATION
EMPLOYMENT
TRANSPORTATION
SOCIAL SECURITY
RECREATION/ CULTURE
SPORTS
PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT
INFORMATION
Population with disabilities
+ Rehabilitation-Outfitting /Specific
needs
+ Specific diets/ nutritional supplements
+ Accessible
+ Adequate
+ Adaptations/ Special Inclusive
+ Adjustments
+ Accessible
+ Adjustments
+ Accessible
+ Accessible
+ Accessible
+ Accessible
+ ASSISTIVE DEVICE
35

Everything written in the right column signifies additional resources. These
are resources that are needed to attend to basic needs, and which permit
the social and productive inclusion of people with disabilities.
Currently, some of these needs are being covered by family resources or
by assistance from private organizations, many of which are charitable
groups. Some governments attend to some of these needs or demands,
but only minimally since States tend to view this as spending rather than
as a social investment. This is mainly because of existing prejudices that
classify disabled people as non-productive.
The consequence is the creation of conditions that keep people with disabilities
among the poorest in our societies, suffering from both economic
and social exclusion.
EMPLOYMENT
I‘M SORRY BUT WE ONLY
EMPLOY “NORMAL”
PEOPLE HERE
5. Exclusion of people with disabilities
According to estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO), Central
America has around four million disabled persons.
When examining the living conditions of disabled Central Americans,
many studies have found that most of these people live in conditions of
poverty and social exclusion. For example, in characterizing the living
conditions of disabled people in Costa Rica, the Office to Defend Citizen
Rights (Defensoría de los Habitantes) has indicated that they are “the
most excluded of the excluded.”
The development models and plans that have been adopted in our countries
to date have not been able to generate well-being for the majority;
rather, different groups have been and continue to be excluded from the
benefits of development.
36

Among these groups are indigenous groups, Afro-descendent populations,
women, the elderly, people with disabilities, and ethnic, religious and sexual
minorities, all of whom are commonly referred to as “groups living in situations
of risk.”
Bengt Lindqvist, who was the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on Disability,
has said that poverty produces disability, and that disability generates
poverty. In other words, there is a circular relationship between poverty and
disability, as both cause and outcome.
How does this happen?
Let’s look at how poverty can generate disabilities:
- If a family lives in very bad or precarious hygienic and health conditions,
some of its members will have a greater likelihood of acquiring a deficiency
that converts them into a disabled person. For instance, consuming contaminated
water can cause diseases that produce different types of visual
deficiencies or blindness.
DISABLING
DISEASES
- There are very risky and unsafe jobs that people accept because they
are poor. Many of these risky jobs or productive activities can endanger a
person’s health, and are an important cause of deficiencies that generate
a disability. One example: artisanal divers who fish for lobster along the Caribbean
coast of Nicaragua and Honduras, who suffer permanent injuries
and even death.
Here are three cases that demonstrate the ways that disabilities generate
poverty:
1) If a family member has a very severe disability, this person must generally
remain at home with another family member who must care for them. Consequently,
the person providing such care cannot work and will not generate
income for the family. Thus, both the person with the disability and their
caretaker must depend upon a reduced family income.
37

2) Generally, family members with a disability require extra spending for
goods and services related to their disability. Such costs must be covered
by the family’s income, which reduces or impedes attending to other family
needs.
3) If a family member with a disability has the ability and desire to work
and be productive but cannot obtain a job because of the disability, this
person is not only prohibited from generating income for him or herself
and contributing to the family income, but also must depend upon the
income produced by other family members.
This vicious circle means that people with disabilities are more likely to be
poor and to remain poor. This situation can only change by breaking the
vicious circle, which we will look at in the next chapter.
6. A diagnostic appraisal
In May 2003, an international dialogue on disability and development
took place in Helsinki Finland, sponsored by the World Bank’s Office of
the Advisor on Disability and Development. At this important meeting, a
diagnostic assessment was conducted of the relationship between disability
and development, focusing on the situations confronted by disabled
people in poor countries.
The final report concluded that “the vast majority of this population occupy
the lowest rung of the socio-economic ladder, are among the poorest
of the poor, and are rarely reached by development projects,” and that
the disability and development landscape is characterized mainly by:
- Small scale pilot projects scattered throughout selected developing
countries, funded by external donors;
- Collapse of projects when the external aid cycle is completed;
38

More inequality. The Latin American and
Caribbean region (LAC) is the most unequal
region in the world. According to data from
CEPAL (Economic Commission for Latin America
and the Caribbean), 181 million Latin
Americans are poor and 70 million more are
indigent (October 2009).
Population: Based on estimates by WHO, at
least 79 million people in Latin America and
the Caribbean have some type of disability.
Poverty: More than 80% of disabled people in
LAC live (or survive) in conditions of poverty.
Consequently, there are close to 63 million
poor people with disabilities.
Education: Only 20-30% of disabled children in
LAC attend school. This is due to the lack of
accessible transportation and infrastructure,
trained teachers and didactic materials, etc.
- Infusion of aid and new projects in countries in current favor with development
agencies and investment policies, followed by abandonment
when attention is refocused to other countries;
- Isolation of disability and development projects from mainstream development
programs and goals of a particular country;
- Pervasiveness of prevention as the development community’s response
to disability;
- Failure to include the principle of accessibility in ordinary development
programs;
- Lack of shared information (on a domestic or international basis) about
objectives and results of disability projects, so that, in effect, each project
is developed (and often dies) in a vacuum.
Employment: Between 80-90% of people with
disabilities in LAC are unemployed, and almost
all of those who have jobs receive low salaries
or no monetary compensation.
Health services: Most people with disabilities
in the region do not have access to health
services.
Some data from Latin America and the Caribbean
that illustrates the existing relationship between poverty
and disability
39

Evaluation III
Questions for evaluation and reflection/ Chapter III:
1) Please provide a clear and concise answer:
a. What is social exclusion?______________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________.
b. What is social inclusion? ______________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________.
2) Investigate what method is used to define poverty in your country. You can do this by calling the
Statistics and Census Bureau on the telephone to inquire, or by visiting this institution’s web site. It would
also be useful to read publications in your country that contain data about disabilities and poverty.
3) In your own words, explain the vicious circle between poverty and disability. Give an example of this
circle from your own experiences_____________________________________ _____________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________.
4) Comment on the following phrase: “People with disabilities are disproportionately poor, and the poor
are disproportionately disabled.”
5) Add up the additional expenses that a family you know with a disabled member has to spend. Investigate
how they cover these costs.
6) If you were in a decision-making position, what actions would you promote to break the vicious circle
of poverty and disability?
40

CHAPTER IV
Chapter IV
Inclusive Development
Once this chapter has been concluded, the reader should understand different
development models, the “inclusive development” concept, why this development
strategy is so important to people with disabilities and their families, the
kinds of actions that should be developed to promote this model, and the instruments
or means that can be used to promote more inclusive development.
1. Development models
In some or most of our countries, a development model is understood as an
economic model, and this includes the most permanent and structural aspects,
both medium and long-range, of a nation’s economic policy.
It is the form in which a society:
• Uses the nation’s resources,
• Interrelates with other societies,
• Responds to changes and processes, both internal and external,
• Designs institutions to achieve its objectives, and
• (Very importantly) DISTRIBUTES the revenues generated by its productive
activities.
The United Nations defines development as the substantial improvement in the
social and material conditions of people, in a framework of respect for cultural
values. To achieve this development, countries utilize different models and obtain
a range of different outcomes.
If we think about or evaluate our countries’ development in recent years, it is
very likely that we will conclude that it does not fit the UN’s definition of development.
One of the main problems with our models is that the wealth they
generate is not well distributed.
41

In other words, only a little goes to a lot of people, and a lot goes to only
a few. Meanwhile, the number of people living in poverty keeps growing.
To summarize, we could say that our countries have adopted a type of
development model that is generally more concerned with economic
growth (which is the main point of an economic model) and only minimally
concerned with the social distribution of the wealth that is produced
(which is the idea of a social model), and insufficiently concerned with
protecting the environment (which is at the heart of a sustainable model).
2. Sustainable human development
In the early 1990s, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) proposed
a new concept of development and a strategy for achieving it.
It is called “sustainable human development,” which is essentially based
on the ideas of previous development theories. It embraces, on the one
hand, the concept of “sustainable development,” and on the other hand,
“human scale development,” but with the latter carried out on a more
collective level.
Sustainable development responds to the concern that natural resources
can be used up, and if we are not careful about their use today, we will
complicate the lives of future generations. The UNDP combined this conception
with the idea that the main beneficiaries of development are human
beings. Thus, this model argues that improving individual conditions
in all areas should be the foundation for social development.
Sustainable human development asserts that development signifies progress
for individuals and for societies in five fundamental spheres: economic,
social, cultural, political-participatory, and environmental.
42

The corresponding strategy for achieving such development has two components:
• Creating opportunities for the entire population, and
• Building capacities so that all people can make full use of opportunities.
3. In relation to disability
The demand for a development model that includes all people comes (or
should come) from the range of sectors and groups that have been consistently
excluded from the benefits of development. Among these groups are the
indigenous, Afro-descendent populations, women, the elderly, people with disabilities,
and ethnic, religious and sexual minorities, all of whom are commonly
referred to as “living in situations of risk.”
The greatest aspiration of this conception of development is to move beyond
the specific and compartmentalized approaches adopted by different social
sectors, and strengthen what is common among them, the things that they can
mutually reinforce. Key to this is building a global development agenda with an
inclusive development approach, whose central axis is promoting broad-based
and comprehensive strategies that address all dimensions of human needs.
To insure that development actions respond to all expressions of human diversity,
public policies must specifically address the needs and demands of all excluded
groups, from the time they are designed through their implementation.
Given that the disability sector’s basic principles include diversity, inclusion,
enabling opportunities, personal autonomy and solidarity, it has begun to generate
substantial support for this development approach. This sector’s contribution
is aimed at remedying the
43

exclusion confronted by people with disabilities, but also understanding
that this situation will not change unless the general population’s quality
of life also improves.
From the perspective of people with disabilities, situating ourselves on the
road to inclusive development requires interrelating two key developmental
concepts associated with disability—human diversity and universal design—with
the concept of inclusion.
We need to begin to see disability as part of human diversity, and not as
a condition that is the object of discrimination and exclusion, as we experience
every day in today’s societies. The idea is to begin to see disability
as just another trait or feature, like size, skin color, and gender, rather than
a condition that defines and limits a person’s entire life.
Universal design means designing and building products and environments
that can safely be used by all people, and that to the extent possible do
not require special adaptations. The extensive use of universal design is
intended to simplify the lives of all people, making sure that products, services,
means of communication and environments are fully accessible, at
very low cost or at no additional cost.
This type of design (also called inclusive design) not only makes sense for
the progressive shift toward universal accessibility to environments and
services, but also will signify a growing economy of resources in the longrange,
because it will be geared toward seeking overarching, general
solutions rather than multiple specific solutions.
44

Examples:
- If buildings are constructed in compliance with universal design standards,
they will be accessible to all people and their cost will increase very little (estimated
at only 2%). However, if they are built without accessibility, many people
will not be able to use them easily or safely (the elderly, pregnant women, children,
etc.), and the costs will be much higher when they need to be remodeled
to make them accessible.
- If a universal design is used when web pages are developed, blind people will
be able to explore these pages without any access problems (which limit their
use of most web pages today).
As they say: If the cacao is better
distributed, more people can drink
the chocolate
4. Inclusive development
We understand Inclusive Development as the design and effective implementation
of public policies and actions that bring about socio-economic and human
development, in a way that promotes the capacities and equal opportunities
and rights of all people, regardless of their social condition, gender, age,
physical or mental condition, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, etc., in sustainable
harmony with the environment (IIDI).
The general accent of this development approach is on an increasingly better
distribution of the wealth produced in countries, since the goal of including
social groups and sectors that have been excluded from the benefits of development
will be impossible to achieve without a more equitable distribution of
revenues.
As we have been indicating, people with disabilities and families with a disabled
member are more likely to be poor, and are less likely to be able to enjoy
the benefits of their nation’s development.
45

Here, the search for inclusive development needs to build two bridges:
• General inclusion: This means promoting better distribution of national
revenues for all excluded sectors that live in conditions of poverty and extreme
poverty.
• Specific inclusion: This means promoting a change in approach and
in the administration of resources allocated by the State to people with disabilities
and their families.
- What has been happening in the realm of disabilities?
1) Poorly focused prevention. Resources are allocated to preventing deficiencies,
but not enough are assigned to the present and future care and
development of disabled people. Sometimes, this is because of the mistaken
assumption that through preventive actions we can make disabilities
disappear.
2) Individual actions. Many individual and specific programs and projects are
promoted and developed which are geared toward attending to people
with disabilities (rather than development). Sometimes these types of actions
are carried out simultaneously by different institutions in an uncoordinated
manner. According to estimates by one World Bank office, individual
strategies for attending to the disabled population in our countries will not
even cover the needs of 5% of this population. And this reduced percentage
is usually concentrated in urban zones, leaving the disabled who live in
rural and more remote zones completely excluded from these programs and
projects.
3) Delegation of responsibilities. Another element is the fact that the State
and its institutions do not assume political or social responsibility for the issue
of disability.
46

They deal with the issue only marginally, and delegate “attention” for people with
disabilities to charitable programs and international donors. This attention is also provided
by non-governmental organizations (with or without governmental support),
whose work is very well intentioned but does not always provide adequate quality
or technical oversight. Although most of the work in this field is carried out by NGOs
whose members are people without disabilities, there are also NGOs led by disabled
people that offer services but do not undertake efforts (or only do so minimally) to
struggle for the rights of people with disabilities.
4) International cooperation. The support from international donors for issues related
to disabilities in developing countries has been valuable and well meant, but has not
always utilized a development approach with this sector of the population, which
suffers the harsh consequences of exclusion and discrimination.
- What should happen with an inclusive development approach?
1) Prevention. Good strategies for preventing deficiencies could play a large role in
reducing disabilities associated with poverty, and poverty linked to disabilities. Some
80% of deficiencies could be prevented. In many cases, disabilities are the result of
malnutrition, a lack of basic sanitation, environmental contamination, diseases, armed
conflicts, accidents, urban violence, natural disasters, childbirth conditions, and
genetic factors.
The deficiencies (the generators of disabilities) that arise from congenital conditions
account for only 2% of all disabilities. To increase their effectiveness, efforts aimed at
fighting hunger, improving health services, building safe highways, establishing safety
regulations, and preserving the environment should explicitly consider and incorporate
a disability-prevention approach. However, despite the success that prevention
programs might have, disabilities will not disappear, not even in the wealthiest nations.
New forms resulting from poverty, aging, accidents, armed conflicts and other
situations will also continue to emerge.
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2) Crosscutting and inclusive actions. It is essential that the needs of people with
disabilities—in both urban and rural zones—are included in development planning
(Global or National Development Plans), in public policies, and in the programs, projects
and actions derived from such policies.
This crosscutting inclusion should be present in the broadest range of programs, including
health, education and professional and technical training, employment, social
protection and poverty reduction, transportation, housing, information and communications,
tourism and culture, recreation and sports, etc. In addition, sustained State
actions are needed to guarantee accessibility to public infrastructure (remodeling or
constructing buildings that are accessible to all) and insuring that private buildings
where public services are provided are also accessible to all people.
There are some who argue that these crosscutting policies related to disabilities could
be counterproductive, since they could lead to the disappearance of more specific
and targeted programs before they are effectively replaced by programs that insure
the due inclusion of people with disabilities in national education programs, national
public health policies, employment and social security programs, etc. In other words,
if such crosscutting programs do not materialize immediately, people with disabilities
could be left completely on their own. It is important to heed this warning, to insure
that this does not occur, but it should not paralyze or postpone the promotion and
development of inclusive crosscutting policies.
3) Inclusive supervision. The State needs to supervise and guide private agencies
(foundations and charitable associations, or any other type) that offer services or
develop actions that benefit people with disabilities, so that they do so in ways that
promote development, respect for the dignity of disabled persons and for their rights,
and avoid all forms of segregation and exclusion.
4) Inclusive conditions and the sentinel approach. It is important that when multilateral
credit organizations like the World Bank (WB), the Inter-American Development
Bank (IDB), the Central American Economic Integration Bank (BCIE) or any other international
institution award credit to countries (which all taxpayers end up paying
back through their taxes and other mechanisms), they include conditions in their
loans that guarantee accessibility to the goods and services generated by this credit.
48

It would be important to insure that all infrastructure constructed with such resources
is accessible to all people. Otherwise, these loans would be encouraging
discrimination and exclusion in both the present and the future (just think
about the useful life of a building constructed today!).
The idea is to continue along the same road that has been encouraging environmental
protection and inclusion of women. There are institutions such as the
WB whose requirements for approving certain types of credits include insurances
of environmental protection by the recipient nation, and a program benefitting
from such resources cannot in any way damage the environment. Along
this same line, efforts have been made to incorporate a gender perspective
into such loans and include women as credit beneficiaries.
In a corresponding manner, the World Bank has begun to include the “sentinel”
approach in its determination of whether or not a country meets the requirements
for credit. The sentinel approach is a method of monitoring projects to
identify opportunities for the inclusion of a disability dimension—as a crosscutting
approach—and for insuring the accessibility of infrastructure that is to be
built.
5) Inclusive international cooperation. It is also essential that resources from
“international cooperation, including international development programs, are
inclusive of and accessible to people with disabilities,” as clearly stated in the
International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
49

5. How can the vicious circle be broken?
Via two complementary paths:
a. Building capacities and creating opportunities
• Creating opportunities for people with disabilities.
• Building capacities among people with disabilities so they
can take advantage of opportunities.
For example, people with disabilities who are of productive age and
in good condition for working could receive professional or technical
training (building capacities), which would let them perform a
job or develop a family micro-enterprise.
Creating productive opportunities should take place in the competitive
labor market (in both the public and private sectors) and
through making credit and technical assistance available for developing
micro-enterprises. The State can and should play a very active
role promoting the employment of the disabled, either directly
or indirectly. In addition, increased accessibility to the physical environment
and to information should be sought, and to different services
like public transportation, health care and rehabilitation. This
will also help to eliminate job discrimination due to disabilities, and
generate real opportunities for decent work for people with disabilities,
based on their acquired knowledge and experience.
SCHOOL
If this happens, people with disabilities who are not working today
(notwithstanding their desire to do so) will be able to work and generate
income for themselves, for their families, and for their nation
when they pay taxes.
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. Social security programs:
FOR THE ATTENTION OF
SEVERE DISABILITIES
SOCIAL SECURITY PROGRAMS
CHECK
Social security programs to attend to family members who cannot work because
of their disability need to be developed. This would include, for example, setting
up State-sponsored centers where adults with disabilities can receive attention
and carry out some type of activity during the day. In other words, places
where the disabled do not reside permanently, but that offer a good option for
daytime care so that their caretakers can work and generate income for their
family. This also includes the provision of pensions to adults who cannot work
because of their disability, and the provision of other supports such as technical
aid, transport subsidies, etc., that offset costs so families do not lose their available
incomes. These options are equally valid and necessary for disabled children
from poor families, whose income is reduced when they need to invest resources
in their care and attention.
6. The relationship between human rights and inclusive
development
There is a mutually conditioned relationship between human rights and development.
The full and comprehensive enjoyment of human rights—civil and
political, on the one hand, and economic, social and cultural on the other—is
an indication and consequence of the degree of development a society has
achieved.
The more that human beings enjoy their human rights, the closer a society is to
achieving inclusive development. Moreover, inclusive development is inconceivable
if the human beings who pertain to a given society are unable to enjoy
their human rights in a complete and comprehensive manner.
We can conclude, therefore, that progress toward more effectively guaranteeing
the rights of people with disabilities has a positive impact on advancing
toward more inclusive development. Similarly, development actions that include
people with disabilities and their families have a favorable impact on the ability
51

7. Instruments and spaces for inclusive action
Clearly, this is a different approach to promoting and defending the
rights of people with disabilities. We also need to develop instruments
and initiatives that provide opportunities to achieve more inclusive
development.
The following three examples are just samples of a legal instrument
and two initiatives that generate opportunities where we can and
should exert influence. Let’s take a look at these:
a. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities.
As we know, the United Nations General Assembly approved the
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on December
13, 2006.
This new human rights treaty was the outcome of a five-year process
in which people with disabilities and their organizations played a
very active and leading role, inspired by the slogan: Nothing about
us, without us!
The United Nations Convention should function as a valuable instrument
that effectively contributes to eliminating discrimination
against people with disabilities, to making progress in gaining recognition
and respect for the rights and dignity of people with disabilities,
and to promoting development with an inclusive approach.
Since entering into force both internationally (May 3, 2008) and in
most Latin American countries, this treaty can and should be used
as a valuable instrument for including people with disabilities in our
nations’ development agendas. The States Parties are bound to do
52

so, since this is a legally binding instrument. In other words, its observance is
obligatory.
This is an important difference between this treaty and the United Nations
Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities,
which is still valuable for promoting human rights and development for people
with disabilities. However, its great weakness is that its provisions are not binding
and States, therefore, may either apply them or not.
b. The UN Millennium Development Goals.
This is an initiative of the Presidents and Heads of State who met in New York in
late 1999. On this occasion, they approved the initiative known as the Millennium
Development Goals, whose main objective is reducing poverty around
the globe by 50%—in other words, to cut the number of people living in conditions
of poverty in half—within a period of 15 years.
This period will conclude on December 31, 2015. Since this initiative was approved,
numerous actions have been undertaken in a myriad of areas in order to
achieve these goals.
What relationship do these goals have to disabled people?
A very strong one. Given that poverty has a very acute impact on the lives
of people with disabilities (remember the vicious circle), significant progress in
reducing poverty linked to disability must be made in order to achieve these
goals. Thus, the programs and actions being promoted by governments, the
UN and other international organizations should include disabled people living
in poverty and extreme poverty. If they do not, these goals will be destined to
failure.
53

Thus, we should be interested in this initiative, know it better, and see it as an opportunity
for promoting an inclusive development approach.
c. The Decade of the Americas for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
In June 2006, the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS)
approved the Decade of the Americas for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
(2006-2016), with the goal of focusing attention on the discrimination, social exclusion
and poverty that affects people with disabilities in the Americas.
After approving the declaration, the OAS ratified a Program of Action, which has
only been very minimally fulfilled to date due to weak commitments by the OAS
and its member states. Nonetheless, we should view this declaration for the decade,
and particularly its plan of action, as an opportunity for influencing both
the OAS and our nations’ governments, and pressure them to translate their declarations
and agreements into concrete actions aimed at improving the living
conditions of people with disabilities, especially those living in Latin America and
the Caribbean.
d. Other important arenas.
It is important to take advantage of any arena that offers an opportunity to improve
the living conditions of people with disabilities, including legislative assemblies
and congresses, ministries or other important public institutions, but we must
also bring the idea of inclusive development to the environments where we live,
such as municipal councils or neighborhood or district committees.
District or community committees are a good sounding board, since it is easier to
explain the needs and problems of people with disabilities in these places where
we are surrounded by friends and neighbors. For example, we can explain the
need for well-constructed ramps, and people with disabilities and those using
wheelchairs can act as advisors to the construction process.
54

We can find allies in these committees who will accompany us and support
actions in municipal arenas and with government or legislative authorities.
It would also be wise to explore whether the issue of disability is included
in municipal or local government plans. If it isn’t, arenas should be sought
(such as requesting an audience at a municipal session) where the demands
and needs of disabled people can be presented.
Another option that has already been put into practice is requesting an audience
in municipal commissions that address issues of interest to the community,
to present the concerns and proposals of people with disabilities
and their organizations.
An inclusive development approach should be part of all of these efforts!
WE COME FROM
“THE COUNTRY OF
THE EXCLUDED”
WE WANT TO BE INCLU-
DED IN THE DEVELOP-
MENT OF THE COUNTRY
55

Evaluation IV
Questions for evaluation and reflection/ Chapter IV:
1) What is your understanding of a development model? ____________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________.
2) Based on what you know, which development model is the one that’s been followed in your country?
During the past ten years, has this model reduced, increased, or not impacted poverty? ______________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________.
3) Define “inclusive development” in your own wor
ds:_______________________________________________________________________ ________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________.
4) Explain how you think that the vicious circle of poverty and disability can be broken through adopting
an inclusive development strategy. Relate your answer to the idea of “building capacities and creating
opportunities.” _______________________________________________________________________ _____________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________.
5) Based on what you know about the UN Millennium Development Goals for reducing poverty and the
OAS Decade of the Americas for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, how do you think these initiatives
can be used to gain ground for people with disabilities in Latin America and the Caribbean? _________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________.
56

CHAPTER V
Chapter V
Political advocacy and the rights of people with
disabilities
One of the main lessons for the reader of this chapter is that in order to promote
inclusive development and make progress in insuring the rights of people with
disabilities, organizations of disabled persons and their key allies must become familiar
with political advocacy and incorporate it into their work. In addition, they
need to fully understand its methodologies, its strategies, and must formulate solid
political advocacy plans. These plans should then be implemented, while also
taking advantage of any opportunities for promoting inclusive and democratic
change in society.
1. Political advocacy as a tool for change
As states and governments have become more open to the idea of consulting
with interested social sectors when they are formulating and implementing public
policies, the concept of “political advocacy” has begun to make headway.
Today, different civil society groups are playing an increasingly important role,
and their proposals and demands are influencing the direction of the public policies
their governments are promoting.
We can affirm that the power of civil society has generally grown stronger in many
of our countries, while political parties—as they were conceived and developed
in previous periods—have actually grown weaker and are showing clear signs of
crisis.
This new situation creates opportunities for the organizations representing people
with disabilities and for their relatives to fight for public policies that insure their human
rights. For this movement, this is both a new and challenging situation, since
until recently, the use of political advocacy and political
57

action as a way of promoting effective changes was more the
exception than the rule among organizations of disabled persons.
NATIONAL EMPLOYMENT
POLICY
There are still few organizations working for the interests of people with
disabilities in our countries that have undertaken political advocacy
efforts in a conscious and planned manner, with the aim of producing
a law or program—or changing an existing one—to favorably impact
the lives of the disabled.
CONSULTATION WITH
THE DISABLED PEOPLES’
ORGANIZATIONS
Moreover, it is important to remember that the Convention on the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN, 2006) needs to be converted
into a tool that is used to push for changes in domestic laws and regulations,
so that these are consistent with the stipulations of this international
treaty (legislative harmonization), and so that government
programs, projects and actions are promoted that comply with these
stipulations (the implementation process).
We should also bear in mind that the Convention assigns an active
role to people with disabilities in promoting changes that improve
their living conditions and their effective enjoyment of rights, through
their representative organizations. This is clearly stated in Article 29
(about political and public participation), in the section that commits
states to “ensure that persons with disabilities can effectively and fully
participate in political and public life on an equal basis with others,
directly or through freely chosen representatives, including the right
and opportunity for persons with disabilities to vote and be elected…”
Similarly, Article 4, which refers to the obligations of States Parties that
have ratified the Convention, highlights the role assigned to organizations
representing people with disabilities: “In the development and
implementation of legislation and policies to implement the present
Convention, and in other decision-making processes concerning
issues relating to persons with disabilities, States Parties shall closely
consult with and actively involve persons with
CONGRESS RATIFIED
THE UN CONVENTION ON
DISABILITY
WILL BE CREATED TO
COORDINATE ITS IMPLEMEN-
TATION
58

disabilities, including children with disabilities, through their representative
organizations.” (Article 4, Number 3).
Clearly, in order to play this active political advocacy role and achieve significant
results, we need to learn about, adopt and utilize political advocacy
concepts and methodologies that have been developed and systematized
by other organizations.
In this respect, we are adapting the systematized experience of the Washington
Office on Latin America (WOLA) to the field of disabled persons’
rights. In the framework of developing the Central America Advocacy Training
Program, this organization produced a “Manual for Facilitators of Advocacy
Training Sessions.” In this chapter, we will present key concepts that
have been selected from this manual.
2. What is advocacy?
We begin with the definition of political advocacy:
“Political advocacy refers to organized efforts by citizens to influence the
formulation and implementation of public policies and programs by persuading
and pressuring state authorities, international financial institutions, and
other powerful actors. Advocacy embraces various activities undertaken to
gain access to and influence decision-makers on matters of importance to
a particular group or to society in general.” (WOLA, 2002)
It is important here to note that there are different definitions of political advocacy.
Thus, we would like to stress the following:
a) There are two key actors in political advocacy:
-The civil society actor (who generates the proposal), and
59

- The institutional actor (who receives and makes a decision about
the proposal).
b) We understand an action as political advocacy when it is seeking
the State’s adoption and implementation of a public policy
oriented toward favoring the social sector or sectors formulating
the proposal (the central government, legislature, municipal government,
etc.).
c) The effectiveness of political advocacy is conditioned,
in large part, by:
• The degree to which the sector or social group that proposes
the demand and formulates the proposal is organized;
• The quality and soundness of the proposal’s reasoning;
ASSEMBLY
• Solid planning for the political advocacy process, and
• The strategies or routes followed in carrying out the advocacy
work.
Consequently, political advocacy is a technique and an art that
needs to be understood and well mastered, so that the actions
undertaken by organizations of disabled persons will be effective.
d) Political advocacy should be a means for promoting citizen
participation; consequently, it is a means for both exercising real
democracy and for promoting participatory democracy. Through
advocacy actions, organized citizens are able to participate in
decision-making processes, not only through mechanisms that
delegate power through voting to elect governmental representatives
(representative democracy), but also through exercising
participatory democracy.
60

e) Although advocacy work needs to make use of all opportunities that
arise so that desired public policies are enacted, it is predominantly a cumulative
process. Advocacy consists of more than one strategy or activity. It
entails the implementation of various strategies and activities over time, with
creativity and persistence. Advocacy victories often are preceded by numerous
failures. It is important not to give up, but to learn from our mistakes.
f) Another aspect to consider is that a social organization that plans and
carries out advocacy actions accumulates important experience beyond
the direct results of these actions. These processes help to strengthen and
enrich organizations internally, in both organizational and technical terms.
g) Another important factor that should be considered when people with
disabilities and their organizations engage in political advocacy work is that
institutional actors generally tend to underestimate these social actors (disabled
persons), trapped as they are in a socio-cultural environment that
views their role as recipients of charity and pity, rather than as social fighters.
This situation does not occur in the case of other social actors. Thus, we
need to recognize this, especially when planning political advocacy work
and analyzing the overall context of threats and opportunities.
3. Differences between advocacy and political advocacy
Sometimes we speak of advocacy and political advocacy as if they were
synonyms or mean the same thing. However, it is important to point out the
difference between these two concepts—the general one (advocacy, or
exerting influence) and the specific one (political advocacy)—in the interest
of greater conceptual and practical precision.
Advocacy is a concept related to all human relations. Whenever we relate
to another human being, we influence something. For example, when we
indicate what we want to eat for breakfast or lunch at home, we’re exerting
an influence. In this sense, reciprocal influence is part of daily life. We can
speak about advocacy as the capacity to influence.
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Here, we are going to talk about a broader kind of influence,
which affects the social environment and that is also referred to
as political-social advocacy, or simply advocacy.
This type of advocacy seeks changes in people’s attitudes, promotes
greater awareness about a situation or problem, educates
in order to generate cultural changes, positions specific themes
within society, etc.
This type of advocacy utilizes campaigns that are developed by
different social actors. For example, an ecological group that
uses campaigns to alert people about environmental deterioration,
or about the next water crisis.
This type of action creates the kinds of conditions that are needed
for eventual political advocacy work, since it tends to generate
more social awareness (and consequently support from public
opinion). However, such a campaign could be developed in an
ongoing manner or over a long period of time, and might not necessarily
be linked to attaining a specific environmental protection
policy or program.
Some good examples of this type of advocacy are contained in
Article 8 of the Convention, related to raising awareness in society
about the discrimination against and exclusion of people with
disabilities, and the need to promote respect for their rights and
dignity.
As we all know, people with disabilities suffer from different types
of stereotyping, prejudice, and discriminatory practices in our societies.
Most people associate disability with pity, with underestimation
and incapacity, with sins and curses, with social rejection,
with dependency and non-productivity. Ultimately, disability is something
negative and sad in our societies.
62

Few public decision-makers see beyond this prejudicial and underestimating
conception. When they are presented with a problem related to disabled
people, they propose very limited solutions that are marked by a
charitable mentality.
This is why Article 8 of the Convention is so important, since it is aimed at
changing attitudes and overcoming prejudice against people with disabilities
through organizing campaigns that raise awareness. This is done
through educational work at all levels, through projecting more dignified
and objective conceptions about people with disabilities in the media, and
through “awareness-training programs regarding persons with disabilities
and the rights of persons with disabilities.”
All of these obligations outlined in Article 8 of the Convention of States Parties
are framed by the concept of advocacy, in general. If the States fulfill
these efforts, obviously there will be greater awareness in society about the
rights of persons with disabilities, and this will create increasingly favorable
and receptive conditions for demanding public policies that insure the rights
of persons with disabilities. We may affirm, therefore, that a society with
awareness about the rights of people with disabilities is a society that is fertile
for the enjoyment and exercise of such rights by people with disabilities.
However, this goal can only be achieved through crosscutting and inclusive
public policies that enable disabled persons to participate in all aspects of
political and public life, in health, in education, in employment and access
to productive activities, in social security, and with physical access and access
to information and communications technologies. Such policies also
recognize the legal capacity, autonomy and independence of persons
with disabilities, and enable access to culture, tourism, sports and recreation,
etc., under equal conditions as all other persons. This is what Inclusive
Development means, seen from the viewpoint of people with disabilities
and their organizations.
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Thus, we may conclude that the main difference between advocacy
and political advocacy is that advocacy seeks a cultural change in society
through communications and educational efforts, including publicity
campaigns, while political advocacy is aimed at producing changes
through generating public policies and programs, whose adoption
(or non-adoption) is decided by legitimate public institutions.
4. Planning political advocacy: the eight steps of the
process
Principal problems
of people
with disabilities
WOLA’s basic methodology for participatory planning of political advocacy
initiatives proposes eight linked and successive steps:
Step 1 Identify and analyze the problem,
Step 2 Formulate the proposal,
Step 3 Analyze the decision-making space,
Step 4 Analyze channels of influence,
Step 5 Do a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats) analysis,
Step 6 Design advocacy strategies,
Step 7 Develop an activity plan, and
Step 8 Carry out continuous evaluation.
All civil society organizations have developed and carry out political
advocacy work, including organizations representing people with disabilities.
These organizations have recently begun to work in the area
of human rights. But these political advocacy efforts are often developed
in an improvised manner. As WOLA indicates, civil society organizations
do this work by “…trying to resolve complex problems without
clear proposals, with isolated actions and without an orderly planning
and evaluation process. The tendency has been to skip over the stage
of problem identification and move directly to action, without specifying
exactly what they want to accomplish, who has decision-making
power vis-à-vis the proposal, what interests are at stake, and which strategies
would work best.”
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These eight methodological steps specifically seek the creation of better
conditions for success in the political advocacy process.
Step 1. Identify and analyze the problem
The starting point for any political advocacy effort is to clearly identify the
problem that you want to solve. In this identification process, the views and
input of the people most affected by this problem is very important, since
they are the ones who live it and feel it most closely in their lives.
Once identified, this problem should be analyzed in depth, clearly differentiating
between its causes and consequences in order to formulate a proposal
with concrete, realistic and achievable solutions.
Prioritize the problem. Excluded social sectors face many problems. Thus,
we need to be careful when we are defining the problem that is the object
of our political advocacy work. We need to clearly identify the problem
affecting us, in a concrete way, and the feasibility of resolving it through
public policy. For example, let’s select unemployment as a problem that
severely affects people with disabilities.
Once identified, this problem should be analyzed in depth, clearly differentiating
between its causes and consequences in order to formulate a proposal
with concrete, realistic and achievable solutions.
Prioritize the problem. Excluded social sectors face many problems. Thus,
we need to be careful when we are defining the problem that is the object
of our political advocacy work. We need to clearly identify the problem
affecting us, in a concrete way, and the feasibility of resolving it through
public policy. For example, let’s select unemployment as a problem that
severely affects people with disabilities.
65

Analyze the causes and consequences. Once the priority problem has
been defined, we need to determine its causes and its consequences.
For instance, unemployment is a problem that affects many people;
however, it is obviously a more serious problem among people of productive
age with disabilities, since this group has much higher rates of
unemployment. Thus, we find that while the unemployment rate among
the general population is below 10%, it is higher than 75% among people
of productive age with disabilities.
In our example, when we break down the causes of such a high unemployment
rate, we find that a very important factor is the failure to hire
workers with disabilities, and the generalized underestimation of the abilities
of disabled persons in our societies (which is even greater in the
economic sphere when evaluating productive capabilities). Another
cause is the lack of accessible conditions (whether physical or informational)
in workplaces and on public transportation, affecting workers
with physical or sensory disabilities (the deaf and the blind). There is also
resistance on the part of employers to providing accessible conditions
in the workplace. Another important cause that merits mention is related
to the qualifications of the disabled work force. People with disabilities
confront great obstacles in terms of professional and technical
training due to a lack of accessible training opportunities. Added to this
is the limited or complete lack of accessible transportation services, and
equally inaccessible urban settings. All of these factors link together,
severely reducing the supply of qualified disabled workers.
There are very clear consequences: a high rate of unemployment and
economic dependency for a significant segment of adult disabled persons
of productive age, who are forced to depend upon their families,
government assistance or charity. In addition, the fact that many
people with disabilities are not hired perpetuates the idea that they are
productively incapable, and makes it more difficult to fight existing prejudices
that in turn lead to resistance to hiring disabled workers.
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Focus on the main cause or main causes we want to address. It is important
to select one cause (or two at most) and focus on it (or on them) in order to
move towards solving the problem. At the same time, addressing the cause
that is selected should be a realistic goal. In other words, it should really
be possible to solve the problem through a political action or advocacy
campaign. In the example we posed above (unemployment that affects
people with disabilities), proposing a profound change that eliminates all
discrimination associated with disabilities would not be the right path. This
problem has a socio-cultural cause that is impossible to solve through a short
or medium range political advocacy plan.
In our same example, we might look at the following two causes: (1) the lack
of accessible training options; and (2) inaccessible workplaces.
A detailed examination of the prioritized cause(s). To respond to the serious
problem of unemployment confronted by the disabled population, we
have now identified two causes on which to focus. Now we need to analyze
these in order to find the best solutions.
(1) The lack of training options: We start with the fact that conditions
need to be created to improve the qualifications of the disabled work force
in the country, and that we need to increase the number of more skilled
(technically and professionally) disabled workers. If we want this process
to progress quickly, we need to explore the possibility of offering short and
intensive technical training programs to people with disabilities (in other
words, accessible in all senses of the word) at public (or private, with state
support) technical institutes, in high demand fields. In this way, a larger
number of highly skilled disabled workers will be available in a relatively short
amount of time.
(2) Inaccessible workplaces: This problem is associated with underestimating
the productive capabilities of people with disabilities. Why do we
need accessible workplaces if no one is thinking about hiring disabled workers?
The State needs to provide an example, adapting working environments
and insuring not only physical accessibility but also access to information
and communication.
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This same process can also be carried out in the private sector, offering
incentives for making such adjustments and for hiring the disabled. The
State could also offer technical assistance about how to modify work
settings.
Step 2. Formulate the proposal
Now that we have identified the problem and the main cause (or causes),
we need to define what we want to address in our advocacy work.
The next step is formulating a concrete proposal that focuses on the
proposed solution or solutions for resolving the key cause of the problem.
It is worth remembering—as warned by WOLA—that “identifying a problem,
analyzing it in terms of its components or causal factors, prioritizing
and selecting the cause to be dealt with, and proposing concrete solutions
are some of the most difficult but most important steps in planning
political advocacy work. If we are unclear or imprecise about what we
hope to achieve through a political advocacy campaign, our concrete
achievements will be minimal and difficult to measure.”
PROBLEM
I´VE GOT
THE SOLUTION!
In facing the cause of the identified problem, we can analyze various
alternative solutions, but we should identify the one we consider most
suitable in terms of its viability, in both economic and technical terms.
This concrete and viable solution (or solutions) will be easier to define if
we can consult with experts on the issue being addressed (employment,
transportation, education, etc.). Organizations of people with disabilities
that are involved in this political advocacy process need to form alliances
with these types of experts.
The next step is developing the proposed concrete solution and putting
it in writing. The proposal is the thing we are proposing to solve whatever
is causing the problem that we have prioritized for political advocacy
work. The idea is to define what we want to achieve in terms of a public
policy or program, in very exact terms. Thus, the document
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containing this proposal should be clear, detailed and specific.
There are four key questions that need to be asked when formulating this text:
(1) what exactly do we hope to accomplish? (2) how do we hope to accomplish
it, or through which mechanism, involving which actors? (3) what is the
“space” where the decision about the proposal will be made? and (4) by what
date do we want to have accomplished the proposal?
In addition to being precise and clear, the proposal should:
• Be measurable,
• Be feasible (in technical and political terms),
• Be equally understandable to all people,
• Be motivating and unifying for the organization or coalition,
• Contribute to forming and strengthening alliances and coalitions, and to mobilizing
the most affected population,
• Be achievable in the short to medium term (3-18 months),
• Generate favorable public opinion, and
• Contribute to solving the problem.
Step 3. Analyze the decision-making space
Now we need to figure out who has decision-making power with regard to the
proposal we have developed, and what the decision-making process will be.
If we continue with our previous example (the high rate of unemployment
among disabled people), we may conclude that the decision-making space is
the Ministry of Labor, which has a national jobs program that does not include
people with disabilities, in any form whatsoever. We also find that the Ministry
has a division directly responsible for implementing this public program.
Now we must identify who is the decision-maker with the power to make a
decision about our proposal, which is that this Ministry should include people
with disabilities in its national jobs program (this includes direct efforts such as
technical training, which the Ministry promotes through an agreement with the
state technical training institute).
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When organizations of disabled persons identify the public entity and person that
possess the decision-making power to respond concretely to the proposed solution,
they must be very clear to avoid making errors. Occasionally, their limited
experience with this type of political advocacy work can lead them to incorrect
identifications and to knock on the wrong doors. Demands and proposals are
sometimes brought to the legislative power when they really correspond to the
executive branch.
In our example here, we can conclude that the final decision-maker for our proposal
is the Minister of Labor, in consultation with the director of this ministry’s job program.
But we cannot stop with the mere identification of the final decision-maker.
We must also understand the process through which the decision is made.
It is possible that based on the information obtained and with the assistance of
an expert from this field, we might determine that a ministerial decree is needed
to modify the national employment policy, to insure the inclusion of people with
disabilities.
In this case, we will need to negotiate a concrete and well-founded proposal with
the Minister, which expands the national employment policy in the way we are
seeking.
Step 4. Analyze channels of influence (power mapping)
With the proposal already developed, we must now identify the power mechanisms
and key actors who will influence the final decision. We must work, therefore,
on analyzing the channels of influence and develop a power map that helps us
identify the most important actors and their degree of influence, positively or negatively,
at the moment a decision will be made in relation to our proposal.
Anytime that we are designing a political advocacy strategy or campaign, we find
that there are different actors (public institutions, private businesses, legislators, civil
society organizations, etc.) that have or might later develop some interest in our
proposal.
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Moreover, such actors might have some influence on the final decision.
This universe of actors with different political, economic and social interests can
be situated on a power map that indicates each actor’s possible reaction or
posture in response to our proposal. Consequently, the actors will be classified
as allies, opponents, or undecided in relation to our proposal.
In the example we have been using here, we can identify actors who would
oppose our proposal. In the institutional realm, for instance, the entity that
oversees the selection and assignment of state employees (Department of Civil
Service) could oppose it based on a negative appraisal of disabled employees,
if the Department—and more specifically its director—underestimates
these potential employees and feels that adapting any work posts would imply
high costs for the State. Similarly, an association that joins together different private
sector business groups could also view the proposal negatively, since they
might believe that people with disabilities lack the competent and productive
qualities required in the private sector. Another public institution that might not
respond positively to our proposal is the agency responsible for regulating technical
training, since it might be wary of the costs associated with adapting
installations and course content for people with disabilities.
To continue with our mapping, the teacher’s associations and trade unions that
have not taken a position and have maintained a neutral position vis-à-vis our
proposal are classified as “undecided.” The objective with this group is to win
them over and convert them into allies who demand that people with disabilities
have a right to decent and inclusive jobs.
Other actors that can be won over to supporting our proposal include national
human rights organizations (ombudsmen and legal aid offices), which work
within state structures and are responsible for guaranteeing human rights, including
the right to work. These actors can also be converted into allies of civil
society’s human rights organizations.
It is also possible to identify individual legislators who can influence the Minister
of Labor, either directly or through statements to the media in support of our
proposal.
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It is important to remember that power mapping should not be viewed
as something static, but rather as something that moves and changes. It
can be affected by different political events, or by shifts in the postures of
different actors, either in our favor or against us. For example, presenting a
proposal to the Minister of Labor during an electoral campaign is different
than doing so when elections aren’t taking place.
Step 5. Do a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities
and Threats) analysis
In the process of planning our political advocacy action, we need to determine
how well our own organization or coalition is prepared, as well as
the atmosphere in which we are going to be working.
To do this, we use the well-known SWOT methodology (Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities and Threats). Using the SWOT, we can look inward
at our own organization or coalition (in the case that various organizations
have come together to carry out an advocacy campaign) to analyze
both our strengths and weaknesses. We can also use the SWOT to look
outward, to determine which are the opportunities and threats that are
present in the setting where we will be working.
We need to be as rigorous and objective as possible in analyzing our own
organization. This process also includes seeking solutions to any weaknesses
that are detected, in order to improve our position.
1) Strengths and Weaknesses
A. Self-analysis. The first step is reviewing the internal strengths and weaknesses
of our group or coalition. This analysis should consider the following:
a. The organization of the group or coalition, in terms of its:
• Legitimacy and representativeness.
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• Coverage (the number of members, their racial/ethnic and gender
make-up, and their geographic distribution).
• Quality of leadership.
• Capacity to gather people together and mobilize the grassroots.
• Equity in participation and the decision-making authority of men and
women, and of different ethnic groups.
• Levels of consensus and clarity of vision and mission.
• Possibilities for building alliances and coalitions.
b. Relationships of the group or coalition with:
• State institutions.
• Other groups or sectors of civil society.
• Media outlets.
• Influential people and opinion makers.
c. The capacities of the group or coalition to:
• Conduct research.
• Manage information about the issue in question and about the way the
state functions.
• Do strategic and operational planning.
• Lobby and negotiate.
• Do press work.
• Do internal monitoring and evaluation.
d. Resources of the group or coalition:
• Human
• Material
• Economic
• Technical
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B. Conclusions of the self-analysis. Let’s assume that using our same
example, this self-analysis process leads us to the following conclusions:
STRENGTHS:
• Strong grassroots base, including
the population affected by the
problem.
WEAKNESSES:
• A lack of planning experience.
• Highly credible leaders. • Little understanding about
how the state functions.
• The clear and unified vision
and mission of our organization.
• Insufficient access to concrete
and up to date information about the
problems being addressed.
• Willingness to work. • Limited economic resources.
C. Identification of possible solutions to the weaknesses identified. When
this internal review (self-analysis) is completed, we will have detected
some weaknesses (the four in the table above). We then need to look for
solutions to the weaknesses that have been detected. The following table
contains examples of how to improve such weaknesses:
WEAKNESSES:
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS:
• A lack of planning experience. • Organize a workshop that
provides in-depth coverage of techniques
for planning political advocacy
campaigns.
• Little understanding about
how the state functions.
• Insufficient access to concrete
and up to date information about the
problems being addressed.
• Plan training workshops about
the functions of the Supreme Court
and the Legislative and Executive
branches of government.
• Plan joint research with a university
or research institute.
• Limited economic resources. • Develop a project and plan
for seeking funding from international
donors.
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2) Opportunities and Threats
Now that we have identified our strengths and weaknesses and have formulated
some possible solutions to help our organization overcome its detected
weaknesses, the next step is identifying opportunities and threats in the political
scenario where we are carrying out our advocacy campaign.
Opportunities favor the campaign and enhance its possibilities of success, while
threats are unfavorable external factors that may pose obstacles or risks to
the campaign.
When planning our strategies, it is important to know how to take advantage of
the opportunities and minimize the impact of the threats.
In the following table, we summarize the most common threats and opportunities,
based on
WOLA’s experience in Central America:
OPPORTUNITIES:
• Allies who have a strong influence
on decision-makers.
• A great range of media outlets
(including alternative media) operating
in the country.
• A general concern in national
and international arenas about the issue
being addressed.
• Political space for mobilizations,
without repression.
• The Convention on the Rights of
Disabled Persons has recently entered
into force.
THREATS:
• An Executive branch with little
openness to dialogue with the citizenry.
• An Executive branch that views
organized citizens as a threat.
• Reductions in donations from
international cooperation agencies to
Central America.
• Little access to data and information
from governmental ministries.
• Universities and research institutes
show little willingness to coordinate or
collaborate on systematizing concrete
data about the problem that concerns
us.
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Step 6. Design advocacy strategies
For the purpose of this exercise, a “strategy” is understood as a group
of measures and actions that are aimed at achieving a specific objective.
Here is a simple example: Let’s say that my objective is to pick a
tasty orange that is growing on a high branch of a tree. I analyze
the situation, and think that the best option would be to rest a ladder
against the tree’s trunk and climb up. However, as I reach the top
of the ladder, I still can’t reach the orange with my hands, so I grab
a long pole with a “Y” at the end, and I use it to push the fruit, which
falls into a bag that is attached to the end of the pole. This group of
tools (the ladder, the pole, the bag), utilized in a certain way (all of
this is the strategy), helps me achieve my objective. Clearly, I could
have used other strategies, but this is the one I selected as the most
practical and reliable based on my experience and the available
tools.
CONVENTION ON RIGHTS
OF THE PEOPLE WITH
DISABILITY
Whenever we are promoting a proposal (public policy, program, action),
we must convince the final decision-maker of the validity and
strengths of our proposal. We must convince them through using advocacy
strategies. These strategies are a group of activities whose
concrete objective is to convince and persuade the decision-maker.
The planned strategies and activities should be based on what we
defined during the previous steps of this advocacy process, and
should be varied and creative. We need to pay special attention to:
• The interests and motivations of the people identified on the
power map.
• The strengths and weaknesses of the core group or coalition
that is organizing the campaign.
• The opportunities and threats in the political environment.
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Many different kinds of activities need to be carried out to try to
influence the decision-making space and get a public policy proposal
approved. These can include:
• Lobbying,
• Organizing,
• Education and sensitivity-raising,
• Press work,
• Mobilization.
1) Political advocacy strategies
A) Lobbying is a face-to-face effort to persuade the person with
decision-making power to support the proposal, to motivate allies to
undertake concrete actions in support of an initiative, to convince
undecided persons, and to neutralize opponents. Normally it involves
direct visits.
Since the purpose of lobbying is to communicate with the decisionmaker
or his/her advisors or technical staff about our proposal, we
should go to these meetings well prepared, having clearly mapped
out our arguments, with copies of the documents to be delivered.
We will probably have very little time to state our position, thus we
should be prepared so that we can make the best use of the time
available.
Before the visit, the group or coalition will need to decide on each
person’s role (hopefully previously rehearsed): who among them is
best suited to present the problem and the proposal, who can voice
other arguments, etc. It is worth stressing that all of those present
should be familiar with the proposal and the arguments that support
it.
Finally, it is important to remember that lobbying work can also be a
valuable source of information for future work. Moreover, this type
of meeting can open up spaces for negotiating our proposal.
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B) Organizing.
This work serves to broaden and strengthen the group of people who
will participate in an advocacy initiative, and builds an internal structure
for the campaign that is responsive to the specific needs of the initiative.
Organizing should also motivate and involve the population that is
affected by the problem the group is seeking to address.
“FORUM ON
INCLUSION AND
DISABILITY”
Social movements do not come out of nowhere. The energy that sustains
them needs to be directed, channeled, and focused. The main
way to accomplish this is by building and consolidating networks and
coalitions that will spearhead the advocacy work.
An advocacy network permits all interested sectors and individuals to
participate democratically. Successful networks have good leadership,
an ability to get out their message, mutual trust, and a willingness to
share.
C) Education and sensitivity-raising.
The core group or coalition needs to educate the public and the decision-maker
about the problem it is trying to solve and about its proposed
solution. The idea is to use this strategy to reach the decision-maker,
other key actors, and the population that will benefit from the initiative.
The purpose is to increase awareness among the sectors that benefit
from our work.
D) Press work.
To place the advocacy initiative on the public agenda and gain the attention
of decision-makers, we need coverage in the media. Otherwise,
it is as if the problem doesn’t exist. This is also true when we want to publicize
actions that have been carried out.
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For this reason, civil society organizations need to work with the media,
know which journalists are most likely to cover their issue, meet
with them, inform them about the problem, send them press releases,
invite them to activities where the issue is being discussed, etc.
The goals of a media strategy are to situate our problem and proposal
on the public agenda, gain credibility as a serious source of
information, and produce favorable currents of thought in relation
to our initiative.
THE INTERNATIONAL DISABILITY CAUCUS (IDC) PLAYED A DECISIVE
ROLE DURING THE DRAFTING OF THE CONVENTION
E) Mobilization
Mobilization is a strategy that can be a decisive means of pressuring
the person or authority who needs to make a decision about our
proposal in order for it to become a public policy.
NOTHING ABOUT US WITHOUT US!
It is useful for rallying the population affected by the problem, gaining
the attention of the press, generating political will on the part of
government representatives, and opening spaces for lobbying and
negotiation.
On many occasions, a good mobilization ends with positive negotiations
between the leadership of those who are mobilizing and the
main interlocutor in the advocacy work.
A mobilization is often a march or demonstration that starts at a specific
meeting point, travels along a predetermined route, and reaches
a final destination where—in general—the authority or decision-maker
is found. However, there are other types of mobilization
activities such as a permanent picket-line, which consists of people
picketing during shifts and maintaining a constant pressure on a particular
authority at a key moment in the decision-making process.
Mobilizations can be very creative, and can be given suggestive
names such as “the march of silence,” “the march of wheelchairs,”
“the citizen march for justice,” etc.
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It is important to remember when planning a mobilization that involves
people with disabilities that the march should not cover too large a distance,
that the march route should be accessible, and that preparations
should made in case of any emergency situations.
2) Searching for the most effective strategies
Given this menu of advocacy strategies, we need to select the most timely
and suitable for each action being planned and carried out.
To determine the most effective approach, the core group promoting the
action or campaign needs to have developed a capacity for political
analysis, creativity, and on occasion political savvy.
The following table designed by WOLA outlines different strategies, their
usefulness, the ways they should be employed, and some other practical
advice:
Advocacy Strategies:
Strategy Usefulness How to do it Practical advice
Lobbying For communicating the proposal.
• For knowing the positions of key
actors and the decision-maker.
• For fine-tuning the power map.
• For improving arguments.
• For motivating allies and persuading
the decision-maker and
other undecided people.
Identify and prioritize actors to
be lobbied.
• Propose objectives and goals
for each person.
• Analyze the positions, interests,
and motivations of people
in relation to the proposal.
• Develop arguments to use
with each person.
• Clarify conclusions and agreements
reached.
• Evaluate the meeting.
• Follow up.
Prepare sufficiently for the meeting.
• Concretize agendas for meetings ahead of
time.
• Limit your messages or arguments to just a
few central points.
• Select your spokespeople carefully and
agree on who says what.
• Concretize agreements reached in writing.
• Identify other people and ways to influence
the person visited.
• Follow up people visited.
• Be clear about what is negotiable and what
is not.
• Be clear about the decision-making power or
influence of the actors being lobbied.
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Strategy Usefulness How to do it Practical advice
Organizing
For defining, expanding
and strengthening the
internal structure of the
core group or coalition.
• For organizing and incorporating
the affected
population into the
advocacy process.
Specify the group promoting the campaign.
• Define communications and decision-making
mechanisms.
• Define mechanisms for managing economic
resources.
• Meet with groups, organizations or sectors with
similar interests, explaining the advocacy proposal
to them.
• Survey the group to determine time availability,
and the availability of human, material and
financial resources.
• Create work committees.
• Define monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.
• Generate effective mechanisms for communicating
with the affected population.
• Generate concrete mechanisms for insuring
the participation of the affected population.
Use creativity in communicating
your position
to groups interested in
supporting the proposal.
• Seek out ways for the
affected population to
participate and contribute
it’s own strengths.
Strategy Usefulness How to do it Practical advice
Education and
sensitivity-raising
• For generating
and sharing information.
• For raising awareness.
• Identify individuals, groups
and/or sectors (target audiences)
who need sensitivity-raising.
• Propose education and
sensitivity-raising objectives and
goals.
• Develop general arguments
and positions.
• Define methods, modalities
and methodologies.
• Organize activities.
• Conduct evaluations.
• Follow up.
Prioritize the target audience or audiences
you want to reach.
• Be aware of time and resources.
• Rely upon personnel with adequate capabilities.
• Efforts aimed at increasing awareness or
educating should generate social pressure
that specifically influences decision-making
about the proposal, rather than in a general
manner.
• Be creative and find effective and inexpensive
work methods.
• Request support from people and institutions
with similar interests and outlooks.
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Strategy Usefulness How to do it Practical advice
Press work
• For situating the
topic in the public
agenda.
• For building the
group’s credibility
as a source of
information.
• For generating
public opinion that
is favorable to the
proposal.
• For generating
pressure on the
decision-maker.
Define the objectives of the
media strategy.
• Specify the target audiences
to be reached.
• Define the message.
• Analyze and prioritize which
press outlets are most important.
• Carry out activities that get
covered by the media.
• Conduct ongoing evaluations.
Adopt a suitable approach, based on the
nature of the target audience.
• Consider the content, the language, the
source or messenger, the format, the time,
and the place of the message.
• Use creativity and be audacious, in order to
attract the media and convince them of the
importance of your message.
• Do intensive follow up work with specific
media outlets and journalists.
• Provide complete and objective information,
to increase your credibility as a news
source.
Strategy Usefulness How to do it Practical advice
Mobilization For drawing the
media’s attention
to the issue.
• For involving the
affected population.
• For generating
interest in lobbying
and negotiating.
• For exerting pressure
on decisionmakers.
Identify and prioritize the actors
you wish to influence.
• Define the objectives of the
advocacy work.
• Evaluate your capacities to
mobilize others.
• Define the type of mobilization.
• Determine the place, date
and hour of the mobilization.
• Develop messages.
• Distribute tasks.
• Put out a call to mobilize.
• Work with the media prior to
the mobilization.
• Publicize the results of the
mobilization.
• Conduct follow up.
Plan a mobilization that helps influence the
decision-maker, and that does not provoke a
negative reaction.
• Effectively communicate the reason for the
mobilization.
• Insure that the mobilization does not coincide
with other important events, and that
it takes place at a suitable moment in the
decision-making process.
• Insure that the mobilization demonstrates
social power, and not an inability to mobilize.
• Take measures to avoid repressive actions or
violent confrontations.
• Keep the population involved and informed
after the mobilization.
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Step 7. Develop an activity plan
Now we reach a very important stage in the advocacy work: writing up
an activity plan. This plan should contain the strategies and activities
that the core group or coalition promoting the public policy proposal is
planning to carry out, in order to create the conditions that can influence
the decision-making space.
1) Laying the groundwork
In the same way a farmer prepares the land so crops will grow and produce
a good harvest, we must also lay the groundwork for planning and
developing our political advocacy actions. Let’s take a look at the steps:
• Research to fill information gaps. Having a good understanding
of objective and up to date information is very important when planning
an advocacy campaign. We need objective information about
the problem we are trying to solve, its causes, how decision-making spaces
function, who are the decision-makers, and about the capacities
and conditions of the core group promoting the action. The most objective
effort possible is needed here, in order to detect any information
gaps or weaknesses and to be able to correct these in a timely manner.
Measures here would include the corresponding investigative work and
research, in order to fill any important knowledge gaps.
• Drafting the proposal summary sheet: Our proposal should be
clearly written up in a one-page summary, which is the “proposal summary
sheet.” The following elements should be written out in a clear and
concise manner: a brief description of the problem to be solved, the
concrete proposal of the group or coalition, and the main arguments in
favor of the proposal. This proposal sheet is also useful for fine-tuning arguments
and reaching consensus about the core group’s ideas (it should
be a mirror that reflects them all). A proposal summary sheet is especially
useful for direct visits with key actors and for press work.
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• Consultation with member organizations. When an advocacy action
or campaign is going to be undertaken, the core group or coalition needs to
have a unified position. Thus, it is very important to consult with as extensive a
group as possible about both the proposal and the advocacy plan.
• Fundraising. Another key aspect in developing an advocacy plan has
to do with finances. What resources are available, and how much can the
project spend? What staff is available (and if this is remunerated staff, how
much will they be paid)? What are the costs of technical studies (if they are
required), advisers, printing and photocopying, web costs (deign and maintenance),
office equipment and travel (transportation, lodging if necessary,
food, etc.)? If fundraising is not taken seriously from the very beginning, a lack
of resources can become a limiting factor leading to the failure of a good
advocacy plan. Therefore, if an action or campaign is to be undertaken, a
good financial strategy needs to be defined right from the start, which considers
the resources available to the core group, and in what way additional
resources will be obtained (the group’s own efforts, domestic or international
donor agencies, or other sources).
• Preparation of the technical proposal. There are times when a proposal
needs to be supported by technical information. In such cases, the advocacy
proposal should be accompanied by a technical proposal. For example, if
accessible transport is the demand, it would be important to have clear information
about the costs of new or used accessible buses, the cost of adapting
bus platforms or ramps, etc. Similarly, in the case of actions aimed at reforming
or approving laws, the core organizing group should prepare a draft of
the law or reform for which it is seeking approval.
2) Concrete activities to influence the decision-making
space
The strategies identified in the previous step are general courses of action that
the core group intends to pursue during its advocacy campaign. Now, in developing
the campaign plan, specific activities must be proposed that will be
carried out as part of each selected strategy. This can include the following:
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Strategy
Activities
Lobbying • Direct visit with the decision-maker and other key actors.
Organizing and including the
affected population
• Assemblies
• Meetings
• Leadership workshops
• House-to-house visits
• Training
• Institutional strengthening
• Formation of coalitions
• Formation of work commissions
• Coordination meetings
Education and sensitivity-raising • Research
• Forums
• Workshops
• Seminars
• Publications
• Videos
• Popular theater
• Home visits
• Artistic festivals
• Civic education campaigns
Press work • Press conferences
• Interviews
• Paid ads
• Visits to editorial boards
• Articles
• Letters to the editor
• Investigative reporting
• Events to cultivate relationships with journalists (breakfasts,
cocktails, etc.)
Mobilization • Marches
• Take-overs
• Vigils
• Sit-ins
• Strikes
Once the specific activities have been selected and the group figures out the order in
which they are best carried out, the plan should be prepared in writing.
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The plan should specify each activity with its desired outcome, indicators,
dates, the name of the person with primary responsibility for carrying it out,
and the resources needed. The following table is an example for an activity
plan that can be used for both preparatory activities and the activities implemented
as part a particular strategy:
Activity Plan
Preparatory tasks
Activity Desired outcome Indicators Date Responsible person(s) Resources
Strategies/Lobbying, organizing, education-sensitivity raising, press work,
mobilization:
Activity Desired outcome Indicators Date Responsible person(s) Resources
3) Concrete examples of planning
We now present two concrete examples of planning, which include both
preparatory activities and political advocacy strategies. The two examples
are concerned with a plan for improving access to public transport, specifically
the public bus modality.
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We begin with the following:
• A coalition of disabled persons’ organizations is promoting political
advocacy work in the country. There is a law currently on the
books that requires all public transportation to be accessible to all
people (including people with reduced mobility) within ten years of
the law’s passage. The law has now been in force for 10 years and it
has been backed up by the nation’s ratification of the Convention on
the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which is now the law of the land.
• Until now, there have been very few accessible buses available,
and the Transport Ministry’s Public Transportation Council, which
is responsible for insuring compliance with this law, has done nothing
to obligate public transportation companies to acquire and make accessible
buses available.
• The political advocacy work is aimed at pressuring the Public
Transportation Council to bring the transport companies into line (suspending
permits or concessions if they do not comply with the law),
to more effectively supervise them, and to set definitive deadlines by
which all public transportation units must be accessible.
- Preparatory task plan
The coalition promoting this advocacy plan for accessible transportation
realizes that it needs to take several steps before the strategies can
be implemented.
Here is the plan for their preparatory work:
Preparatory tasks for the political advocacy plan for accessible public
transportation
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Activity Desired outcome Indicators Date Responsible
person(s)
Conduct research on bus
accessibility
- Review the registries of 720
companies that provide public
transportation in the country,
to determine how many buses
are currently
accessible.
Draft the proposal summary
sheet
- A 3-person team will be set
up (one person from each
organization involved in the
coalition) to draft the proposal
summary sheet.
- To know how many
buses in the fleet are
accessible.
- A well-written and wellfounded
proposal summary
sheet, which will be
a useful tool in political
advocacy work.
- Reliable data available
from the Transport
Council Registry about
how many buses are
accessible and which
bus routes they are
used on (urban, semiurban,
rural).
- A clear and concise
document.
- The problem to be
solved and the proposed
solution are both
clearly defined.
- The summary sheet
presents solid arguments
that are both
feasible and effective.
Day 30 of the
first month.
Day 15 of
the second
month.
-Pedro Rodríguez
-Violeta Mora,
-Carlos Rodríguez
and María Mendoza
Resources
-US $ XX for per diems
(transportation and food
expenses for the responsible
person), photocopying
services.
- Computer and printer,
work space, and per
diems.
- Technical and legal
assistance (volunteer or
pro bono).
Consultation with member
organizations about the advocacy
action
- Meetings with the three
organizations involved in the
coalition will be organized to
discuss the advocacy action.
The proposal summary sheet
and the planned strategies will
also be presented.
- Members of the
three organizations
have provided input
and have approved
the advocacy initiative.
- Agreements to
support the action at
the three meetings.
- The alliance is
strengthened.
Day 30 of
the second
month.
- The President and
Board of Directors
of each of the
three participating
organizations.
- Fax and telephone,
- Computer with Internet
connection,
- Printer,
- Meeting rooms,
- Projection equipment.
Fundraising
- Budgetary estimates of the
cost of the advocacy action
will be made, and each member
organization will specify
the amount it can contribute.
Mechanisms for attaining
additional resources will also
be defined.
The coalition has a
defined budget for the
campaign and has
a fundraising plan for
seeking the additional
resources needed for
carrying out the political
advocacy plan.
- The balance of available
resources.
- A concrete plan for
obtaining resources for
the initiative.
- The resources are
guaranteed.
Day 15 of the
third month
A Fundraising Commission
is set up,
which includes the
treasurers of each
organization.
- Computer and printer,
- Meeting rooms.
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Now we will look at the planning of advocacy activities:
Strategies/Advocacy Plan for Accessible Transportation
A. Lobbying
Activity Desired outcome Indicators Date Responsible
person(s)
Meeting programmed
with the Director of
the Public Transportation
Council (CTP) to
present the proposal.
- First meeting with the
Minister of Transport
and his advisory team.
- Knowledge of the
degree to which this
Council is open to the
concrete proposal
(the final decision will
be up to the corresponding
Minister).
The advocacy coalition
outlines the
problem and the
proposed solution to
the Minister through
the proposal summary
sheet.
- The political advocacy
coalition has verbal
confirmation of the
CTP’s position, which
can serve as the basis
for planning the remaining
actions.
Letter from the Minister.
- Verbal confirmation of
the Minister’s response.
- Follow up agreement.
Second half of
the third month.
Second half of
the third month.
The campaign’s
coordinating committee.
- The campaign’s
coordinating committee.
Resources
-Telephone and
fax,
- Computer and
printer.
Telephone and
fax,
- Computer and
printer.
B. Organizing
Activity Desired outcome Indicators Date Responsible
person(s)
The three core organizations
convene other disabled
persons’ organizations
and other interested
sectors to a meeting where
the political advocacy
initiative is presented.
Various civil society
organizations and organizations
of disabled
persons back the proposed
campaign initiative
through issuing a joint
statement.
- The proposal summary
sheet and advocacy
plan have
been approved and
strengthened.
First week of
the fourth
month.
Coordinating
Committee.
Resources
- Large auditorium.
- Resources for transportation,
food and
lodging for those who
come from areas located
far from the capital.
- Sound system.
- Overhead projector,
computer and printer.
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C. Education-sensitivity raising
Activity Desired outcome Indicators Date Responsible
person(s)
Joint activity in which organizations of disabled persons
participate together with the Ombudsman and other
groups (human rights, women, the elderly, child rights),
to analyze discrimination against people with disabilities.
The meeting will also be used for presenting the
issue of accessible transportation and the campaign’s
proposed solution.
- Other organizations
know about the problem
and the proposal,
and offer their support.
- Public statements
issued by
organizations
and public
institutions that
support the
coalition’s initiative.
Second
week of the
fourth month
Education Commission,
made up
of representatives
from the three core
organizations.
Resources
- Facilitators for the
event.
- Large auditorium.
- Sound system.
- Overhead projector,
computer and
printer.
D. Press work
Activity Desired outcome Indicators Date Responsible
person(s)
Resources
Press conference following
the meeting held with the
Minister.
The media learn that there are
organizations demanding accessible
transportation and that they have
drafted a proposal to the Ministry of
Transport (MOT).
6 national media outlets
(print, radio, television)
have reported on the
meeting (results obtained
by monitoring the media).
Second half of
third month.
- Campaign
Coordinating
Committee
- Telephone and fax.
- Computer and
printer.
Brochure produced that
presents the problem and
explains the proposed solution
in a clear and simple
manner.
Articles written about the
issue.
Sectors interested in participating in
different activities know about the
campaign.
Design and printing of
5,000 copies.
Second half of
third month.
The coalition’s
Outreach Team,
with assistance
from a media
expert.
The coalition’s
Outreach Team,
with assistance
from a media
expert.
The coalition’s
Outreach Team,
with assistance
from a media
expert.
Outreach Team.
Money for designing
and printing the
brochure.
Three articles published, which present
the problem and the proposed
solution.
Two print newspapers and
one digital newspaper
publish articles about the
issue.
Second half of
the third month
/ First half of the
fourth month.
Writers (of the
articles) + technical
assistance.
Paid ads to announce the
“March for Public Transportation
for All,” inviting people
to take part.
The ads inform thousands of people
that a march protesting the lack
of accessibility to public transport
would take place.
Paid ads published in a
high-circulation newspaper.
Second half of
the third month
/ First half of the
fourth month.
Money to finance the
ads.
Production of four banners
whose content refers to
the problem and proposed
solution (for the march/for
hanging in strategic points
of the city).
Attractive banners are produced
to inform people and to carry in the
march.
Four banners designed
and hung in strategic
locations.
Second half of
the third month
/ First half of the
fourth month.
36 meters of fabric
(double width), paint,
and brushes, or funds
to have the banners
made.
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E. Mobilization
Activity Desired outcome Indicators Date Responsible
person(s)
“March for Public
Transport for All.”
A march of people
with disabilities and
their allies, to pressure
the Minister to
respond in a definitive
and satisfactory
manner.
The Minister responds
in a satisfactory manner
to the proposal,
and makes public
statements about it.
800 people with disabilities
take part in the
march, from the Cathedral
in the capital to
the MOT headquarters.
A positive response to
the proposal.
Second half
of the third
month/ First half
of the fourth
month.
Campaign Coordinating
Committee.
Resources
Resources for
transporting the
participants.
2 manual loudspeakers.
4) Other suggestions for designing a political advocacy plan
• The planning group should be small but representative of all organizations
involved in the process.
• It is very useful to define quantitative and qualitative indicators for the
desired outcomes of each activity, to facilitate an evaluation of results and
impact.
• It is advisable in advocacy initiatives to create work commissions that have
clearly defined functions, even though specific individuals are assigned responsibility
in the activity plan. The assignment of responsibility to more than
one person tends to dilute it, and in the end no one is responsible.
• It is important to insure that the dates set for specific activities in each strategy
follow a logical order.
• Each activity needs to be broken down into several sub-activities. It is useful
to make an even more detailed plan, and to define the times for each
sub-activity in order to meet the activity’s final deadline.
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Step 8. Continuous evaluation
Evaluating political advocacy campaigns and actions should be an ongoing
process of reviewing, monitoring and analyzing the planning and implementation
of different strategies and specific activities, to determine their
results and impact. The indicators we have defined provide a useful tool for
ongoing evaluation processes.
Evaluation is a key element of any political advocacy process. It is an attempt
to learn from both successes and failures in order to strengthen the capacity
to engage in advocacy work related to public policies and programs.
It is therefore important to evaluate on an ongoing basis, from the beginning
of the planning process through the end of the campaign. 5
WE REQUEST AN
ACCOUNTING OF HOW THE
PROGRAM WAS EXECUTED
Consequently, three aspects of the process should be included in the evaluation:
- The entire planning process,
- The plan’s execution, and
- The impact.
1) Evaluation of the planning process
Several general elements should be kept in mind when evaluating the planning
process:
• The core group’s ability to conduct research and manage information,
• The quality of the analysis,
• The degree to which the affected population participates.
More specifically, each step of the proposed methodology should be evaluated:
Step 1: Identification and analysis of the problem, in terms of the importance
of the problem chosen for the affected population, the depth of the analysis,
and the degree to which the problem relates to the mission of the core
group or coalition.
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Step 2: Formulation of the proposal, in terms of the contribution that the
proposal will make to solving the problem; its feasibility, degree of motivation
and interest that it produces, and the existence of clear and
realistic goals.
Step 3: Analysis of the decision-making space, in terms of identification
of the decision-maker, the core group’s knowledge of the decisionmaking
process, and the identification of the best time to launch the
proposal.
Step 4: Analysis of channels of influence, in terms of identification of
allies, undecided persons, and opponents; the prioritization of key actors
with most influence over the decision-making process; analysis of
interests of key actors; and effective use of the information available
about key actors.
Step 5: SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and
threats), in terms of objectivity and depth of analysis, and the capacity
to take concrete measures that take advantage of strengths and opportunities
and overcome weaknesses and threats.
Step 6: Design of advocacy strategies, in terms of variety and creativity
of the strategies and their effectiveness in convincing the decisionmaker.
Step 7: Development of an activity plan, in terms of the existence of a
written plan; the feasibility and coherence of the plan; the identification
of desired outcomes, indicators, dates, responsible persons and
resources needed for each activity; and the intentional distribution of
responsibilities within the core group to break out of traditional roles.
2) Evaluation of the plan’s execution
The implementation of the advocacy plan should be evaluated at
different times throughout the campaign so that adjustments can be
made as necessary. For example, an evaluation might be done after
a lobbying activity, after a mobilization, in response to a significant
change in the political situation, and so forth. Those evaluations should
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e done at regular intervals—monthly or after a reasonable amount of
time—and again at the end of a campaign. It is important to evaluate each
activity in the plan in terms of whether or not it was completed and its results,
always attempting to pinpoint which causes or factors contributed to an
activity’s success or failure, and considering changes that could be made
so that things go more smoothly and to strengthen the advocacy initiative.
WOLA provides the following table as a useful tool for this task:
Activity Desired outcomes Actual outcome Reasons or contributing
factors
Comments:
Necessary adjustments
3) Evaluation of impact
The impact of a political advocacy initiative must be evaluated on three levels
corresponding to the three basic reasons why we engage in advocacy:
• Solving specific problems through public policies,
• Strengthening civil society, and
• Promoting and consolidating democracy
Solving specific problems through public policies. On this level, the outcomes
of the advocacy initiative should be evaluated in relation to the formulated
proposal. This is measured in terms of concrete changes that have been
achieved in laws, existing policies, programs, commitments, and in behaviors
associated with the problem posed. Here, it is also important to measure
the progress (or lack of progress) made in getting the issue onto the public
agenda.
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Strengthening civil society. The impact at the level of civil society refers
to strengthening the core group in charge of organizing the advocacy
campaign, and to the capacities gained in terms of defending the
changes that have been won together with other organizations. It also
refers to carrying out new advocacy initiatives that are even more ambitious
in the future.
Promoting and consolidating democracy. Finally, accomplishments
and failures should be evaluated in terms of their consequences for
democratization. How have they contributed to building internal democracy
within the core group and the coalition? Have new opportunities
for citizen participation been improved through this process? In
the case of struggles related to the situation of people with disabilities,
progress in terms of prevailing underestimation and discrimination will
also need to be examined.
This aspect is very important, since the ultimate goal of political advocacy
processes undertaken by civil society organizations is to effectively
strengthen democracy in our nations.
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Evaluation V
Questions for evaluation and reflection/ Chapter V:
1) In your own words, define “advocacy” and “political advocacy”: _________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________.
2) What are the eight steps of a political advocacy plan?
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________.
3) What are the different advocacy strategies? Give an example of each one:______________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
4) Identify a concrete problem that affects people with disabilities in your country, and design a politi
cal advocacy plan aimed at solving it. Decide if it should be coordinated by an organization or by a
coalition of organizations.
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CHAPTER VI
Chapter VI
Political advocacy to promote public policies for
inclusive development
When the reader concludes this chapter, he/she should clearly understand
what public policies are, the process through which they are
designed, the way in which civil society can influence this design, the
strategies that can be used to influence public policies and insure an
inclusive development orientation, and how a plan with this goal can
be designed.
1. What are public policies?
a. Definition
In general, public policies can be seen as a response to the social demands
that generate them. The government’s administrative institutions
can be characterized as the “instruments” that react to these
demands, through supplying policies that satisfy specific needs.
A public policy can also be defined as the program of action of a political
authority that has the legitimacy to govern, which has a bearing
on a particular sector of society or a specific geographical area.
We should see public policies as both important practical tools (for
example, providing health care services to the entire population), and
as promoters of certain ethical principles (for example, defining the
fact that the entire population has the same basic rights to employment,
education, and health, regardless of their income).
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The earliest public policy analysts focused more on the demands for policies
than on the outcomes of the policies implemented, ignoring the impact that
structures and actors (bureaucracy, institutions, political parties, etc.) had on
the final outcomes or results.
The generation of public policies can be understood in terms of these questions:
- What are the needs and demands of an interested party or community?
- What public policies and programs are produced by those who govern us?
- To achieve what results?
- What are the means and resources needed to achieve these results?
For example:
In a particular region, many people live in shacks (built from metal scraps and
cardboard). Let’s say there are 1,000 families. These families demand more
dignified housing. They pressure the government to respond to their need
for housing. The government studies the situation and decides—through its
Ministry of Housing and Human Affairs—to design a public policy for building
low-cost housing. This policy will not only respond to the needs of these 1,000
families, but also to others living in similar conditions. A budget is set, a program
is designed for implementing the public policy, and the 1,000 homes
are built and delivered in a specified time period to the families. (If only it
were as easy as this! Clearly, we need to work to make this happen).
We often hear people talk about global plans. What are global plans? These
are plans that present the general actions that a government wishes to
undertake to advance a nation’s economic and social development. These
global plans (such as a National Development Plan, or PND) contain a series
of public policies and programs that a government will use to attend to the
population’s different demands and needs during a specified time period.
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Three problems and Three Public policies
a)- Dengue Mosquito
However, the relationship between public policies and programs should be
clarified. Programs are part of public policies, and they consist of a series of
operations that need to be implemented in order achieve certain objectives.
Or said another way, public policies are executed or put into practice
through programs that are aimed at achieving certain objectives and goals.
To comply with policies, different actions are selected that are grouped into
sectoral and other types of programs. The programs define the material,
human and financial resources that are needed to achieve the objectives,
along with the activities designed for this purpose. Programs are selected on
the basis of their benefits, and through defining criteria that determine priorities.
Health policies to eradicate and prevent Dengue.
b)- Unemployment of persons with disabilities
c)- Exclusion of persons with disabilities in education
SCHOOL
SCHOOL
THERE ARE NO
VACANCIES
Inclusive Employment policy
Inclusive Education policy
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. How are public policies made?
The conception we have today of designing and applying public policies
did not always exist. Prior to the 19th century, state intervention was limited
to taxation and insuring a nation’s security. It wasn’t until the 20th century
that the first large-scale formulation of state policies aimed at satisfying the
demands of specific social sectors began. In particular, this occurred after
the Second World War.
From above
Although governments characterize themselves as democratic, they tend to
set policies at the highest level (“from above”) with little or no participation
from the affected or interested social sectors.
They think that if they have the backing of an election (which gives them the
legitimacy to govern), and the corresponding technical capabilities, they
are entitled to interpret the needs and demands of the population and then
respond to these through defining public policies and programs.
This has changed as social groups and different sectors have increasingly organized
and fought to have their needs and demands met. And more and
more, we hear about or read about civil society organizations mobilizing the
population to demand that their needs are met, whether these organizations
represent teachers, or farmers, or shanty dwellers, or feminists, or students, or
human rights activists, or environmentalists, or people with disabilities and
their relatives. The result has been more democratic forms of designing and
formulating public policies.
Building democracy
Civil society’s increasingly organized pressure (aimed influencing policy decisions)
has been “democratizing” the way that public policies are formulated.
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We see this reflected in consultations where the opinions of different social sectors
and groups about a range of different issues are being considered, such as when
a legislative assembly or congress is studying the convenience of passing a certain
law, or when a government is developing public policies.
This democratization of public policies can only increase if a general condition is
met: citizen participation. Citizen participation is defined as “the involvement and
influence of citizens (and the general population) in decision-making processes,
in issues and activities that are related to economic, social and political development,
and in the execution of such decisions, so that state actions, planning and
decisions are promoted jointly by social and institutional actors.”
In order for this democratization process to take place, certain conditions must be
met:
• Different actors (institutions, the private sector and the “third sector” or organized
civil society) must be informed and be committed, since it has been found
that better results are obtained when participation is promoted and interested
parties get involved.
• Governments must create a favorable environment for citizen action, which
is an essential aspect of strengthening citizen participation. Moreover, laws must
be approved that facilitate this citizen participation and strengthen this environment.
• The participation process is not simple, and needs to be strengthened
through training and instruction. Social actors (such as people with disabilities and
their organizations) need to study, learn, and acquire new skills and management
abilities. They must also be able to make decisions and be involved in decisionmaking
processes.
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To participate in public decision-making processes (laws or policies), organized
groups of citizens may utilize a range of mechanisms including:
- Direct lobbying of legislators or decision-makers in governmental institutions;
- Indirect lobbying through social mobilization campaigns and through creating
alliances to promote specific agendas;
- Denouncing relevant social problems and situations ignored by the government;
- Participating in national, departmental or municipal planning councils, related
to both general and sector policies;
- Influencing the platforms of political candidates and political parties;
- Informing via the media, through bulletins, press communiqués, press conferences,
etc.
- Developing legal cases to establish jurisprudence in relation to the citizenry’s
economic, social and political rights; and
- Developing and publicizing research about different relevant social issues.
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2. Steps for drafting and implementing a public policy
For both learning and practical purposes (such as developing an advocacy
plan), the public policy-making process can be divided into five parts or
steps, which as we know are carried out in an ongoing and unified manner.
These five parts or steps are:
1. The identification of a problem that requires public action,
“IDENTIFYING
THE PROBLEM”
2. The formulation of possible solutions,
3. The adoption of decisions by legitimate authorities,
4. The implementation of the public policy, and
5. An evaluation of the outcomes.
Identify the problem that requires public action. This can be done by a government
entity, but can also result from actions carried out by some segment
of the affected population.
For example, if cases of dengue were to suddenly appear in different communities,
the Ministry of Health could design a policy for addressing this
health problem and could implement it through a “national program to fight
dengue.”
However, in another example, it could be that the Ministry of Labor is unaware
of the serious job discrimination and exclusion faced by disabled persons,
despite the fact that they are capable of working and are of productive
age. As a result, many organizations of people with disabilities, together with
other allied groups (such as trade unions, human rights organizations, etc.)
carry out actions aimed at pressuring this Ministry to include people with disabilities
in the job programs it is implementing (or will implement), attending
to their specific needs, especially accessibility
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Government
proposed policy to
combat poverty.
Formulate possible solutions. Once the problem requiring public action has been
identified, the institution responsible for developing the corresponding public policy
begins to study different possible solutions for responding to this problem or social
demand.
These possible solutions should consider technical criteria, prior experiences (for
example, country “x” responded to this problem in such a way and obtained good
results), and consults with interested sectors. Another very important element to evaluate
will be the cost of any proposed solutions.
The legitimate authority makes a decision. After having explored different proposed
solutions, the institution responsible for designing the public policy (authorized as the
legitimate institutional authority) should study all of the positive and negative features
of each of the proposals and determine the amount of resources available (or
that can be obtained) for the policy’s implementation (assigned budget, whether
resources are available from state funds, or if funding should be sought from an international
loan, etc.). Once this study—both political and technical—is carried out,
this authority should make a decision about the policy it is planning to adopt.
Implement the public policy. Once the policy has been defined, it needs to be implemented
through a corresponding program. The program will define the material,
human and financial resources needed, as well as the time periods and stages for
implementation, including specific activities that will be aimed at achieving the public
policy’s objectives and goals.
Evaluate the outcomes. When a public policy is implemented, it can be evaluated
while it is being applied, and of course also when its implementation has concluded,
to assess its various outcomes. The reason for evaluating a policy while it is being
implemented is to be able to adjust programs, to correct errors or other factors that
have been detected, and insure that the policy fulfills its objectives. When a final
evaluation of a policy is carried out, the following questions should be asked: Did it
resolve the problem? If it didn’t completely resolve the problem, what aspects are
still pending? Was it a complete failure, and has the problem remained the same?
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Different social actors can influence each phase of policy development, using
specific advocacy strategies and actions. They can:
• Help generate a public policy in response to a problem (that the state
has not identified as a problem),
RESULTS
• Help formulate solutions, working to have their concerns and ideas included
in the proposed solutions,
• Insure that institutional authorities select the best solution (in the opinion
of interested sectors),
• Oversee the program through which the policy is being executed, insuring
that it complies with time and quality requirements and favorably impacts
interested sectors, and
• Participate directly or indirectly in evaluating the outcomes.
3. What should be done to promote inclusive development?
We need to stop for a moment and think about how to influence public policies
with this inclusive development approach.
Let’s look at the things we should keep in mind when embarking on this course.
We must:
• Fully understand the Inclusive Development approach;
• Be convinced that it is the best route to achieving full inclusion and
development for people with disabilities and their families;
• Be informed and study public policies, programs, projects and actions
that have been/will be developed by a nation’s government in relation to
people with disabilities, and understand their impact (do they resolve the problems,
how are they resolving these problems, and for how many people?).
Here it is important to obtain statistical data;
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• Study the laws and regulations in force in the nation that recognize and protect
the rights of people with disabilities, and determine whether or not these provide
a foundation for inclusive development;
• Determine which topics are of interest to the organizations of disabled persons
and their allies, in order to mobilize them around modifying a public policy or program
so that it will be inclusive, or around creating a new public policy of this type;
• Study the steps involved in formulating and implementing public policies, so
that we can have a positive impact on them and on inclusive development. Understanding
these steps will also help us define concrete strategies and actions for every
stage or step in the public policy formulation process, and will make us more realistic
about our available resources as a social actor;
• Develop an action plan for influencing this public policy or program, identifying
its strategies, clearly defining the actions that will be promoted or implemented,
determining responsibilities and time periods for implementation, and estimating the
human and material resources available. A basic tool is available for assisting this
process, which can be modified according to the particular conditions and needs of
the political advocacy effort being developed;
• Evaluate the plan periodically, once a significant number of actions have
been implemented, and again when the plan concludes. A tool is also available
for helping to evaluate political advocacy work, either while it is underway or once
it has been completed. This evaluation tool is useful for measuring the development
of different actions, both in numbers (the quantitative evaluation) and in terms of
characterizing and rating progress (the qualitative evaluation). This evaluation is
useful for modifying the strategies and actions that are underway, or for assessing the
plan’s outcomes once it has been completely implemented and thereby determine
its successes and errors. This information will help us to prepare other initiatives and
develop other plans in the future.
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Evaluation VI
Questions for evaluation and reflection/ Chapter VI:
1) In your own words, define a public policy:____________________________________ __________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________.
2) What are the advantages of democratically building public policies, rather than having them imposed
from above? _________________________________________________________ ________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________.
3) Investigate if your government has a national development plan. If it has one, get a copy of it and
identify the policies it includes and which sectors they correspond to, as well as the objectives and goals
it has proposed.
4) Investigate how this national development plan is focused on the population with disabilities. Is this
population included in general policies, or are there specific policies that address this group’s needs
and concerns?
5) Identify a concrete problem that affects people with disabilities in your country, and propose a public
policy for solving it. Also define the five corresponding steps of the process.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY:
- Astorga Gatjens, Luis Fernando. Incluyendo a las personas con discapacidad en las Políticas de Desarrollo (Presentation),
Seminar of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Washington D.C., November, 2004.
http://www.iadb.org/int/jpn/seminars/disa/es_es/presentations/luis%20fernando%20spanish.pdf
- Berman Bieler, Rosangela. Desarrollo Inclusivo: Un aporte global desde la discapacidad (Presentation), World Bank,
2005. http://pdi.cnotinfor.pt/recursos/DI_Un%20aporte%20universal%20desde%20la%20discapacidad_RBB.doc
- Egea García, Carlos and Sarabia Sánchez, Alicia. Visión y modelos conceptuales de la discapacidad.
http://www.risolidaria.org.pe/docs/ficheros/200611140005_62_0.pdf
- Equipo de Desarrollo Inclusivo para América Latina y El Caribe, ALIANZAS PARA UN DESARROLLO INCLUSIVO, Training
Guide, World Bank, 2004.
- González Bombal, Inés and Garay, Candelaria. Incidencia en políticas públicas y construcción de la ciudadanía, http://
www.lasociedadcivil.org/uploads/ciberteca/bombal__garay.pdf
- Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas y Censos (INEC), Costa Rica. Encuesta de Hogares y Propósitos Múltiples, Principales
resultados, 2006.
- Mahbub ul Haq, El Paradigma del Desarrollo Humano. Selections from “Reflexiones sobre Desarrollo Humano,” Chapters
2 and 3, Oxford University Press.
- Metts, Robert. Discapacidad y Desarrollo (Background paper prepared for a meeting about the research agenda on
disability and development), World Bank, Washington D.C., November 2004.
- Quinn, Gerard and Degener, Theresia, Derechos Humanos y Discapacidad, United Nations, New York and Geneva,
2002.
- Sartor, Aloma. Modelos de Desarrollo. http://www.frbb.utn.edu.ar/carreras/materias/ing_soc/modelos_de_desarrollo.
pdf
- Sen, Amartya. Teorías del Desarrollo a principios del Siglo XXI. http://www.iadb.org/etica/documentos/sen_teori.doc
- Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), Manual for Facilitators of Advocacy Training Sessions. www.wola.org
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BUILDING CAPACI-
TIES TO ADVANCE OUR
RIGHTS AND INCLUSIVE
DEVELOPMENT
This manual may be reproduced in part or in its entirety for
pedagogic purposes as long as original source is cited.
For more information please contact: Handicap International (HI):
discapacidad@handicap-international-ac.org Phone: (505)- 2266
1364 / 2266 8419 or the Inter-American Institute on Disability and
Inclusive Development (IIDI) luterag@ice.co.cr