A force for the disabled in Burkina Faso
6 January 2009
Disabled
people are often among the poorest of the poor, and sadly their status isn't
helped by the many aid agencies who leave
them out of their development strategies. But for one particular agency in Burkina Faso,
the story is a very different one.
Handicap Solidaire Burkina (HSB) is a DFID-supported organisation that wants to
make sure that disabled people are included in the country’s development. And to
demonstrate that disability is no barrier to leading a full and productive life,
its staff, all of whom are disabled, lead by example.
Reading, writing and motivating
Freddy Ouédraogo, HSB’s literacy co-ordinator, has been disabled since birth.
Freddy was fortunate to have a neighbour who was willing to sponsor his
education, enabling him to get to university and train as a teacher, but he is
one of the lucky few. Under 2% of disabled children go to school in Burkina
Faso, which has the worst literacy rates in the world.
Freddy runs workshops that teach reading and writing skills to disabled people
who have missed out an education. To recruit his students, he has often gone to
disabled people's organisations - a sure way to gather large numbers of eager
learners. Over time, the classes have grown in popularity, and Freddy has
succeeded in motivating the students not just to learn to read and write, but to
find other ways to improve their lives too. Being in a wheelchair himself, he
has proved a uniquely inspiring figure to the many people who have passed
through the workshops.
Promoting rights, creating opportunities
Freddy's
classes have certainly made a difference to a number of individual lives, but if he and his colleagues are
to achieve their ambition of helping disabled people occupy a proper role
in society, government policymakers need to be made more aware of disabled
needs and rights.
In 2007, the organisation set up a disability rights project, supported by DFID and the development agency International Service. This has focused on providing rights training to charities and giving disabled people a bigger voice in government and charity initiatives. It has also begun to build an information network that links up local disabled organisations, with a quarterly newsletter keeping people abreast of any developments.
To increase the availability of rights advice, the project has even opened a drop-in centre. Also serving as a place to find out about new health and career opportunities, the centre has already come up with training places for the young, found lodging and medical care for a homeless pregnant woman and obtained a tricycle for a disabled woman who had no transport.
The project is now spurring on further changes, with other national and international non-governmental organisations beginning to take active steps to include disability in their own development processes. When the country signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled People in 2007 a major breakthrough occurred, but only when Burkina's disabled people are creating their own development projects and putting them into action will the vision of HSB and its dedicated members like Freddy Ouédraogo be realised.
Facts and stats
- Funding for the Disability Rights Project comes from Irish Aid (75%) and International Service (25%).
- The project is costing €602,545 and is part of a larger Irish Aid programme running from October 2007 to September 2010.
- The International Service component was sourced from their Partnership Programme Arrangement (PPA) with DFID. Under this PPA, DFID provided International Service with £1,470,000 for 2007-8. In 2008-9, funding will rise to £1,514,100.
- According to Handicap International, 7% of Burkina Faso's 14 million people are thought to be disabled.
Links
- Reducing poverty by tackling exclusion - DFID's policy on disability
(153 kb)
- More about DFID's partnership with International Service
Handicap Solidaire
